Is there a better way to fix my AS2 preloader? - optimization

Question

I have a game with a preloader in scene 1, with the following code on the time line.
stop();
loadingBar._xscale = 1;
var loadingCall:Number = setInterval(preloadSite, 50);
function preloadSite():Void {
var siteLoaded:Number = _root.getBytesLoaded();
var siteTotal:Number = _root.getBytesTotal();
var percentage:Number = Math.round(siteLoaded/siteTotal*100);
loadingBar._xscale = percentage;
bytesDisplay.text = percentage + "%";
if (siteLoaded >= siteTotal) {
clearInterval(loadingCall);
gotoAndPlay("StartMenu", 1);
}
}
The code works fine when there are no music files linked to frame 1. If there are music files linked, then everything loads before the preloader shows up.
I found this great webpage about preloaders, which speaks about the linkage issue, and suggests I put all the big files on frame 2, after the preloader, then skip them. I put my large files on frame 2 as suggested and the preloader worked again.
My question is, is there a better way to do this. This solution seems like a hack.

Answer 1

The only better option I can think of, is to NOT store the MP3 file in your Flash file, but rather load it in your preloader with your flash file's content. This is provided that you're storing your MP3 file somewhere else online (like on a server).
stop();
loadingBar._xscale = 1;
var sound:Sound = new Sound();
sound.loadSound("http://www.example.com/sound.mp3", false);
var loadingCall:Number = setInterval(preloadSite, 50);
function preloadSite():Void {
var siteLoaded:Number = _root.getBytesLoaded()+sound.getBytesLoaded();
var siteTotal:Number = _root.getBytesTotal()+sound.getBytesTotal();
var percentage:Number = Math.round(siteLoaded / siteTotal * 100);
loadingBar._xscale = percentage;
bytesDisplay.text = percentage + "%";
if (siteLoaded >= siteTotal) {
clearInterval(loadingCall);
gotoAndPlay("StartMenu", 1);
sound.start();
}
}