One question please...

Posted: 7/12/04 at 4:52pm

I was wondering...
On some message boards I have seen people post clips or even whole songs. Like someone would just post a file or track and it would take you right to the song. I know how to load songs onto my computer, but posting them is beyond me. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know. Thanks so much.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/12/04 at 5:11pm

The whole practice is pretty dubious, legally, and I don't know if you can do it on this message board at all. But if you want to post something legal, like, say, a picture, here's what you do:

Use the html tag {img src="URL"}

But use < and > instead of { and }.

In the URL space, obviously you should put the URL of the picture. BE SURE TO FIND A PLACE TO HOST YOUR PICTURE. If you get a picture off a website, DO NOT link to that page. This practice is called hotlinking, and it also goes for other forms of media. It eats up that site's bandwidth and is extremely rude. There are plenty of sites the offer free image hosting- just Google it. Or host it on your own web site, if you have one.

Don't post things that are copyrighted, including song clips from cast albums. It's not just illegal; it's stealing. Updated On: 7/12/04 at 05:11 PM

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 7/12/04 at 5:13pm

I am a computer idiot. Whats a bandwidth?

[Plum]

Posted: 7/12/04 at 5:15pm

It's the amount of data that can be passed through a certain communications channel in a given amount of time. Websites have to pay for bandwidth. A gigantic site like Amazon, for example, has tons of bandwidth because thousands of people view it every day. Same goes for sites that host large files like video or high-resolution pictures. Someone's personal website, however, will have much less bandwidth because fewer people view it and the administrator can't afford to pay for so much bandwidth.

If too many people go to a website, it exceeds its bandwidth limitations. This can result in the website going down and extra fees for the person who administrates the site.

So don't hotlink.

< /pet peeve rant> Updated On: 7/12/04 at 05:15 PM

Posted: 7/12/04 at 5:18pm

Thank you Plum. The only songs I was thinking about posting were my own clips of me singing in concerts. I just wanted to get some feedback. So if anyone knows how you would do that?

[Plum]

Posted: 7/12/04 at 5:19pm

How big are the clips? Try finding a site to host them, just like an image, and then linking to that URL via the URL field you get whenever you post a message on this board. I haven't actually hosted anything other than pictures on my site, but I think that'll work.