Gmail Adds mp3 Playing Capabilities

It seems like I'm announcing some new Gmail feature every month, but they are definitely welcomed features. This month Google adds the ability to play mp3 audio files attached in emails. This feature adds-on to the recent news of the updated version of Google Talk which allows for voicemail messages; now gTalk users can listen to their voicemail messages within Gmail.

Similar to how you can view the original size of an attached image or simply download it, Gmail gives you the option of playing or downloading attached mp3 files. Playing an mp3 file pops up a window with a basic audio player with a GUI similar to that of the Google Video player.

Gmail Adds mp3 player

Update: You can also embed the audio player by calling something like the following (as mentioned on Uneasy Silence): 

<iframe src="http://mail.google.com/mail/html/audio.swf?audioUrl=MP3_URL" style="border: 1px solid #aaa;width: 500px; height: 26px;"></iframe>
where MP3_URL is the location of the mp3 file on your server to play. From what I've seen messing with the CSS, you can make the iframe as wide as you want and the Google player fluidly expands nicely.

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Paul Stamatiou is a designer who codes. He's the Co-Founder of Rewind AI, previously designed at Twitter for 9 years, and has been writing here for 18 years.