All HTML Sound Test

play/stop 1 creates an iframe in javascript, and sets the source to another HTML file that contains just: <html><head></head><body> <embed src="machinegun.wav" hidden="true" autostart="true"> </body></html> The stop button removes the iframe.


play/stop 2 creates the embed object directly using javascript (createElement and setAttribute), then appends it to the body. The stop button removes this element, and clicking start again re-adds it.


play/stop 3 is almost exactly like play/stop 2, except the stop button totally nixes the tag, and the play button always creates a new one.

Browser results:

	Opera	Safari	Firefox	IE6
button 1	No sound whatsoever	Start and stop, but there's a slight delay	Start and stop, but there's a slight delay	No sound whatsoever - iframe won't even load
button 2	No sound whatsoever	instant start but can't stop it	Instant start and stop!	Instant start and stop, but re-starting continues where you stopped it.
button 3	No sound whatsoever	instant start but can't stop it	Instant start and stop!	Instant start and stop!

Notes:

On opera, the only way I have managed to coaxe sound of it so far, is on mac only, using a straight embed, like so: click here. Faking this in an iframe did not appear to work, and setting the 'hidden' property means nothing plays on opera. Again, on windows, nothing but an ugly box with some sort of missing plugin hint.
Multiple sounds: try hitting play2 and play3 quickly; you'll hear two machine guns firing. Some more testing reveals that all browsers (well, except opera) can handle a whole boatload of sounds playing simultaneously, so that's no problem.
formats: So far it seems mp3, wav, and mid work on all browsers (again, except opera). HOWEVER, on safari and moz there is a considerable delay for the mp3. Suggests using mp3s as background music is doable, but you can't use them for sfx - have to go with wav for that. Acceptable, I think.
load delays - the first time obviously causes a delay as the sound is loaded. Annoying for one-off sfx. Might need to find an excuse to run the sounds in the intro somehow.