If you like listening to music whilst surfing the net then the Real Player is for you. It can play individual tracks from music websites or tune in to many radio stations world-wide.
I like tuning in to FM103 Hobart from Australia. There is also access to Bloomberg news, music news, health news, movie news, weather and sport updates etc. You can personalise which channels you want to access regularly. Music videos can also be viewed but quality of picture is variable. You can download the player from www.real.com.
The majority of real players are free to download but you may have to pay for the most sophisticated version. The size of the real player software
is 12.7 Mb. This takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to download. The download time can be decreased if you start downloading after 9.30 p.m. on weekdays.
Once downloaded you then have to install the software. Make a note of the .exe file downloaded and use the run command on Windows 98 on this .exe file. Then simply restart your PC and Real Player is ready for use.
Also included in the downloaded software are Real Jukebox, Real Download and Spinner. Real Jukebox can be used to record tracks from your CDs but I have not used this facility yet.
Now I use Real Jukebox to play CDs everytime I use my PC offline. Pressing Ctrl J ejects the CD holder. Simply put the CD in and press Ctrl J again to put the CD into the player. You are asked if you want to go online to extract information and then if you want to record any tracks.The CD then starts. You can have continuous play or shuffle play.
A new version of Real Player comes out every 6 months or so with newer features each time. You are normally reminded by e-mail about the latest version. When the Internet is very busy there may be interruptions to radio broadcast. Listening to music makes surfing the net more enjoyable.
UPDATED September 2001
About a week ago I saw a message on RealPlayer that RealPlayer 8 was available for a free download.
I went to www.real.com. You have to avoid the adverts for RealPlayer Plus, which cost money and find the link to RealPlayer.
You then enter your e-mail address, operating system used (eg Windows 98), language spoken and modem speed (eg 56 KBPS).
A table of various locations to download from is displayed. For UK users click on the Leeds link.
The download then starts. I use the Go!Zilla software for any downloads from the Internet. It has the advantage of recovering from the exact place a download ended due to a break in the telephone connection to the Internet.
The size of software to be downloaded is 13.7MB. My download took about 57 minutes.
I really do not know what to do during a download. A screensaver appears if there is no keyboard movement for 10 minutes. I also have to keep an eye on the download in case the line is disconnected.
Once the download is complete simply press the install button. Installing the software takes about 7 minutes. Simply restart the computer and the new version is ready to be used.
For non-Go!Zilla users, use the save to disk option once the download has been completed. Then use the Run command in Windows to run the .exe file downloaded. Restart the computer and you are away.
When I am using the PC offline I like to play CDs using RealJukebox.
When surfing the Internet I like to listen to the songs of my latest love goddess LeAnn Rimes. Her web site is www.rimestimes.com. Simply go to the downloads section and you are given about 10 songs to hear or videos to see.
I love her slushy ballads better than the up-tempo stuff. I love the tracks ‘Looking through your Eyes’, ‘Broken Wing’, ‘Fade to Blue’ and ‘Insensitive’. And she only is 19. Cor!
There has been a lot of speculation in the media that Microsoft will bundle its Windows Media Player together with the new Windows XP operating system. The idea is to remove RealPlayer from the market.
Last year I downloaded Windows Media Player from the Windows Update site. I may be stupid but I could not locate the eject button. Also on several occasions the CD I was playing stopped and the screen froze. I could only get out of this by typing Ctrl-Alt-Del and restarting the computer.
RealPlayer is better than Windows Media Player in my book.
RealPlayer is the best media player on the Internet.
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