All About RealAudio

What Are Real Audio Files?

Real Audio files are files that can be run to listen to sound recordings. For our site, we use the Real Audio files to provide you with samples of songs from the albums that we sell.

How Do I Play the Real Audio Files?

In order to listen to the sound samples, all you have to do is click on the links with the Real Audio links. If you receive a message from your browser asking you to select a helper application, it means that you need to get the Real Audio Player, which can be had for free (see below).

Where Do I Go To Get The Real Audio Player?

You can get the Real Audio Player at Real Audio's home page (www.real.com) or jump right to the Player download page. Once you download the file, you will need to run it. It will extract itself and install into your browser so you can just click on the links to the Real Audio files (.RA and .RAM).

What's So Great About Real Audio Files? Why not use .WAV Files?

Besides being much smaller . . . You can begin listening to Real Audio files immediately without having to wait 5-10 minutes for it to download. Unfortunately, we all connect to the internet at different speeds which prevents us from doing effective streaming with the Real Audio Files (the .RAM files). So we linked you directly to the Real Audio file for listening.

Why am I getting the error ... "RealAudio Error 39: Invalid Decoder?"

I'm not sure, I think it is a feature of the RA Player, but try this. First, shut down the Real Audio Player. Then, start the Real Audio Player back up again, and try the link again.

Reprinted with permission from AMustardSeed.com, a Christian music store featuring CDs and videos.