I downloaded Firefox myself, and discovered the same thing. After doing a little research, I found out that the method we're using to cloak the location of our Windows Media files apparently requires ActiveX technology, which is not natively supported in Firefox. You can download a plug-in to make your Firefox browser support ActiveX, but this renders Firefox more susceptible to the same kind of security holes that Internet Explorer has.

I have heard that the next version of Firefox will support ActiveX. If so, let's hope it does so in a way that allows it to remain secure.

If you want to watch our videos using Firefox now, and you don't want to install the ActiveX plug-in, I recommend choosing Quicktime as your preferred player for our website files. When you click on the link to watch a video clip, look for a link in the lower right-hand corner of the window that says "Click Here to Change It" (referring to your video preferences). Click on that link, and you will be able to change to Quicktime.

I actually recommend Quicktime for everybody, because it's far better for learning dance steps. With Quicktime, you only have to download the video once, and then you can watch it again and again. You can rewind, fast forward, reposition the cursor to any point, and even advance frame-by-frame. Windows Media, on the other hand, requires you to download the video every single time you watch it, or even when you want to reposition the cursor. Why anyone would prefer Windows is beyond me, but I suspect most people use it simply because they assume Quicktime is for Mac users and WindowsMedia is for Windows users.

Just so you know, we're experimenting with the idea of replacing both the Quicktime and the Windows videos with a single format: Flash. Most people have it installed already, and it can have all of the same great qualities as Quicktime. Plus, we don't have to worry about content protection or ActiveX requirements. So we'll have much fewer people reporting video problems.

We welcome your input.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com