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One of the most under-used features of Mastodon is audio. You can attach audio files to your posts, they can be in MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, OPUS, AAC, M4A or 3GP formats. They can be any length, as long as the file size is under 40 megabytes (some servers may have even higher limits).
I've attached an example audio file to this post, you should be able to play it on most interfaces and apps.
(Music is "Modern Technology" by Mokka Music, used under Creative Commons Attribution licence)
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The servers sometimes get a bit confused about playback of attachments from other servers, maybe try playing it in a while?
It's definitely not your software, I uploaded it with Firefox on Linux.
Robin Hüskes
@feditips Loads on Mastodon-Webinterface (Firefox on Linux Bookworm) but does not start to play. Download button starts to play it in a new tab.
John JJP
@feditips Doesn't play for me using Mastadon app.
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Try a third party app like Tusky for Android or Ice Cubes for iPhone?
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Are you having problems posting videos?
Anja
@feditips Can't even post videos. Why bother with audio?
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You click the attach button, then select a sound file to attach. The sound file has to be stored on your computer or phone so you can select it.
Alternatively, you can just paste a link to an external audio service like Bandcamp and it will automatically turn into an embedded player.
Antimony
@feditips
Oh, wow - but how?
Or is that the link to an externally hosted soundfile?
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Yes, the add picture button is the attach button 👍
If you use Mastodon through the website interface, it is a paperclip icon instead 📎
Antimony
@feditips Do you mean the "add picture" button, i.e. that's not just for pictures?! That would be rad...! (I don't see anything else that might be an attach button.)
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You can upload audio files to PeerTube as well, it's another under-used feature :)
I guess you know that already though as you've got all those podcasts on your channel!
Chris Were ⁂🐧📰🌱☕
@feditips I've often chewed over the idea of doing voice notes on Masto.
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I think it depends on the software, and which app you're using to access it?
Stéphane Bortzmeyer
@feditips Does it work with other Fediverse software or is it Mastodon-only?
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The official apps are very new, they were only released last year because so many new people just expected there to be official apps.
The third party apps like Tusky have been around a lot longer, and they have a lot more features. There was never a real need for official apps so there weren't any until recently.
John JJP
@feditips That worked. What's up with the Mastodon app?
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Yeah, that's true. I guess that's why people don't notice audio uploads are possible because they get disguised as videos.
Chris Were ⁂🐧📰🌱☕
@feditips I think PeerTube takes the audio and puts a still on it and encodes it as a 480p MP4.
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Yeah, it's at the top, it's a bit hidden though :/
IAG
@jonathonbarton @feditips Take a look at the top of the player. Not sure why they put the scrub bar there but at least there is one.
Jonathon Barton :clubtwit:
@feditips In Firefox on Windows, the embedded player does seem to lack the ability to skip back and forth on the audio's timeline, which definitely is less useful for some sorts of audio content (like podcasts, f'rinstance)
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Which app are you using?
roque (ロク)
@feditips huh, I see no attachment. guess I need to switch to a different app. damn, I was just getting used to this one.
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Yes, you can upload videos by the same method. They can be MP4, M4V, MOV or WebM files. They can be any length as long as the file is under 40 megabytes.
Melroy van den Berg
@feditips and video?
JohannessNilsson
@feditips not from mobile clients tho.
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It depends which client you are using, it works fine in Ice Cubes or Toot! for iPhone for example.
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The apps often have their own visualisers, for example Toot! and Ice Cubes display the waveform in their own ways.
The1goit :v1:
@feditips waveform visualiser included as well.
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You might want to try @funkwhale if you want a Fediverse Soundcloud! :)
Jimmy Hoke
@feditips Mastodon > SoundCloud
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Best option would be to ask your server admin. They would be the ones setting things like that.
UnusualDay
@feditips is there a standard way to find out if a server expires audio and how long that would be? Maybe no one expires them?
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The official client is poor in many ways, I'd recommend people switch to third party apps instead.
JohannessNilsson
@feditips mastodon official client. Any platform.
Bill
@feditips (well, sort of - it would be great if the image and the player were shown....)
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The image and player is visible on the web interface 👍
Whether you see them depends on how you are viewing the Fediverse.
Bill
@feditips Just checking I can link to one of my podcasts: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/26693859
Bill
@feditips Thanks! Sound is seriously overlooked on many other platforms (though I'm not hearing any music - when I press the 'play' arrow, the icon changes to pause, but the clock does not count up, and there's no sound).
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Sounds like your server is having trouble reaching the audio file on my server. Try it again later, it usually resolves itself over time.
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In this particular case I manually added a public domain thumbnail of a concert to simulate album artwork.
You can choose images to upload along with the audio file.
If you just upload the audio file on its own, it uses your profile picture as the album artwork.
