I would like to know a secure way to stream mp3 files using flash. 
This means that a user can go to my website and stream a whole song
but the user will have no way of downloading that song. It should work
just like myspace.com or purevolume.com.

iqram...

The following simple application from the MyGen website works
great for me! I've placed it on two of my website's pages, and
it's completely secure. The actual music files can even be put
on a different server, at a different URL:
http://www.mygen.co.uk/index.php?page=tutorials&section=flashplayer1

The code is pretty straightforward, and all you have to do is
upload a couple of files to the page where the player is to be
located, and then adjust the code to point to those locations,
but if you need help with that, let me know (though our discussion
will then be public record, so that may not be the best idea).


Another free solution is the demo player from Hoover Web Design:
http://www.hooverwebdesign.com/flash/free-music-player.html

This one plays multiple tracks, exhibiting them one at a time,
and doesn't allow the user to select a different track as the
first one does. However they offer a player with more options
for $50, here:
http://www.hooverwebdesign.com/flash/musicplayer/1/index3.html

Other players are shown on this page:
http://www.hooverwebdesign.com/flash-music-player.html


Here's another option that costs $39.99, but it doesn't seem
to have the support of a dedicated website - WebAudioChamp 1.0:
http://www.topshareware.com/WebAudioChamp-download-39086.htm


FLAMplayer is another option that requires (or accommodates)
websites using PHP and MySQL, and is free:
http://www.flamplayer.com/

They offer FLAMexpress as a free service for musicians that
don't have a PHP and MySQL website, but the service is still
in development.


Coffee Cup offers a Web Juke Box program for $34 that provides
a graphic interface that allows you to skin and configure the
player on your PC, then provides an FTP program to upload the
files to your site. They offer a 30-day free trial, but they
don't talk about security, and it seems the songs will be 
uploaded to your site, though they would be hard to find if
they are named differently than the titles that are displayed:
http://www.coffeecup.com/web-jukebox/

They have some excellent Flash tutorials to show you how the
program works:
http://www.coffeecup.com/web-jukebox/help/tutorials/


That should give you enough options to satisfy your needs.
If you have any questions, let me know...

sublime1-ga


Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.

Searches done, via Google:

mygen player.swf
://www.google.com/search?q=mygen+player.swf

mp3 music macromedia movie player
://www.google.com/search?q=mp3+music+macromedia+movie+player

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 11 Sep 2006 12:09 PDT

Here's another one I just happened to run across, called the XSPF
Web Music Player. It's quite similar to the first one I showed you,
but allows you to display an album cover, and uses a scroll bar
instead of mouse auto-scrolling:
http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/

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Request for Answer Clarification by iqram-ga on 11 Sep 2006 19:56 PDT

This does not clear my question of how to stream an mp3 file securley
- without allowing another user the ability to download my file.

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 11 Sep 2006 21:52 PDT

I don't understand. All of these players allow streaming, and none
of them allow downloads. Were you able to download any of the songs
from the sites that exhibited working demos of the players? Please
clarify the problem you have with any or all of these players.

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 11 Sep 2006 22:33 PDT

Here's another classy player for only $10 - the TSPlayer:
http://components.developers4web.com/mp3-flash-player

This one has no indication, in the source code for the demo
page, of utilizing playlist files, if that was your concern.

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 11 Sep 2006 22:54 PDT

Here's another one, simply called the Website Music Player, that
also contains no playlist files in the source code on the demo
page, and even allows people to click and buy any or all of the
songs on the list via PayPal:
http://www.websitemusicplayer.com/

It requires a website with PHP, MySQL, and a Linux host, which 
may account for the better security, and costs $67.

Using PHP and MySQL with the free FLAMplayer, cited earlier
should also provide more than enough security.

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 14 Sep 2006 11:33 PDT

In regards to the comments by ark11-ga, I believe I addressed
that concern in my two preceeding clarifications, starting with
the one on 11 Sep 2006 22:33 PDT.

sublime:
These players do allow you to download the tracks:  the location of
each mp3 file is publicly viewable in the source code.  Take look at
your first suggestion, for example, and you'll find this:
http://www.mygen.co.uk/tutorials/playlist.xml.

So these don't meet iqram's criterion that the player be secure and
not allow downloading of the mp3.

re sublime's sept 11 suggestions:

http://components.developers4web.com/playlist.xml
http://www.websitemusicplayer.com/demo/config/mp3player.xml

not secure.

Well played, ark11.  I had the thought that you could implement a kind
of CHAP to do this using a "secret" key in both the swf and the
website that provides the file.  Plus some hashing.  But that's only
obscurity, really.

The only way I can see to buy some solid security would be to make
that "secret" key unique to every instance of the flash player and
expire the keys every hour or so.  The host would have to imbed the
key into the swf at the time of the request.  I don't know much about
flash, but my understanding is that this would require flash bytecode
modifications.  Which could be quite involved.  Sadly, I have yet to
see a free player that does this.

I'm starting to wonder if even myspace's player just uses URLs.

(follow up) At least according to Charles (http://xk72.com/charles/),
myspace doesn't reference any URLs for the mp3's unless the mp3 is
also downloadable in the player.  So there's gotta be some way to do
it.