The Kingston Trio Place

Presents

How To Configure Your RealPlayer To

STREAM
and to
DOWNLOAD, SAVE & LISTEN TO

RealMedia (RealAudio) Files

Please download and install the latest RealPlayer by clicking the above icon to go to the RealMedia Web site to select the FREE RealPlayer 7 Basic. If you have RealPlayer G2 currently installed on your computer, the following instructions are probably applicable to it. A bonus you get when using the latest RealPlayer 7 Basic is it will also play a variety of other audio-file formats including MP3.

IMPORTANT: MacIntosh users may be presented with an Error 23 or other message when trying to play RealMedia (.rm) files with the RealPlayer 7 Basic or G2. If you, as a MacIntosh user, get this message, please follow the hyperlink in the message to take you to the RealMedia Web site for instructions on how to remedy the situation. ALWAYS CHECK FOR AND INSTALL THE LATEST UPDATES TO RealPlayer AS MANY PROBLEMS ARE OVERCOME WITH THE LATEST UPDATED VERSION.

Although you can immediately use the RealPlayer after installation, it will probably configure itself to treat a Web site link-designated "DOWNLOADABLE" RealMedia file as if it were a Streaming file and begin to play it after you click on that link on a Web site. This isn't what you want if your intention is to download the file to save and play it, at your leisure, later on, without the potential Internet-traffic interruptions Streaming RealMedia files are vulnerable to. Once you have downloaded and installed the latest RealPlayer on your computer, do the following to configure your RealPlayer to automatically Stream or Download/Save/Play a RealMedia file depending on the nature of the RealMedia-file link you click on on a Web site:

1. Open your RealPlayer (so the faceplate image (skin) of the RealPlayer is on your screen)

2. On the menus across the top of the Player, click on "View"

3. On the list that drops down, click on "Preferences"

4. On the tabbed box that comes up, select the "Performance" tab

5. On the page that comes up showing the performance options, look at the "Playback from Web links" section and click on the "Settings" button in that section

6. On the box that opens, you'll probably see that under the options box, the "Enable instant playback" box has a check in it. That's cool! But you'll also see, per the present automatically installed configuration, that the "Play" radio button has been selected during installation. You don't want that button selected so do this

a. Select the "Save" radio button and check the "Play after saving" box next to it

b. Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the box

c. Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the "Preferences" box that is now on your screen

10. Your RealPlayer is now back to its familiar faceplate image (skin) and ready to go!

Now whenever you come across any RealMedia file links on the Web, if they
are set to stream, clicking on the link will bring the player up and start
the streaming. If, however, the file has not been set to stream, such as on
my "Download & Listen" links, when you click on that link you'll get a "Save
as" box that pops up and here you can specify where you want to save the .rm
file to. Now once you do that, and upon completion of the download, the
RealPlayer will begin playing the file and it will be saved to your hard
drive. Now you'll be able to enjoy the file any time you want to, free of any Internet-traffic interruptions!

Good luck!

Ken - The Kingston Trio Place