Making a Flash Media Player for MP3 Files

Note: In order for the player to work on the internet, you will need web space to host the two final files. Your ISP probably provides you with free web space. For this demonstration, I will be working in Flash 8. This should also work for Flash MX2004

1. Open Flash and make a new document that is 300 pixels wide by 74 pixels high (this should be the right size for Flash’s built-in media player.

2. Open the COMPONENTS and the COMPONENT INSPECTOR panels by clicking on WINDOW->COMPONENTS and WINDOWS->COMPONENT INSPECTOR.

3. In the Components panel, expand ‘Media – Player 6 – 7’.

4. Drag and drop the ‘MediaPlayback’ option to the stage.

5. The Component Inspector panel should now show the options for the MediaPlayback. If not, simply click on the new object on the stage. Now, make your options look like the following picture:

6. Resize the MediaPlayback component as you need to get it to fit on your stage.

7. Now, you’ll need to make a song compatible with Flash 8. For the next few steps, you will need Flash 8.

8. Flash should have installed itself into C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8. The program needed to make a song compatible should be located in C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8 Video Encoder. If you don’t have this, you’ll need another program like MediaCoder.

9. Run the .exe file located in the Flash 8 Video Encoder directory called ‘Flash 8 Video Encoder.exe’ Click the ADD button to choose a song that you want to convert. Once you have selected a song, press the START QUEUE button to convert the file. Once the conversion has completed, you should have a file in the same folder that the song originated called yoursong.flv (substitute ‘yoursong’ for the name of your song).

10. Now, save your Flash file and make sure to move the new .flv file to the same location that your Flash file is located. For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll use ‘precious.flv’

11. Time to get back to Flash. In the Component Inspector, with your component selected on the stage, type the name of your file in the URL box. Your Component Inspector should now look like this:

12. Finally, save your Flash file one more time. Then, hit SHIFT+F12 to get a usable .swf file in the same folder as your .flv file.

13. Navigate to the location you have both files saved and open the .swf file. Your song should play!

14. If you plan on using this online, make sure you upload both the .swf file and the .flv file to the same directory. When a computer loads it, it will download the .flv as it’s playing.

Thank you for reading my tutorial and good luck!