Dropbox audio previews
Use Dropbox when you want beat previews hosted outside WordPress media: useful for large catalogs or hosts with tight upload limits.
Current support
Dropbox is available as an Audio Preview Source in the BeatStore UI Theme Beat Options metabox (and catalog routes that read that meta).
- Edit a Download.
- Set Audio Preview Source to Dropbox.
- Paste a direct link to the audio file (MP3 recommended).
- Publish / Update.
The player treats the URL like any other progressive audio file: there is no Dropbox OAuth or API call.
Link format that works
Paste a link the browser can fetch as audio, for example:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/.../preview.mp3- A share link rewritten to force download/stream (
dl=1/raw=1style), depending on Dropbox’s current share URL rules
A normal “view in Dropbox” page URL (www.dropbox.com/...) often will not play in the widget.
Known limitations (today)
- No automatic conversion of Dropbox share links → direct stream URLs
- Duration may be unavailable (the Player has an option to hide the duration column for this case)
- BeatStore Player Plugin ACF fields historically emphasize Upload + SoundCloud; Dropbox is first-class on the UI Theme path
We’ll improve Dropbox link handling and docs in a follow-up. For SoundCloud OAuth setup, see SoundCloud audio previews.
Troubleshooting
If Dropbox audio won’t play, check CORS / cross-domain audio. Dropbox is a different origin from your store.