For the record it is easy to do the alt text when using just embed as the matching noembed tag works just fine. When you combine it with the object tag however you end up with the alt text displayed in IE even when the player loads.
Wait, hang on a sec I just had an idea.
You're saying that the noembed tag is responsible for seeing alt text in IE even with the applet loaded?
But what if we used IE conditional comments?
I might experiment with that. Could be worthwhile...
Gah, it's 3:21 am and I need a life.