One of the ways to make your site more attractive is to embed sound in its pages. The following tags can be used to include sound in a Web page:

• <EMBED> (Internet Explorer 4.0x, Navigator 3.0x, 4.0x)
• <BGSOUND> (Internet Explorer 3.0x, 4.0x)
• <OBJECT> (Internet Explorer 4.0x)
• <IMG> (Internet Explorer 4.0x)

In this column we'll discuss the <EMBED> and <BGSOUND> tags. In many browsers, embedded audio can be controlled via JavaScript statements. In other words, we can handle an audio plug-in by setting properties and invoking methods. We'll cover Navigator's LiveAudio plug-in, and Internet Explorer's ActiveMovie Control (DirectShow).

In our next column, we'll discuss the <OBJECT> and <IMG> tags. We will also cover ActiveMovie Control's events, and we'll introduce two sample scripts: an audio jukebox and an audio-enabled rollover. In this column you'll learn:

• How to distinguish between different audio file formats.
• How to access plugin objects.
• How to detect which plug-ins are installed in the user's browser.
• How to detect which MIME types are supported by the user's browser.
• How to embed sound tracks with the <EMBED> tag.
• How to customize the control (console) of an <EMBED> tag.
• How to embed sound tracks with the <BGSOUND> tag.
• How to implement LiveAudio's methods.
• How to implement ActiveMovie's properties.
• How to implement ActiveMovie's methods.
• How to build a LiveAudio-based JavaScript application.
• How to program a form-based ActiveMovie Control.