Music in Presentations

  • Thread starter Robert Cheesbrough
  • Start date
R

Robert Cheesbrough

I am using MSOffice 2007 and XPHome as my OS. I am having difficulty when
trying to insert music into my presentations.

My music are MP3 files, and I have a number of different presentations that
I am trying to add only one MP3 file to each. The MP3 files are in the same
folder as the presentations and they play independently in Windows Media
Player.

When following the procedure to insert a "Sound From File", I choose
"Automatically" from the dialogue box that appears after selecting the MP3
file. Then, I click on the icon to highlight it in order to get to the
"Sound Tools" that then appears above the Menu toolbar, and the select
"Options" button directly below. I have noted that double clicking the
sound Icon in Normal View does not bring up the Options menu, nor does the
menu appear as a choice when I right click, despite that my reference
material says this should occur. Right clicking only displays the standard
dialogue box for pictures, with the "Preview" selection as the only Sound
related choice.

In the Options menu, I select "Hide During Show" for the icon display,
select my Slide Show Volume to Low, and then Save to save these settings.
The Max Sound File Size is set to "50000", but it is my understanding that
this applies to WAV imbedded files only.

In my presentation, and previous to the above, I have separately selected a
Cross Fade as the animation for slide transitions and a transition timing of
5 seconds, and chosen "Apply To All" after each selection of transition and
timing. I then go to my last slide, and choose for that slide only "On
Mouse Click". I then save again, and when I run the Slide Show prior to
inserting a sound file, the show runs as desired.

After I insert a sound, and when I run the show, these are my two problems:
One, I can't hear the music, and Two, my previously saved and tested slide
transitions and Transition Speed no longer work, and the first slide just
sits there.

I do weekly disk maintenance and de-frag and optimize my disk weekly.

My end desire is to place these presentations on my website so that visitors
may click on a presentation link and watch the presentation play
automatically, with a selection of hyperlinks in my last slide to choose
another of the available presentations.

Can anyone give me the "fix" for my music not playing and the loss of my
animation settings for Transition not working after the insertion of the
choice to automatically play a "Sound From File" which works normally in
other other player formats?

Thank you in advance.
 
L

Lucy Thomson

Hi Robert

First up, yes the sound option dialogue is now pretty well hidden - it
sounds like the instructions you are following are for ore 2007 (but don't
worry, that should be the only difference, everything else will be right).

Secondly, have you set the music to pay across multiple slides? If not the
first slide will wait for the sound to finish before transitioning. For
instructions see here and don't worry that you are using an mp3 as the
essentials are the same:
Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it)
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00047.htm

Thirdly, the sound not playing. Hmm, have you checked the volume? Sound
tools -> options -> slide show volume. Does it play when you preview?

And lastly, if the idea is to have this on your website there are some
things you need to be aware of:
1. Converting to a .wav and embedding is going to make everyone's lives much
easier.
2. People will need powerpoint or the viewer installed to watch the
slideshow
3. You may want to consider converting to a movie or flash file. See here:
Convert presentations to VHS or DVD video
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00156.htm and beware of the spammers. If you decide
to go down this route I would suggest movie maker (free), camtasia (quite
pricey) or ispring (also quite pricey).
4. You could convert to html but I have absolutely no experience of this so
couldn't advise you but others who frequent this newsgroup could. Start
here: http://www.pptfaq.com/index.html and scroll down to 'webifying your
powerpoint'.

Let us know how you get on or if you have any more questions.

Lucy
 

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