Is it possible to check if a resource is available?

[Redline]

I have a playlist table on my blog that requests my current winamp playlist from my computer. Unfortunately if winamp isn't running, or my computer is offline, the page doesn't load. Is there an easy way to check if the resource is available?

[sde]

play around with fopen(). try to open the file, and if you can't, then write a javascript variable to the page to let it know that it should not make your ajax requests.

you might need an '@' sign before fopen to supress any errors it might generate if it can not open the file.

i don't think file_exists() works across the internet. that would be ideal though.