 Contents
  RealAudio Player Help Contents 

For information on using the RealAudio Player for Windows, choose
one of the topics below.  

Quick Start 
File Menu 
View Menu 
Troubleshooting 

For the latest information on RealAudio products and Web sites,
visit the Progressive Networks home page at:
http://www.RealAudio.com

The latest support and technical information is available at:
http://www.RealAudio.com/help.html


  Quick Start 

The RealAudio Player provides real-time audio on demand over the
Internet.  For the latest information on RealAudio products and Web
sites, visit the Progressive Networks home page at:
http://www.RealAudio.com

Playing Audio
After installing the RealAudio Player, click any RealAudio link on
a World Wide Web page and the player will start automatically. 
(You do not need to first load the RealAudio Player, it will be
loaded by your Web browser.)
Supported Audio Formats
The RealAudio Player plays RealAudio files, which usually end with
a .RA or .RAM extension.  It does not play AU or WAV files.  To
convert an AU or WAV file to a RealAudio file, use the RealAudio
Encoder, available from the Progressive Networks Web site.
Volume Control
The volume control is available when the Info & Volume option on
the View menu is checked.  To adjust the volume, move the slider
upward.  You can also control the volume by adjusting the master
volume in the mixer application supplied with your sound card or
with Windows.
If you do not hear any sound or the volume is very low, check the
volume control on your speakers and your mixer settings for Wave
and Master volume.

File Menu 
View Menu 
Troubleshooting 


  File Menu 

Commands on the File menu allows you to play RealAudio files
directly from the Player without using your World Wide Web browser.

Open Location
Plays a file on a RealAudio server through the Internet without
using a World Wide Web browser. Enter a URL to a RealAudio file in
the dialog as follows:
     pnm://Servername/complete-path-to-file
where:
pnm is the RealAudio protocol name
ServerName is the address of the RealAudio Server
complete-path-to-file is the complete path to the file on the
RealAudio Server

This feature is of value to maintainers of RealAudio sites who want
to test their servers. Using the Player in this fashion is not
recommended: you have to remember the exact file name and server
name.
Note: Open Location does not accept other kinds of URL such as
http, ftp, or gopher.  Use your Web browser instead.

Open File
Plays a local RealAudio file from your hard disk.  Select a .RA or
.RAM file in the Open File dialog.

Quick Start 
View Menu 
Troubleshooting 


  View Menu 

Commands on the View menu allows you to modify the appearance of
the Player and to set Options.

Info and Volume
Displays or hides the volume control and the title, author, and
copyright information for the clip.
To adjust the volume, move the slider upward.  You can also control
the volume by adjusting the master volume in the mixer application
supplied with your sound card or with Windows.
If you do not hear any sound or the volume is very low, check the
volume control on your speakers and your mixer settings for Wave
and Master volume.

Status Bar
Displays or hides the Status Bar, which shows the current status of
the Player, the length and position of the RealAudio file, and help
text for the menu commands.  Check or un-check this menu item to
toggle display of the status bar.

Options
Displays the Options Dialog for configuring the Player.

Statistics
Displays transmission quality information in the  modeless
Connection Statistics dialog.

Always on Top
Selecting this option makes the RealAudio Player remain on top of
all other windows, even when another window is active.  Always on
Top is convenient for keeping the Player visible while you interact
with your Web browser.

Quick Start 
File Menu 
Troubleshooting 


  View Menu - Options Dialog 

Settings in the Options dialog allow you to configure the RealAudio
Player for your system.

Loss Correction
When Loss Correction is checked, the RealAudio Player compensate
for packets lost in transmission between the RealAudio Server and
your Player.  You may hear a momentary warble in the audio stream
if packets are missing.   When Loss Correction is unchecked, the
lost packets are dropped, causing a skip.

Send Statistics
Controls whether the RealAudio Player sends connection quality
statistics to the RealAudio server after playing a clip.  To help
connection providers assure transmission quality, the RealAudio
Player sends some transmission statistics to the RealAudio Server. 
This information includes the same information you see in the
Connection Statistics dialog:
- the number of packets received
- the number of packets lost in transmission
- the number of packets arriving late
If you do not want your Player to send statistics back to the
Server, clear the Send Statistics option.
The RealAudio Player does not access nor send to the Server any
information about your identity such as your user name, e-mail
address or passwords.

Connection Timeout
Specifies the maximum number of seconds the RealAudio Player waits
for a Server to respond.  If the Player does not connect to the
server within the time specified, a Retry/Cancel box is displayed. 
The default value is 30 seconds.  A value of 0 means never time
out.

Advanced Options
Advanced Options override Player defaults for sound card
compatibility and allow you allow you to set the data loss level at
which a warning is displayed.

Use 8-bit Only
Use this option only if there is evidence of compatibility problems
with your sound card.  The Player normally delivers 16-bit audio to
the sound card.  If the sound card only supports 8-bit audio, the
Player delivers 8-bit audio.  If the Player is unable to recognize
that your sound card does not support 16-bit audio, you may hear
only random or garbled sound when playing clips.  Check this option
to override the 16-bit default and play 8-bit sound.

Use 11-kilohertz Only
Use this option only if there is evidence of compatibility problems
with your sound card.  The Player normally delivers 8-kilohertz
audio to the sound card.  If your sound card does not support the
8-kilohertz sample rate, the audio may sound high-pitched or too
fast.  Check this option to instruct the Player to convert audio to
11 kilohertz before delivering it to the sound card.  This option
requires extra processor overhead to play sound.

