The WebDeveloper.com Secret Guide to RealAudio
October 13, 2000
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OK, let's get the basic stuff out of the way first. Making RealAudio files
is easy and can be completely free. First, you
make a good audio recording in your favorite format, which is usually
a .WAV file. Then, you encode it using the
free RealProducer program for Windows
(
click here to find an encoder for Mac, Linux, or Unix). And if you wish,
get a free server for high-efficiency streaming (or read the rest of
the article to learn how to skip the server altogether!).
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Knowing How To Encode Audio Is Only Half the Trick
On the other hand, if your time is worth something, I also recommend you
look into
RealNetworks' reasonably-priced production tools, which can do almost
all the work for you, including creating HTML and SMIL files, batch
encoding, and streaming of live events.
One Silly Little Letter
What's the difference between a RealAudio file (.ra) and an audio-only
RealMedia file (.rm)? Just the last letter!
Actually, the difference is a bit more subtle and creates numerous problems
for understandably confused Web developers who have been creating and
using RealNetworks' encoders and players for more than a year or so.
In the beginning, there was the RealAudio format and it ended in .ra. Then
as things became more generalized to video (and now SMIL, embedded links,
etc.), the decision was made to change the extension to .rm, for RealMedia.
So what will changing the .rm extension of a pure RealAudio file to .ra do?
Several things:
- it will let owners of older (very old) RealPlayers play the file
by clicking it in the browser. You might not realize this, but you can't
launch a .rm file by clicking on it. And that leads us to the second effect
of changing the extension...
- it will let people download your content more easily. Newer players have a
"record" button, which is usually disabled by default. However,
that button is dependent on the "Selective Recording" setting in
RealProducer.
Now, in the "new mode" of operation of RealMedia, when you create
a page with links to your RealAudio content, you never create a hyperlink
directly to the .rm content file itself. You instead link to a .ram file,
which stands for RealAudio Metafile. This metafile is simply a one-line
text file containing the URL of your actual (.rm) content file (to confuse
things even further, the latest "new new mode" RealProducer Pro
G2 creates .ram files that point by default to a .smil file, which then
points to the .rm file!). Ignore any instructions you may have seen anywhere,
even from RealNetworks, about using relative URLs or file references. Just
use the URL of the target .ra or .rm file as the contents of your .ram file
and it will work every time.
Contents:
Code, Code, Code Your Sound / And
You'll Make It Stream...
Choosing the Right Codec
The WebDeveloper.com Secret Guide to RealAudio
Code, Code, Code Your Sound / And You'll Make It Stream...
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