What makes the player special?
- Ease of use
- Ease of web development
- Power
Ease of use[]
Play buttons inline in the document are easy to find if your attention is on the text, and the master player bar attached to the viewport makes it easy to find playable media without having to read through the text.
There is a closer connection between the document and the media in this player than in a Flash player like the JW Player or Musicplayer. The document is easier to ease -- for example it has more metadata.
Ease of web development[]
No need to to create an external playlist file.
No easier learning curve for web developers -- just link to media.
No need to set up different player technologies (like the different embeds for Quicktime and Windows Media Player) for different media types (like .m4a and .wma). One player type and integration method.
Power[]
Allows the player to be extended with anything you can do in a web page, which is almost anything.
Can play media using all available plugins, not just Flash.
Just as easy to implement new media types like Ogg Vorbis as established ones like MP3.
Extensible with JavaScript and CSS.