Acceptable Loss
The Player will display a warning message when the Internet
connection is not providing acceptable quality.  The default value
is 10% loss in any 30-second period.  You can increase this
percentage to allow greater loss without displaying a warning or
decrease the value if you wish to be notified at lower levels of
loss.  See also: Connection Statistics.


  View Menu - Connection Statistics Dialog 

This dialog displays statistics about the connection quality
between your Player and the Internet site serving the currently
playing clip.  Missing data packets create a momentary warble in
the audio or, if Loss Correction is turned off, a skip.

If you experience low sound quality due to lost data packets,
temporary network transmission difficulties or extremely heavy
loads on the server site may be the cause.  You may wish to try
again later or visit another site.

If you consistently experience high rates of loss and you use a
dial-up Internet connection, your modem may be connecting at less
than 14.4kbps, or your Internet Service Provider may not be
providing sufficient bandwidth to service your connection.  Contact
your system administrator.

The Player will display a Loss Warning Dialog if the connection
quality falls below an acceptable level during any 30-second
period.


  Loss Warning Dialog 

The RealAudio Player displays the Loss Warning dialog to inform you
when the Internet connection quality falls below an acceptable
level.

Use the Connection Statistics dialog to view detailed information
about transmission quality.  You can set the percentage of loss at
which the Loss Warning is displayed in the Advanced section of the
Options dialog.


   Troubleshooting 

If you experience problems with the RealAudio Player, please
consult the latest troubleshooting information and FAQ (Frequently
Asked Questions) available on our Web site at:
     http://www.RealAudio.com/help.html

This help contains information on the following troubleshooting
topics:
No sound or garbled audio: sound card compatibility
Web browser prompts for Save To Disk instead of launching Player
Audio will not play: Firewalls
Audio will not play: TIA (The Internet Adapter )
Configuring a Web browser for RealAudio
MIME Types

Updates available at the time of release can be found in the
readme.txt file in the Player installation directory.

No sound or garbled audio: sound card compatibility
The RealAudio Player has been extensively tested with a wide
variety of sound cards under all versions of Windows.  However, if
the sample Thank You and Welcome clips played by the installation
program are garbled or do not play, there may be a compatibility
difficulty with your sound card.  Follow these steps to resolve the
problem:
1. Contact the card manufacturer to obtain the latest drivers. 
Updated drivers solve most compatibility problems.
2. Try selecting the Use 8-bit only and Use 11-kilohertz options in
the Advanced section of the Options dialog.  To test playback, use
the Open File dialog and select start.ram from the Player
installation directory.
3. If the above steps do not solve the problem, visit
http://www.RealAudio.com/help.html and submit a problem report
form.

Web browser prompts for Save To Disk instead of launching Player
If your Web browser displays a prompt with options such as Save to
Disk instead of launching the RealAudio Player, the Player has
probably not been configured correctly.  If your system or browser
configuration has changed since running the setup program, the
easiest solution is to run the setup again.  If the problem
persists, consult the section on Configuring a Web browser for
RealAudio.
If you see a Save to Disk prompt only on a particular site or clip,
the sites server may not be configured correctly.  You can verify
that your Player is configured correctly by playing clips on the
Progressive Networks Web site (http://www.RealAudio.com).  In this
case, contact the site administrator and do not adjust your
configuration.

Audio will not play: Firewalls
RealAudio uses port 7070 for TCP and ports 6970 through 7170
inclusive for UDP transmission. If you are accessing RealAudio
through a firewall, your firewall administrator will need to
authorize these ports. You can point your administrator to our
firewall page at http://www.RealAudio.com/firewall.html for
details.

Audio will not play: TIA (The Internet Adapter)
At the time of release, TIA (The Internet Adapter) was not
compatible with the RealAudio Player.  TIA is a program that
provides pseudo-SLIP access to the Internet.  If your dial-up
connection does not allow you to play RealAudio, your Internet
provider may be using TIA.  Symptoms of a TIA connection include a
Player that halts after the Buffering message when attempting to
play a clip.

For the latest information on TIA compatibility, consult the
RealAudio FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at:
http://www.RealAudio.com/help.html

Configuring a Web browser for RealAudio
The RealAudio Player setup program automatically recognizes and
configures all popular Web browsers for Windows.  If your browser
is not recognized by the setup program, or is newer than this
release of the Player, you may need to configure the browser
manually.
First, check for information related to your browser in the
RealAudio FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at
http://www.RealAudio.com/help.html.  If no information is
available, consult your browser documentation on configuring Helper
Applications or External Viewers.  Add the RealAudio Player an
application with the following information:
MIME type: audio/x-pn-realaudio
Extensions: .ra, .ram
Application: raplayer.exe (The default installation directory is
c:\raplayer.)
MIME Types
MIME types are the method that World Wide Web browsers use to
determine what action should be taken on a particular link.  Most
of the time, a consistent set of file extensions are used for each
MIME type.  In your browser, you determine what actions should be
taken to display each type.  You can change these actions by
changing the values under Helper Applications or External Viewers. 
For RealAudio files, the MIME type is audio/x-pn-realaudio.  See
Configuring a Web Browser for RealAudio for more information.


Quick Start 
File Menu 
View Menu