Linking to a file or website vs. creating a hyperlink to the file

As always in Moodle there is more than one way to effectively embed a resource into your course.  If you've uploaded a media file into your course, you may have already noticed that a hyperlink (using the "insert web link" button) may cause your media file to automatically appear in your label or web page whether or not you wanted it to.  This is because our network is configured to auto-embed those files (swf, mov, wmv and mp3 specifically).  

If you didn't want this to occur, you can always "link to a file or web site" in order to have the file appear on it's own page, though the formatting may not be better.  

Here's an example to illustrate the difference between using a hyperlink and "link to a file or web site".  If I create a hyperlink in a label (after text is highlighted) I can choose browse and pick a file that I've already uploaded to my classroom. Once chosen, the mp3 will display on whatever description or label you created the hyperlink in

with Moodle's automatic player.  The picture right is an example of the resource added as a label in an weekly topic (available to students on the main page of the course). 

Now, this is slightly different that if you were to choose to add this as a traditional resource using the "link to file or web site", though the process is much the same.  Start on your main course page and choose "link to file or web site".  On the next page, add a title and description (optional) and then navigate to the file in your course settings (or on the WWW).  In this case though, instead of clicking on the file you want, click "Choose" as shown in the image below.

After you've chosen the right file, finish creating the resource and click "save".  This is what the final product will look like:

Note that the player is much larger.  Both ways work fine and both are handy for providing audio presentation, lecture recordings, podcasts or songs to your students to listen to at home, but it will depend on your experience and preference for other types of files.  Let us know which way you prefer for video files.  If you're interested in seeing this first hand here's a link to the course.  The audio files used are provided by librivox.org, a free audio book website.