Play mp3 Files

[David Heuring]

Apologies for posting this to the bbb.dev board. I tried the bbb.users forum and got a couple of work arounds that are not suitable. I'm desperate for a solution. I manage BBB for English language courses where there are a lot of listening activities using mp3 audio files. There is no way to upload mp3s, nor does the video link work unless we were to make a lot of YouTube sound-only videos. Not optimal since YouTube is a public site. We've tried holding the headset mic close to the speakers after clicking an mp3 file on the desktop. It works but can be distorted and is hardly a long-term solution. Someone else suggested a sound mixer device, but that's not viable for 100+ teachers' computers. I'm writing to ask if there is any possibility an mp3 upload/play feature could be considered in future upgrades. And, of course, if anyone has any suggestions for how else we could do this, well I'd be so very grateful. Thanks, Fred, Chad and the rest of the developers for this awesome platform that is working so well for us during this COVID-19 crisis. You're the best!  

[David Pesce]

Hi David,

I've had success using this: https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/

Not sure if you're on Mac, but I'm sure there is a Windows equivalent. This basically routes audio from an application to an input. So you play the audio file and route that audio into your microphone input. This would then be played over BBB. Hope that helps!

[David Heuring]

Thank you. David. I appreciate the suggestion. Everyone in the organization is on Windows 10. I'll see if there is a comparable version available for that OS. I did note the cost of Loopback and know we can't afford the subscription for so many users. But, I'll see what I can find. I liked the idea. It also got me thinking about the Windows sound settings so I wanted to see if it would work to select the Stereo Mix input setting, where it combines the system audio source with the mic's. It does it on my computer. But I started an mp3 file on my desktop and then used BBB's screenshare to select it from the application window.  It shows, of course, but doesn't seem to be able to access the sound from the VLC app. I was told from some competitors of mine that MS Teams and Zoom can work this way for playing audio files. Am I missing something here? 

[Fred Dixon]

> I was told from some competitors of mine that MS Teams and Zoom can work this way for playing audio files. Am I missing something here?

Both Zoom and Microsoft Teams have you download an application.  Once you do that, the application has low-level access to your media devices.

In contrast, BigBlueButton requires no install.  It makes use of the web real-time communication (WebRTC) libraries built into FireFox, Chrome, and the latest version of Microsoft Edge (Jan 2020).  WebRTC is also supported on Safari Mobile (iOS 12.2+) and Chrome Mobile (Android 6.0+).

Our plan is to let users upload an audio or video file (similar to how you upload a presentation), and share it properly within the client (similar to how you can share a YouTube video).  With the media, we can stream it more effectively than screen sharing and incorporate it into the recording.

  https://github.com/bigbluebutton/bigbluebutton/issues/8276

Regards,... Fred

Regards,... Fred

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[David Heuring]

Thanks, Fred. I should have done a better search to see that this is already in the pipeline. Thanks also for the clarification about Teams and Zoom. My organization is implementing a number of virtual solutions for our situation. I'm the BBB guy. So far, I've gotten really good feedback from our managers and teachers about BBB and quite a number prefer it to the others, as it functions like a classroom should and not an enhanced web conference tool. Those that don't tend to less tech smart. I'll keep searching for a viable short/medium term, work around solution to the audio file issue, and let everyone here know you guys have listed it as a new feature in the future.

Best regards, and stay safe,

Dave

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[David Pesce]

Hi David,

I did a quick search and found this: https://www.howtogeek.com/217348/how-to-record-the-sound-coming-from-your-pc-even-without-stereo-mix/

Seems like Audacity may be a good fit. Free (OSS) and would work on any system.

[Fred Dixon]

Hi David,

>  My organization is implementing a number of virtual solutions for our situation. I'm the BBB guy. So far, I've gotten really good feedback from our managers and teachers about BBB and quite a number prefer it to the others, as it functions like a classroom should and not an enhanced web conference tool

Thanks for sharing the feedback from managers and teachers!

We've been focused on one market: online learning.  We designed BigBlueButton with the goal of enabling teachers to engage students for learning (not creating another generic web conferencing system).  Great to hear that sentiment coming from end users.  I think we're headed in the right direction with the product.

Regards,... Fred

 

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[David Heuring]

Much appreciated, David.  I found the same article and tried both the Stereo mix and Audacity, but neither worked on BBB. There may be something missing, I used screen share but there was no audio. Unless I'm doing something wrong, it doesn't seem to work.