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eb sites tend to be divided into two categories: those totally
without sound, and those that use a lot of it—there’s not much
middle ground. Many music and entertainment sites rely heavily
on both streaming audio and downloadable audio files, such as MP3.
In this chapter, you learn how to use audio in the Web pages you design
with Dreamweaver. You look at traditional digital audio formats such as
AIFF and WAV, and how you can turn these into files suitable for publish-
ing on the Web, in formats such as MP3 and RealAudio. You also examine
music formats, such as standard MIDI files and QuickTime Music. Finally,
you learn how to link to an individual podcast as well as a podcast feed.
Lest you forget that you’re dreamweaving here, you also look at some
Dreamweaver extensions you can use to get audio-enabled sites up and
running in no time. But before you leap into those deep waters, it’s a good
idea to get an overview of digital audio and its place on the Web.
Because the primary technologies for distributing streaming
audio are also the primary technologies for streaming video,
you may find it helpful to familiarize yourself with the Big Three stream-
ing media technologies—RealMedia, QuickTime, and Windows Media—
introduced in Chapter 26.
Digital Audio Fundamentals
Digital audio files are digitized representations of sound waves. Although
not as heavy as digital video, digital audio ...