Which sound file uses the minimum memory?
If your Director can use mp3, that is a pretty good modern file
format.
e.g. 17sec of 24kHz sampled music in mp3 format == 50kB
If you use wav that is a lot more.
e.g. 17 sec of 20kHz sampled music in wav format == 750kB
Maybe you can try and have your sound file as an external cast member?
Possibly Director will let you start your application without waiting
for the sound file to load.
If you are, for example, in Pakistan, and you have to use dial up
internet, then big files are a really big problem, I know.
I have had some success with the Microsoft Windows speech synthesis.
It used to be called "Microsoft Sam", and will convert a text file
into speech (sound).
So, the user's CPU does the work, without having to download a big
speech file.
All you have to download is the text file, and Windows does the work
to generate the speech sounds.
It is easier to make changes when authoring, too.
No need for a microphone - you just alter the text file!
It depends what you want - speech or music. I thought Microsoft Sam
sounded like a bad robot effect.
That was years ago with an old copy of Windows XP.
New versions of Windows might be a lot better.
Even if you want to make it speak in a different language,
you might possibly be able to use the sound of English letters to
produce the word sounds you want.
There was a music format years ago called...
I can't remember...
Oh, yes, it was .midi
Like Microsoft Sam is mechanical speech, midi was mechanical music.
Not a recording of live music, but a digital list of the instructions
of how to generate the sound of some music.
So it would never sound as smooth or natural as "real" music, it would
usually sound like old computer game music from the 1980s.
You download the midi file, and the user's computer generates the
"music" from the .midi instructions.
So, mp3 if you can afford the file size - better than wav.
I wish I could remember whether Director could use mp3, and which
Director version might have started it. Sorry.
I can't believe Adobe would have left mp3 out of the final versions of
Director.
If you can't get mp3 to work, then synthetic Windows speech and/or
midi music - but it may sound very basic.
I hope some of that helped:)