How can I use an external player for MP3 and MP4 fomats without disabling native HTML5 playback support for mpeg formats that are embedded in webpages?

Question

The Application options were poorly implemented, resulting in multiple instances of handlers for some formats in a long and confusing list. Now Mozilla seems to have solved that problem by preventing users from choosing how various media formats are to be handled -- the cure is worse than the disease! I am getting damned tired of researches into how this or that poor new decision in Firefox's development can be overruled, circumvented, or lived with. How can I choose how an .mp3 file is to be played, and what is going on at Mozilla that I have to ask?

Answer 1

Right-click the link and choose Save Link As to download the file. Afterwards, click the Downloads button on the navigation toolbar and left-click the downloaded file. This will open it with the associated application.
* [[Find and manage downloaded files]]
Setting ''media.windows-media-foundation.play-stand-alone'' to '''false''' in [http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config about:config] is the only way to prevent files like MP4 and MP3 being played inside the browser when left-clicking the links, until the preferences for handling such files are properly fixed at some point in the future. That will happen whenever a developer finds the time to write a patch.