If you have the Real Audio browser plug-in installed in your browser you have been listening to a Real Audio file used as background sound. Instructions for installing Real Audio as background sound are located further down the page.

General Information

Using Real Audio to place sound files on your page for playing by visitors is an excellent way to make "quality" sound available. The Real Audio system requires the user have a Real Audio Player installed on their system which can be launched when the Real Audio (RA) link to begin play is clicked. There are advances which are being made so rapidly in RA that you should consult the Real Audio Home Page for the latest information.

Real Audio Files

There are a few Real Audio extensions which you should understand:

(Note: Real Audio Extensions)
• .ra extension indicates a audio/x-pn-realaudio file
• .ram extension indicates a audio/x-pn-realaudio meta file
• .rm extension indicates a audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin file
• .rpm extension indicates a audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin meta file

The .ra and .ram are used when you want to launch the player or have it appear on your page.

The .rm and .rpm are used when you want the plug-in to play the file.

Basically, there are a few actions which must be taken to install the RA files on your page; those steps are outlined below:

Perhaps the most involved aspect of playing Real Audio files is the use of what is termed, a META FILE. The META FILES should be used when you want to launch either a player or use the plugin. Without the META file the Real Audio will NOT be streaming but will require the file to load completely before playing.

Making META FILES

1. Using a text editor (such as Notepad or SimpleText) create a "metafile" containing the URL and pathway to your file. The METAFILE will be used to "inform" the Real Audio Player of the pathway and filename of your RA or RM file.

The contents are of the METAFILE are:

pnm://www.oocities.org/username/sample1.ra

2. Save your metafile as a TEXT file but use a .ram file extension rather than a .txt extension. (Using Notepad the file will automatically save as a .txt file if you just save without including the full filename and extension when saving. If you accidently save it as a .txt file just RENAME it to .ram in Windows.)

Uploading Files

If the file size is larger than 500kb it will have to be uploaded using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client program such as WS_FTP_LE, CuteFTP or another.

1. Copy (upload) your encoded files (files with the .ra, .ram, .rm or .rpm extension) to your World Wide Web server. Information about the various extensions will be given later.

2. In your HTML document, reference the metafile in a hyperlink to begin playing "calling" the player.

For example: <A HREF="filename.ram">Song Title</a> and the TEXT The Meta file will contain only the following: pnm://www.oocities.org/username/sample1.ra You can use relative or complete paths. If you use complete paths, you must include both the hostname and the complete path. 3. To cause "streaming audio" using the Real Audio Plugin you insert the following tags: <EMBED SRC="filename.rpm" AUTOSTART=TRUE WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=134> <A HREF="filename.rpm">Name of Song</a> The contents are of the METAFILE are: pnm://www.oocities.org/username/sample.rm <p> When a user clicks on the link, the streaming file(s) begin to download. The RealPlayer begins playing after a few seconds; it does not need to wait for the entire file to be downloaded.

Using Real Audio as Background Sound

If you use the following, the RealAudio will become "auto-loading" background music:

<EMBED SRC="filename.rpm" HEIGHT=0 WIDTH=2 AUTOSTART=true> The META file remains the same as the normal .rpm file for the call, and there will be NO "player" displayed.

Test the clickable link
Click the link to the right to start playing.	Bluesy

Download FREE Real Audio Player and/or obtain the Beta Version of Real Producer which can be used to convert .wav files and others to Real Audio files.

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