YouthPastor2000

RealAudio "Audio-on-the-Internet"
By James C. Moberg

Do you have something to say? I mean "really" have something to say? You've designed your webpage and the impact you've desired is missing. If only your webpage could speak. What would it say?

Let's say you have a music ministry and you'd like to share a clip of your music but those 1.5Mb WAV files have forced you to reconsider. Are you a speaker? How about letting others have a little taste of what they can expect when they hear you live and in person. Or maybe you would just like to have that "personal" touch with your webpage where your youthgroup can actually hear your announcements (You could even let the youth make them!!!)

It is possible. And it can be done for FREE! (Don't you just love it when I use the word FREE. I want the word 'free' to be the most frequently used word at YouthPastor.Com)

1. First you'll have to download the FREE RealPlayer and RealAudio Encoder from Progressive Networks. The Player works with most operating systems. The Encoder is currently not available for Win3.1, sorry.

2. Get yourself an audio recording/editing program and a good microphone. I use GoldWave (shareware) for Win95/NT/3.1. You can find other WAV editing software for TUCOWS or Windows95.Com. (Can anyone assist with the Macintosh OS as I don't use it and wouldn't know what to recommend.)

3. Now is the fun part! Create your audio content in stereo at the highest quality (16-bit sound files digitizing at a minimum 22050 HzCD minimum preferably). The initial quality will have a significant impact on the end quality of the RealAudio file because the compression is based on time - not quality. Remember GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out). Your RealAudio file won't sound good unless it is recorded and edited well. Be sure to "Normalize" or "Maximize" the volume before saving it. (Normalization is a process included in most audio recording software whereby the computer calculates exactly how much it can turn up the volume of a file without distortion.)

   

4. The fun part is over. Now it gets tricky. Run the RealAudio Encoder that you've downloaded and installed in Step#1. Load a Source file and enter the desired Destination filename. Fill in the Description with title, author, and copyright. Finally choose a Compression type. This is where you can spend a lot of time tweaking with the overall quality of the RM file. I try to encode all files at about 19k.

5. Next, Purchase the EasyStart Server for $995. (Just kidding.) Actually, if you have access to a web server you can install EasyStart Server (60 users at once) for FREE! (I actually set up the EasyStart Server on a WinNT4.0 server during the writing of this article and it was easy.) If you don't have access to a web server, you can either 1) post the compressed RealAudio files on your page for download and play or 2) have your ISP insert some code (MIME type) into their server and then visitors can listen to your audio files WHILE they are being downloading without waiting.

6. Save the .RM file to your webspace and provide a link to it from your webpage. If you link directly to the .RM file, the visitor will have to fully download it before it starts to play. This is what you may have to do unless your ISP defines the following MIME types for their World Wide Web server:

   audio/x-pn-realaudio (files with a .ra or .ram file extension)
   audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin (files with a .rpm file extension)
   

   If your ISP has the above 2 MIME types configured, you can stream (play while downloading) your audio files or even embed the audio files within your webpage. To do this you'll have to create an additional file. Use a text editor (ie, NotePad) and create a file that has the ABSOLUTE URL to the .RM file and save it with the same name with a .RAM extension. Here's an example.

   NotePad - audiofile.ram

   http://www.YourWebsite.com/YourDirectory/audiofile.rm        OR rtsp://www.YourWebsite.com/YourDirectory/audiofile.rm If you are using EasyServer or better you would need to type: pnm://www.YourWebsite.com/audiofile.rm

   To play your audio file you would then link to the .RAM file:
   

   <http://www.YourWebsite.com/YourDirectory/audiofile.ram">Song</A>

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James has been digitizing audio ever since he found out his Tandy 1000SL came with a microphone.

Download RealPlayer or the RealAudio Encoder for the PC or MAC and give it a try... it's free! (Just like YouthPastor.Com!) (2/6/02 - Please note, this is no longer available. Consider using Internet Audio Mix for audio or search Google for "RealProducer_8.0_Setup.exe".

Requirements
PC: 486 or better, Windows 95 or Windows NT, 256+ color video or greater, 4MB RAM (Windows95/NT), 2MB disk space, PPP or SLIP Internet account
Mac: PowerPC, 4Mb RAM, 2MB disk space, PPP or SLIP Internet account

Other useful RealAudio info:

• HTTP Streaming: the free solution (by Ziff-Davis)
• RealAudio 3.0 Content Creation Guide
• Internet Audio Mix (Windows, 30 day trial/$19.95) - Mix MP3s and WAVs and convert to RealMedia format.

Please notify me of any broken links and I'll immediately and gladly correct them. Email your questions, ideas, review requests and comments to .