But then there are those of us who have tried emulating drum machines with HTML and Javascript - for example, http://bitrotten.com/dr110 - and find the abysmal implementation of audio in browsers to be frustrating, particularly with all the naive talk about how HTML5 will make Flash obsolete, or how you should just make a web app if you want iPhone users without going through the iTunes store.

Give me easy audio but no autoplay and I will be happy. The same applies for video. In fact, in unicorn-land I would like it also for heavy animations. At least one advantage with flash is Flashblock ;-)

Without autoplay you cannot build a web based app that has audible dings for things like alerts or any sort of JavaScript music player or game. I'm okay with a web browser having the option of disabling audio though.

No problem : play and further autoplay could be authorized on a per app basis.

Or myspace. I wish the person who made the "autoplay my music whenever someone visits my page" setting would get shot.

There is probably a good reason this is so difficult: web sites that play sounds other than in the context of audio or video media are very often quite annoying, and thus there hasn't been much demand.

Collaborative DAW and mixing applications need to exist soon. There is a lot of really cool stuff that could be done in this space. Opportunities are endless and both at the professional and casual consumer level markets of happily paying users exist.