[LAU] About Soundcloud

[Leigh Dyer]

On 3/11/12 12:43 AM, Michał Koziarski wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012, at 22:39, Leigh Dyer wrote:
>>
>> At Bandcamp we have the same problem, and we currently solve it in the
>> same way -- by using HTML5 on browsers that support it, and using Flash
>> elsewhere. Switching to open codecs (eg: Vorbis) that are supported in
>> Firefox is not a practical solution, since Apple and MS have so far
>> refused to support them.
>
> Is it not an option to serve both formats to satisfy both vorbis and
> mp3-capable browsers? Just curious about the perspective of someone
> working in the area. I work as a web developer but my work doesn't have
> much to do with audio, though I hope that will change one day.

It's definitely an option, yep, but it's a trade-off -- that means 
hosting twice as many files as you'd need otherwise, using twice as much 
storage as you'd use otherwise. I've actually done that on my blog, 
where I host a few of my own tracks, but when you have millions tracks 
to host -- and to re-encode in to a new format -- it's easier said than 
done.

Thanks
Leigh