MP3 Files

Our MP3 files are encoded at 128kbps. For those of you less familiar with the terminology, this means that it is recorded at a sampling rate typically considered "CD quality". While none of our clips are especially large, the MP3 files are about double the size of the "Streaming" files you see on our site.
If you are connected to the Internet using a standard phone line, you will need to download the entire file to your hard drive (which may take a few minutes depending on your connection speed), and then play it. (see Players for information on what you need to play the files)

Streaming Audio

Our low bitrate streaming audio files are 64kbps Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. "Streaming" allows you to listen to the audio as you are downloading it.
If your Internet connection speed or quality is not very good, you may still be unable to "stream" these files. If your player is set up to "buffer" the audio, you may not hear the music for a while even though you pressed "Play". If this is the case, you will probably see a message somewhere on your screen that reads "buffering ...". In this case you will have to save the file to your hard disk first, and then play it. At this point you may choose to download the higher quality MP3 files, or still opt to download the smaller WMA files which are about half the size of the MP3 files. Another reason for playing the WMA files instead of the MP3 files would be if your computer is slow enough that it cannot decode the MP3 files fast enough to keep up with the playback.

What you need to hear the music samples

You will need a program capable of playing MP3 and/or WMA (Windows Media) files.
If you use a Mac, then "QuickTime" is probably the most common choice. At the time of writing, the current version of QuickTime does not play Windows Media files, but will play MP3 files.
If you use Windows, then you probably already have Windows Media Player which is also available for the Mac.
"MusicMatch Jukebox" is a pretty descent player and available for download free at www.musicmatch.com . Another popular player is "Real.com"'s player, but it comes at the cost of flooding your system with all sorts of advertisements, and opening up your system for interrogation by their servers.
Some other players which don't come with the usual extra advertising are

Unlike some of the other players, these will ONLY play MP3's, do not come with extra flashy buttons, but do not try to sell you anything extra, or try to send personal information over the Internet for marketting purposes.

How to download a file instead of streaming

When you click one of the note symbols for an audio clip, you may be prompted to save the file to your disk. If this happens, then follow the directions on your screen.
However, if your computer tries to play the audio file automatically, and you have trouble and would rather download it to your hard drive first, then

and select "Save Link As..." or equivalent option. Then follow the directions on the screen.

Troubleshooting

Music stops intermittently
If you are "streaming" the audio file:
If you have a reasonably hi-speed connection (e.g. Cable or DSL), and your audio player allows you to set the amount of audio to buffer, you can try increasing the length of audio you buffer and see if it helps. Otherwise, stop the playback and download the file instead. You can download the file by and select "Save Link As..." or equivalent option.


If you have downloaded the file:
Then your computer does not have enough memory to keep up with decoding your audio file. Download the "Stream" file instead of the "MP3" file and try playing it instead.


Player says it is "playing" but you hear no music
Of course, you should always make sure that your speakers are on first ;-)
If your plug-in is set up to "stream" the audio file, you should see a message somewhere on your screen that says that it is "buffering". If it indicates that it is buffering more than 50% and the time that it takes to start playing hardly seems worth "streaming", you may want to try decreasing the buffer amount. Exactly how this is done will be different for each Player. If after you decrease the buffer amount, you find that the music gets interrupted frequently, then your connection speed is too slow to stream, so you should download the file first.
You can download the file by and select "Save Link As..." or equivalent option.


If all else fails
Try some of the lower bitrate recordings on our samplespage.


Player asks to Upgrade
Unless it really insists that you need a more recent version of their software in order to play the audio files, odds are, the upgrade is merely an option. If you would like to take this opportunity to upgrade your software, it is probably relatively harmless, but it may take some time and effort to complete the task. If you would rather not bother with the upgrade at this time, you can just decline to upgrade at this time, and then the audio file will probably play.



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