My wife wants to have an MP3 file to play when a switch is turned on by HE. It's a recording of her late mom's voice. I have read about people doing this in HE, but I am dumb when it comes to doing this as I have never "stored" an MP3 file on a remote "service" before...I know I have to put the URL link to the MP3 file in HE.
I just don't know what free service to store the MP3 on as I never stored music files remotely before.
What storage site do you guys use to do this?
I'd try storing the file on my hub.
That's where I was heading, just depends if you need to be able to do this remotely, which the more I think about it is probably unlikely ...
As mentioned above, the Hubitat file manager is perfect for small files. The action below plays an mp3 file over a Google Home Mini via the Chromecast integration. The IP address is my hub's LAN IP.
Larger files can't be stored on the hub...i forget what the size limit is, but it's pretty big.
Continuing the discussion from Host for MP3 file for playback:
Hey. I was trying to accomplish this. Where can I get the files?
Who are you asking, and what files are you referring to?
Thanks for the help guys..so far I have had no luck with File Manager to play back the small MP3 file.
I will look for a hosting site to host the MP3.
Thank you!
Is the file larger than what is permitted by file manager?
Here's another option that I have used. Upload the file to your Google Drive, and make it available to anyone with the URL. Then use that URL for playback.
It's probably worth asking at this stage how exactly you are attempting to play the file? A screenshot of an RM or similar rule, or some other explanation of how you are trying to play the file, would help us understand what needs to be catered for in the storage and triggering of the file.
Perhaps @bertabcd1234 's example may spark an idea for why it is not working for you?
Could you convert the file to a different format that would have a smaller size?
I agree with others that have asked for a few more details. Using a hosting site likely introduces unnecessary complications that could result in reliability issues and general frustration.
How large is the file?
What is your intended playback device?
How do you want to trigger the automation / what Hubitat app are you using?
Which one would you recommend? There was a time when I played around with file formats, when the amount of memory available on portable players was limited, and AAC was considered to be the least lossy. But didn't dramatically reduce file size. Perhaps that old information has changed and there are better options now?
Back in the day I probably had a more specific recommendation, however I haven't dealt with audio files in a while. I would check what type of format it is in currently. If it is already an MP3 say, maybe you could convert it to a lower bit rate. If it's in .wav or .flac possibly converting it to an MP3 would be sufficient, however I see now that it is already an MP3, so perhaps my suggestion isn't worth much.
This article had some 'interesting' information about the different formats available and at the end of the article it shows how file size is impacted by the different formats. Maybe you'll find something helpful there.
Edited to add:
If you convert a 5 min MP3 from 192 bitrate to 128 it goes from 7.2MB to 4.8MB. Maybe I'm oversimplifying this--I'm not an expert in this area. If you're a big audiophile you may not want to do this with music, but if it's a voice recording I doubt a normal person would notice the difference.
I like the idea of hosting it locally, so I would take reasonable steps to make it work with the file manager. I think you should be able to find a way to make it fit. I had two files that were an hour long on my file manager at one point.
Me too, the only consideration to be made would be whether playing of the audio file remotely is required, or the ability to access the file by a remote service is required.
Thanks folks...I finally got it working by using RM & storing the MP3 locally. This was first time I ever used the File Manager of HE.
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