Streaming Windows Media

First, you'll need to create a Windows Media Metafile.

Windows Media™ metafiles are simply text files that act as links from Web pages to Windows Media-based content on a Windows Media server or Web server. The basic purpose of a metafile is to redirect streaming media content away from browsers, which in most cases are not capable of rendering the content, to Microsoftฎ Windows Media Player. Windows Media metafiles have either .asx or .wax extensions. When a browser downloads a file with one of these extensions from a Web site, it opens Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player then locates and plays the content specified in the file.

A Windows Media metafile contains a type of Extensible Markup Language (XML) scripting that can only be interpreted by Windows Media Player. A metafile script can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. The most basic metafile contains simply the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of some multimedia content on a server. A complex metafile can contain multiple files or streams arranged in a playlist, instructions on how to play the files or streams, text and graphic elements, and hyperlinks associated with elements on the Windows Media Player interface.

<ASX version="3.0">
   <Entry>
      <ref HREF="Path"/>
   </Entry>
</ASX>

Substitute Path for the path or URL of your Windows Media-based content. (example: http://WebServerName/Path/Filename.asf)

After you type this into Notepad, save the file as Filename.asx.—typically, Filename is the name of the Windows Media file or stream followed by an .asx extension. Check to make sure that the metafile is working by double-clicking it in Windowsฎ Explorer. Windows Media Player should open and start streaming the content. If your content is a Windows Media audio file that has a .wma extension, use the .wax extension when naming the metafile.

After you've confirmed that the metafile works, save it to your Web server along with your Web pages, and link to it by means of an <a href> tag, or embed it in a Web page using the Windows Media OBJECT tag.

<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer"  WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240
 CLASSID="CLSID:22D6f312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
 CODEBASE="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/
    nsmp2inf.cab#Version=6,4,5,715"

 standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..."
 TYPE="application/x-oleobject">

<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="http://Server/Metafile.asx">
</OBJECT>

<!--HAVE USERS WITH BROWSERS THAT CANNOT EMBED PLAY IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER-->
<a HREF="http://server/Metafile.asx">Start the Windows Media Services
presentation in the stand-alone player.</a>

Simply replace the http://server/Metafile.asx with the path to your metafile and you're ready to go!

For more advanced information on the OBJECT Tag - Click Here!

For more advanced information on Windows Media Metafiles - Click Here!