The different levels of audio services let you choose services appropriate to the requirements of your application and to your programming ability. The Multimedia extensions offer two levels of audio services:
High-level audio services allow you to play and record audio files with as little as one function call. Compared to low-level audio services, high-level services are easier to use and require less programming. High-level services also meet the audio requirements of most applications.
Low-level audio services allow you to communicate directly with audio device drivers to manage playback and recording. Low-level audio services require more programming than high-level services, but give you more control over audio playback and recording.
Summary: Choosing the Appropriate Services
The easiest way of playing and recording audio is to use high-level audio services. If the high-level audio services don't meet the audio needs of your application, you can use low-level audio services to write your own routines to manage audio playback and recording.