Audio Player Control

Question

I'm looking for a vcr control that will control audio
playback -- pause, rewind, or drag to a position midway -- that I
can use with an external audio file. The person viewing the
Captivate slide would be able to start, stop, or repeat sections of
the audio. Why? Our sales training uses audio examples that are
5-10 min long and we need to let the user control whether the
dialog plays and then skip around to review parts of the recording
at will.
I've puzzled through the Captivate 2 help file and figured
out how to let the user stop and start the audio. I can't find a
clue about how to let the user pause or skip around.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hey, thanks for the tip. Sounds promising. I'll give it a try
and let you know.
Also, I've not described why I want to allow the user to
control audio, so it does seem an unusual need.
I'll use the Captivate Soft-Skills Sample that comes with the
application as an example. On the path between slide 10:Closing and
13:End insert a slide that lets the learner listen to three
examples of a sales person greeting a prospect . Oh yeah, while
they listen show a transcript of the conversation so they can read
along.
These three audio examples are not just snippets, like the
shopper's responses on slides 5-10. Instead they are a real life
conversation between an actual shopper and sales person. Suppose
the example audios are each 2 - 3 minutes in length, which is the
average duration of a real sales greeting. Ask the learner listen
to the greeting examples and then rank them into good, better, best
using a matching question or Likert scale or whatever.
In our experience the learner will want to compare the
examples by listening more than once, rewinding to a phrase or a
key point, etc. If they can't easily do so, they complain about the
inconvenience of always having to start from the beginning. Then
they unkindly mention the dvd remote control, adding "how hard can
it be?". I tell you, I'm tempted to suggest that the real problem
is lack of short term memory on the learner's part but we are
customer oriented, eh?
Finally, suppose that after a series of lessons in how to
sell, an audio example includes the entire sales interaction from
greeting to close. We use this a final integrative exercise in
preparation for certification by a panel of grizzled sales
managers. So now the length of each example is about 10 minutes.
Believe me, it's hard to sell someone enough furniture for an
entire room in 10 minutes and be close to realistic; but we manage.
Short audio is terrific. We use it all the time. Just let it
play as the movie unfolds and the user can jump to next slide or
back, if bored or confused. Captivate seems to be just the ticket.
But short audio doesn't match real life interactions. In our
world shoppers seldom say, "Oh really" and then stop so you can
supply the next step. Perhaps in the training but never in the
showroom. Extended audio is also required in our environment. If
for no other reason, I convinced our team to use it in integrative
exercises and we are most pleased with the results. It's just that
learners need to be able to rewind and jump around and I've got all
this audio recorded . . .
So, I'm evaluating whether we should migrate to Captivate,
which offers so many advantages, or look elsewhere. Again, thanks
for the advice and I'll update my tale of woe to let you know the
results.