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Can Google's Gmail Play MP3 Music Files?

I get a lot of music from friends via email and it's a huge pain to have to download them from Yahoo Mail, save them on my computer, then launch a player to hear them. I heard that Google's Gmail service has a better solution. Do they, and if so, how does that work?

Dave's Answer:

Great question: I didn't realize that Gmail had the ability to play audio files within the Gmail system itself, but your question provoked some investigation on my part and, well, you're absolutely right!

To show you how it works I've emailed myself a music file, Django Reinhardt's splendid rendition of Limehouse Blues as an Mp3 file. When I view the message in Gmail, here's how it looks:

Normally, with an attachment you see "View" or "View as HTML" and "Download" as the two options adjacent to an attached item, but here you can see that we have a cheery little music file icon and "Play" shows up.

Since I rarely miss a chance to listen to Django, I'll click on "Play" and a new window pops open:

Simple, elegant, and it works like a charm. So your suspicion is indeed correct, Gmail does a splendid job of handling Mp3 files, and my kudos to Google for this unsung additional feature to an already state-of-the-art web-based email system.

Rock on!

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Comments

Does it matter where the file came from in the first place? (I'm thinking iTunes specifically)

Posted by: jansonsjeanette@gmail.com at October 10, 2007 10:11 PM

Your knowledge is boundless!!

Posted by: Ryan G at October 7, 2008 1:16 PM

definitely another useless function from google. spice up the interface first.

Posted by: anonymous at October 7, 2008 11:16 PM

Just what we need 5 meg attachments cluttering up our email.

Posted by: Marc Chabot at October 8, 2008 4:59 AM

Marc, have you ever used gmail? The storage currently stands at about 7 GB. A 5MB attachment isn't much these days

Posted by: Jaloopa at December 23, 2008 2:34 PM

@anonymous: There are a lot of Stylish scripts for Firefox that can change the interface. Some are complete new themes while others are small tweaks. I personally like the interface (although I prefer using a desktop client, KMail, primarily), but check them out:

http://userstyles.org/styles/search/gmail

And Gmail is pretty good at providing useful features for free. This isn't quite as useful, but it is nice to have. In fact, GMail makes it easy to read a lot of attachments from inside the interface, which can be incredibly useful when you're not on your PC.

Posted by: Jake at December 24, 2008 12:41 PM

Hey, when I go to down load my gmail mp3's...it shows up as a blank page with the song title below it and won't play outside of the gmail player...is there something i need to download to get my files to work...I've check with others who have downloaded the same files and no one else seems to be having this problem.

Posted by: teezy at January 10, 2009 7:46 AM

i would like alot of music

Posted by: thembakazi at October 22, 2009 12:11 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!