Halfy! ? :cfz: CFZ2023
@feditips How does Masto Web get a thumbnail for the media. Is it embedded in the post?
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I'd recommend @funkwhale if you want an audio-based Fediverse account.
The Mastodon RSS thing works with general RSS feed readers, but as far as I know podcast apps don't recognise it as a podcast feed?
Carl Heath
@feditips given that you can make any Mastodon adress into an RSS feed, would this hypothetically work as a means of disributing a podcast in some weird way, or have any other flavor of the Fediverse done something like that?
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If it's more than the limit on your server, it won't let you upload the file.
Melroy van den Berg
@feditips what happened if the video is above 40mb? Which is often the case I think. Faster then you would like. It won't be federated or?
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Phones can cause confusion for features like this, because apps often default to choosing an attachment from the phone's photo album and that tends to only include photos and videos.
If your phone has some kind of file storage system your app may be able to grab an audio file from there, if you've put the audio file there. But again, phones often keep audio recordings/voice memos separate from the files you might want to share :/
anniemo 🏴
I did have some music I saw as an audio file and it was great! Except it kept repeating so I had to turn my phone off.
It might just be my cheap phone thats the problem.
I usually need step by step guides to understand 🙄 Sad I know but I will keep trying.
I always say I'm like a dog with bone 😂 it could take weeks for me to catch on
Michael Palmer
@anniemo71 @feditips No I think it is me losing the thread (literally).These are very good questions. I saw the post and thought it was worth sharing asit was from Feditips. I haven’t tried it yet. I will let you know how I get on when I have tried it.
anniemo 🏴
@MichaelPalmer @feditips
Oh, its probably me misunderstanding again!?
This audio thing we can use for anything? Music, recording messages, poetry etc.
So do I record something on my phone and just upload it on here?
I tried something like this months ago but couldnt do it from phone. Do I need another app on the phone to make it play ball? Told you..I dont always 'get it' 🥴
I think it works ok from my computer
Are messages private and/or do we need CW for inappropriate (so called) stuff 🤔
Michael Palmer
@anniemo71 @feditips I think I might have missed something, sorry. Help with what?
anniemo 🏴
Would this help us? @gemlog
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Ooooh, really? 😮
That is fantastic news :) I wonder if other podcast apps work too?
Prince Lucija (DRAGX̶FUNK)
@feditips @carl @funkwhale i tried one of artists who recently posted number of jams on our server
https://sonomu.club/@thorybo.rss
and it works in podcast app for android.
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@doktorzjivago @carl @luka @funkwhale
Yay, thanks for testing!
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale Haha it fkn worked. I just added “.rss” at the end of my profile link. Pasted it into an rss podcast app. And it found the sound file I posted yesterday! WOHO! 🥳🥳🥳
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale i need to try this.
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale It would be awesome if it worked!
Carl Heath
@feditips @luka @funkwhale interesting! So, if i would drop audio in this feed, would a podcast player pick only the posts that have a clean audio in the RSS feed?
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@luka @doktorzjivago @carl @funkwhale
Yeah, I think Funkwhale is a better solution for podcasts on the Fediverse and RSS.
It's nice if you can see podcasts in Mastodon, but it's not designed for that.
Prince Lucija (DRAGX̶FUNK)
@doktorzjivago @carl @feditips @funkwhale just make note that there's no way to set a title for episode. funkwhale has this solved much better because that particular feature has been tailored for that use. the fact that mastodon posts with audio attached appear in rss properly as enclosures is great but it's more of a side-effect than anything else.
podcasts on funkwhale can be followed on fedi too. think of your communities open, not closed as discord does.
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale The same for me, having a separate server and account for my music project, being able to upload music with full control of the library and how it’s displayed
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale For me as a podcaster its actually a really interesting feature. Figure having a server for a podcast and its engaged listener community, just like many run their Discord servers today, for example.
DoktorZjivago
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale but it opens up loads of possibilities!
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale Woho! Did you notice what made it work?
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale wow - now it worked! Thats so cool!
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale Really? Even my text on my post came over to@the podcast reader.
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale i tried with pocketcast on Android, without success.
DoktorZjivago
@carl @feditips @luka @funkwhale I succeeded with an mp3 file and the app “RSSRadio” from App Store
Carl Heath
@doktorzjivago @feditips @luka @funkwhale i tried uploading audio only in my feed and that didnt work
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I would strongly advise using a third party app instead of the official app. The official app is quite limited in what it can do, and tends to have less development than third party apps.
JohannessNilsson
@wilco @feditips let me clarify. Posting audio files is the issue. Playing back posted audio files from the native mobile app is no problem as of today. However posting audio files is not possible.
wilco
@JohannessNilsson @feditips check out megalodon. I was able to play this audio file and I feel it has a decent interface.
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