Sound Quality for mp3

Question

I want to import an mp3 file into flash but want to make sure the file size is the smallest I can get it without downgrading the quality of the sound.  Is there anything out there that will do this for me?

Answer 1

Speedr,
     Okay, when you go the route of ActionScript, you need to remove the audio from your timeline, and you can delete the imported audio file from your library.  To load your audio at runtime, you can use the following ActionScript.  Put this code into a keyframe, such as frame 1 of the main timeline:
var audio:Sound = new Sound();
     At this point, you've declared a variable named audio (just an arbitrary name) that is typed as an instance of the Sound class (that's the :Sound) part.  All that means is that your variable's name is audio and it's type is Sound, as opposed to, say, MovieClip, Boolean, Date, or any other kind of object.  The audio variable is an instance of the Sound class -- that is, it's a Sound object -- and the variable audio is now a reference to all the rights, priviledges, and functionality described in the Sound class entry of the ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference.
     Classes generally have three categories:  properties (characteristics), methods (things the object can do), and events (things the object can react to).  At this point you want to do something, so you'll use the Sound.loadSound() method.  You'll invoke this method on the audio instance:
audio.loadSound("mySong.mp3", true);
     This method happens to accept two parameters, which are the words that show between the parentheses.  The first parameter, a string, names the MP3 file you're loading.  The second parameter, a boolean, tells Flash whether or not to play the sound as soon as enough bytes have loaded.  Using true means the audio will start playing automatically, usually after a few seconds, even if the MP3 is rather large.  If you use false, or leave that second parameter blank, the audio will not play automatically, but then you'll have to use programming to determine when the file has fully loaded (see the Sound.onLoad event).
     Now, I know you want this file to repeat, so to do this, you can use a event (something the object reacts to -- such as encountering the end of the file).  Here's how you can listen for that onSoundComplete event in AS2:
audio.onSoundComplete = completeHandler;
function completeHandler():Void {
  this.start();
     Event handling happens a number of different ways in AS2 (it's more consistent in AS3), but the principle is always the same:  you choose an event to listen for, and then associate a function with that event.  In this case, I've written a custom function, arbitrarily named completeHandler(), that handles the onSoundComplete event.
     This function simply references itself (this) and invokes the Sound.start() method on that reference.  So ... when the audio finishes playing, the Sound instance -- in this case, a variable named audio -- dispatches the Sound.onCompleteEvent.  Because that event is associated with a function, the function is then triggered.  That function invokes the Sound.start() method on itself, which restarts the audio.
David Stiller
Co-author, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers
http://tinyurl.com/dpsFoundationFlashCS3
"Luck is the residue of good design."