You must have Real Audio Player version 3.0 or more. RealPlayer 4.0 and onwards combines an audio player with a video player, and should play the sound samples on this site.
RealPlayer should install itself as a helper application to your browser. That means that when I add a link to a RealAudio file on my web pages, your browser will recognize it and call RealPlayer to play it.
RealAudio is an audio technology for the Internet that is currently very popular. It compresses the audio data - which means that you usually get mediocre sound quality, but the data moves along the net lines a lot faster than full blown, high quality digital sound. In fact it moves so fast that if you have a good connection - and some luck - you can receive stream audio data - which means listen to the music while at the same time your computer continuously gets the next part of the audio data, so that continuous audio programs such as radio broadcasts can be transmitted on the Internet.
The Soul of the Net's sound samples are offered in two formats:
streaming it means you listen while you receive. After a short "buffering" period, in which your computer receives the first few seconds of the song, you will start to hear the music. There's nothing saved on your computer's disk. At the sound sample's end, it vanishes like the proverbial puff of smoke.
If you get an error message when trying to stream audio from my site, saying "Requested URL is not valid", try to cancel the "Use Proxy" option (options - preferences - proxy).
downloading it means you save the file to your disk, and give it a name. You wait while the whole file is downloaded, which can take a lot of time, depending on your connection speed and the condition of communication between your computer and my server. When the downloading is concluded the file is saved and you can play it at your will using the "Load File" option in RealPlayer.
If you try to download a clip and it is immediately played, and not saved, you can change this by changing the default treatment of *.ra files in your browser's options, in "helpers".
The sound samples on this site are given in order to promote the music. If you like a sound sample and need help in obtaining the record/CD, drop me a line.