Firefox - Progressive Downloading

[rwinegar]

Just installed latest version of Firefox. I like everything about it with one really big exception. It doesn't appear to support progressive downloading. Every file I click on wants to download completely before it will play. IE has been doing progressive downloads for at least 10 years. My iPhone does progressive downloads. Hard to believe that such a popular browser has such a serious shortcoming.

I download a lot of music files from usenet. I do not want to wait while an entire file downloads. I may not like it. With progressive downloading (what many people call streaming) I can sample the beginning of the song and stop the download if I don't like it. Same with certain video files. I have latest WMP plug in. But this doesn't appear to be a question about the latest of anything. The question is does Firefox support progressive downloading? If anyone is doing it, please tell me how. I have tried just about everything.

[SpywareDr]

This 1.4MB .mp3 starts playing before the download completes:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...re_and_Now.mp3

(Guess it depends on how fast your internet is. If you're on a screaming connection, it'd only take a second or two to download).

[rwinegar]

On my 12 Mbps connection it only took several seconds to download that file. It did not start playing until the download was complete. I really would like to make Firefox my default browser. But until I can make it handle progressive downloads it will only play second fiddle to Internet Explorer.

When I left click an mp3 or WMV file in IE the file begins to play in WMP immediately while it is downloading. In Firefox a left click downloads the file into a temporary directory and plays it in WinAmp (my default mps player) or WMP (my default WMV file player) when the download is complete. I can see absolutely no option in Firefox which would allow the same behavior. The latest version of WMP plugin is installed.

Even cheap cell phones allow progressive downloads. Why not Firefox? Am I doing something wrong?

[Train]

Same way FF works for me.

[Midknyte]

I have latest WMP plug in. But this doesn't appear to be a question about the latest of anything.

Is this the plugin you mean?
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/...with%20Firefox

[rwinegar]

Same way FF works for me.

So why would anyone want such a lousy browser - one that can't play a file until the entire file is downloaded? What a waste of time! Internet Explorer has had this capability for years. All these years in development and Firefox still can't do it? My cell phone can do it for God's sake! And I read such great reviews about Firefox. Maybe Firefox users don't download anything. I download about 100 gigs a month. Many times it is necessary to just watch or listen to a small bit of the file in order to determine whether it is worth downloading. Can't do that with Firefox.

I guess it's back to Internet Explorer.

[Train]

Sorry, but I happen to like it like that. But again, just my liking.

[rwinegar]

Is this the plugin you mean?
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/...with%20Firefox

Yes. That's the plugin installed in Firefox. There is also WMP dynamic link library 3.0.2.629 which appears to have been installed by default. Don't know why there's two.

[SpywareDr]

How about this 12.5MB .mp3? It starts playing in Firefox here almost immediately:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...amba_Pa_Ti.mp3

[Train]

This is what I get and I bet he is too.



Evedently we have something set wrong.

[rwinegar]

This is what I get and I bet he is too.



Evedently we have something set wrong.

It might be important here to say I am using Firefox version 10.0.2. But I really don't think that makes any difference.

Train I do not see what you see. I do not see that box.

I do not believe we have anything set wrong as you suggest. I have been all over Firefox settings. There is no setting that would change this behavior.

When I left click an mp3 file in Firefox it immediately starts to download to a temporary file and all I see is the download box. When the download is finished the song automatically begins to play. Even though a temporary file was created, if I then decide I want to download the file and keep it, the entire file must download again. If I am downloading from EasyNews I am then charged for double the amount of data. Doing the same thing in Internet Explorer, WMP immediately opens and the file begins to download. As soon as the download starts the song begins to play. The streaming file will then continue to download to a temporary file. If I then decide I want to keep the file I right click on the same link and "save target". The file will be saved to the chosen destination location from the temporary location immediately because it was already stored in the temporary location. In other words click "save target" and I hear "ding" immediately. It does not download again and I am not charged for 2 downloads like I am with Firefox.

I would like to hear from anyone who is capable of progressively downloading (streaming) any file with Firefox. I am convinced that it is impossible.

I installed Firefox twice in past years and I could not stream any file. Each time I dumped Firefox for this reason. Thinking that by now the developers would surely have added this capability I decided to try again. Wrong!

With respect to this issue, comparing Firefox to IE is like comparing a Model T to a Corvette. Why would any developer purposely design a browser that is not capable of progressive downloads?

I posted on Firefox support forum and all I got was nonsense from a few people who didn't even understand what I was talking about.

I like many other features of Firefox. But I may again be forced to dump it in favor of IE.

This whole thing is absolutely nuts! It makes no sense at all.

[SpywareDr]

When I left-click on it in Firefox I briefly see QuickTime's big blue Q, QuickTime's gray bar shows up, the music starts playing, and continues playing while QuickTime's gray bar is showing both the song and download progression.

[rwinegar]

When I left-click on it in Firefox I briefly see QuickTime's big blue Q, QuickTime's gray bar shows up, the music starts playing, and continues playing while QuickTime's gray bar is showing both the song and download progression.

Is QuickTime also your default mp3 player? Will a wmv file also start playing in QuickTime if you left click on it? If it does, is QuickTime also your default wmv player?

I am reluctant to install QuickTime just for the purpose of streaming files in Firefox. I don't think there is a QuickTime plugin that will operate only in Firefox. I think the entire program must be installed in the computer. Once in it's almost impossible to get it out safely.

I have had one other person tell me that QuickTime was a solution here. Considering that Apple's computer market share is miniscule compared to PC's, I find it strange that Firefox developers would design a product for such a small market and ignore the millions who are using WMP.

[fink]

In firefox click tools>options>applications and select the file extension(s) that you are trying to play/download from the list shown. You can then change the default action in the drop down box to it's right to either "ask" or use an application of your choosing.

Then next time you click on an mp3 file etc you should get the window shown above asking what you want to do.. ie- open with or save file. Then select the program or plug-in you want to use.

[SpywareDr]

This ~5MB .wmv opens directly in Firefox. It took maybe 2-3 seconds for it to start playing.

http://www.spywaredrguide.com/Virtua...les/Boogie.wmv