I’m wondering which is better to use as a link from business website for advertizing sound clips of CD’s available to purchase?
I’m almost at the point for setting up a website and wonder which site is best to use, YouTube or Soundcloud?
For embedding in a page the soundcloud player is smaller and gives better controls over playback. It also always plays at the highest quality (not saying it’s high quality 
).
On youtube you need the user to set it to the highest quality to get the best sound.
I’d always go with Soundcloud.
First, as Strophoid said, the embedded content is smaller and far more elegant, and secondly, when you embed youtube content, the embedded player will recommend other youtube content after the playback is over. And you wouldn’t believe some of the preposterous crap it will offer…
Same goes for embedded video. Use vimeo for that, not youtube (quality’s better there too)
i have more or less stopped posting on You Tube now and don’t even bother with Band Camp or My Space either. However, i would probably still use You Tube for videos (though i have not heard of Vimeo).
For videos youtube is fine, mostly because it’s the standard. But Vimeo offers better quality indeed, so if it’s really just for your website to embed in, vimeo might be a nice alternative for video.
Thanks for the clarification!
Nice to view the details of how these on-line services actually work. “preposterous crap” isn’t on my list of needs.
For video I think Vimeo only offers better quality (higher bitrate) if you sign up for their pro account. I’ve got some HD (720p & 1080p) vids on Youtube that look plenty good enough. The BIG annoyance with Youtube though is of course the ads. 
I haven’t really embraced Soundcloud myself though I do have an account… I personally prefer the clean customizable look of Bandcamp.
But Band Camp does not seem to be that popular as it used to be. Which is a shame because its very good.
How are you measuring Bandcamp’s popularity?
theres something about the sound of soundcloud i dont like ,seems to lose dynamics or gets louder , trouble with utube you have to also send up a vid , bandcamps sound seems to stay more intact . i think people like to drool over the wave and the stats in soundcloud ,you can`t look at peoples music anonymously anymore . i might want to check somebody out without them knowing. 