I'm being asked to look into the possibility of offering to my user the opportunity to download mp3s in a manner that would be similar to what they do on Amazon using their "Cloud" player.
At first I recommended using the "zip" approach, only because you're automatically prompted to select a location for your download, whereas a a "raw" mp3 is often opened up using quicktime and it can become less than intuitive.
The other concern I had was that in some instances, the "playlist" that's being downloaded will include a video so you're looking at a download that's over 60MB when you include the songs and the video file, so displaying the selections one at a time with a corresponding download button seemed the best route.
In any event, I'm looking for feedback to either reinforce my recommendation that my client offer the selected playlist as a:
- list of selections that are to be downloaded one at a time with each file being a zip file
- one big file (possibly cumbersome) as something other than a zip file, but I have no idea what that would look like
- duplicate of what amazon.com offers in terms of a "cloud" player, but I don't know if that's going to be feasible since we're not collecting any customer data and there will be no way to provide an individualized web interface
Bottom line: Is there another way to facilitate downloads easily without using a zip file approach? I'm thinking, "No," but I wanted to run it past some minds greater than my own.
Thoughts?
Our community of experts have been thoroughly vetted for their expertise and industry experience.
The Most Valuable Expert award recognizes technology experts who passionately share their knowledge with the community, demonstrate the core values of this platform, and go the extra mile in all aspects of their contributions. This award is based off of nominations by EE users and experts. Multiple MVEs may be awarded each year.
This award recognizes an author who contributes the highest volume of original works or content. Recipients of this award produce extremely valuable content that prioritizes accuracy, relevancy, and professionalism.