I Want To Stream Audio & Video Files Instead Of Downloading. No Progressive Downloads In Firefox?
Long time IE user. Decided to try Firefox for about 3rd time in as many years. When I left click on mp3 or wmv file in any of the usenet groups using IE 8 it immediately begins to play while it is downloading. Whenever I do same in Firefox it wants to download the entire file instead of playing it. If a wmv file is 700 megs I may only want to sample it, not be forced to download the entire file. All my preferences and options are correctly set. In IE8 all wmv and mp3 files will stream using WMP. This was a problem in previous attempts to use Firefox and why each time I went back to IE8. IE8 is getting dated. I want to use Firefox. But if I am forced to download every file before viewing it I will be forced back to IE8 again.
HELP!!
Modified by cor-el
All Replies (10)
Hi rwinegar. Have you already checked this page?
Thanks. That didn't help. The files still want to download before playing. Is progressive downloading possible with Firefox or not? If it is not I don't understand why anyone would ever want to use this browser.
Would you have a link to a download where I can reproduce this you're saying?
Don't need a link. Try a progressive download on any mp3 or wmv file. Anywhere.
The bigger question here is simply whether or not Firefox allows progressive downloads. It never did before which is why I abandoned previous versions. I cannot believe such a popular browser is incapable of doing what Internet Explorer has been doing well for the last 10 years.
Try to install the new WMP plugin (np-mswmp.dll), you only have the classic WMP plugin (Npdsplay dll)
There are other things that need your attention.
Your above posted system details show outdated plugin(s) with known security and stability risks that you should update.
- Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124
File np-msw.dll is installed. Firefox was just installed today and WMP was installed from the link you provided. I DO have the latest version.
I don't think the problem has anything to do with the latest version of anything. The question is does Firefox support progressive downloading? If it does not I will delete it and go back to Internet Explorer which has supported progressive downloading for 10 years.
Anyone? My cell phone does progressive downloads. Surely Firefox must be capable also. Can someone tell me how.
Obviously no one here ever downloads anything.
If a plugin plays a file embedded then Firefox passes the URL to the plugin and it is up to the plugin to support progressive downloading (buffering).
So it is possible that the plugin doesn't do that in your case (I'm on Linux, so can't test the WMP plugin).
Firefox will however always load the full file to the temp folder if such a file has to be passed to an external program or player (shouldn't apply to this case) if you use the plugin in Firefox.
I guess it's back to Internet Explorer for me. I hear all the raves about Firefox. Why? It can't even play a music or video file without first downloading the entire file. My cell phone can do that. I don't know why anyone would want to take such a huge step backwards by installing this browser.
Restoring a Shadowprotect image and it's gone. Just a big waste of my time.