Say hello to high quality sound and vision, and goodbye to
long waits for audio and video to download, using the Windows MediaTM
Player in Windows 98.
With it, you can tune in to the World Series, view
movie clips, groove to music, and digest multimedia presentations that incorporate text, graphics, and audio.
The best part is that you don't have to concern
yourself with the technicalities of the files: the Media Player can handle
most anything you want to hear or see. It uses a technology called streaming that allows you
to listen to and view material almost instantly.
The Media Player handles the most common media formats, from Windows Media Format to MP3.
It also plays audio and video formats from RealNetworks® up to version
4.
There are even controls built in allowing you to adjust the volume and
locate particular points on an audio or video track. Media creators who
incorporate markers allow you to zip to a predetermined location by
clicking the marker buttons on the control window. It's handy for whizzing
to the important parts of the boss' presentation on the company intranet.
And for added effect, you can take a video clip from a company intranet
and resize it to full screen. (On normal phone-line connections, the
enlarging causes a loss of clarity.)
In control The control window also shows the URL (Web address) of
the site where the multimedia material originated, allowing you to easily
jump to the Web page in one click. You can also add any clip (audio or
video) to your Favorites folder, just as you would a preferred Web
site.
Ready to go sample? A great place
to find multimedia to play on the Windows Media Player is WindowsMedia.com, which features
film clips, news footage, chat shows, and lots of radio stations from
around the world. A convenient link to this site can also be found in
the Windows Media Player.
Stream to you The key to receiving audio and video
files is a technology called streaming. Streaming is the process of
compressing an audio or video file using special transport protocols
(called "codecs") to deliver data to your computer. This data is
then decompressed by the Windows Media Player, and a media clip
begins playing almost immediately, regardless of whether the clip is
a few seconds or a few hours long. You actually view content as
you are receiving it.
But the quality of the video you'll see and the sound you'll hear
is dependent on the capacity of the wires that carry the digitized
info to your computer. It's like having a two-inch water pipe versus
a half-inch pipe. You can still water the garden with the smaller
pipe, but the larger pipe allows you to do a much more efficient
job. With computer connections, the capacity is measured in kilobits
of data per second. The higher the number, the greater the quality.
Most home connections are at either 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps) or
56.6 Kbps, though new technology such as cable modems, have greatly
increased the capacity of home connections.
Let it detect In the recent past,
producers of streaming content asked you to select your connection type
(28.8, 56.6 Kbps, etc). Now with the newest version of the Windows Media
Player, content producers can choose to let the media player automatically detect
the optimal capacity of your connection. When they opt to do so,
it will simplify your process of downloading audio and video from Web
sites. (Some producers may choose not to use this feature; in those cases
you'll still have to pick your connection type.)
As you may know, the volume of other traffic on the Internet can affect
the quality of streamed audio and video. This sometimes causes the audio
to break up and even completely interrupt the flow of material, making for
a disappointing experience.
Go with the flow The new Windows Media Player alleviates these kinds of
disruptions by adjusting the flow of streamed content to the capacity
available. For example, if you're connected at 100 Kbps and heavy Internet
traffic will affect a flow of this volume, the Windows Media Player will
step down the stream to the next level to maintain an even flow of
content. This helps avoid the staccato-like problems of trying to keep up
a heavier stream when there is not the capacity to do so. If space frees
up on the connection, Windows Media Player returns the stream to the
highest flow possible.
The consistency and quality of video is also improved with filtering
that cleans up shadows and block-like images that affect the quality of
the video pictures you're viewing.
Perhaps the best part of the enhanced
features of the Windows Media Player is that it comes at a low cost
to your computing power. It won't hog your computer's memory by
taking forever to download files. The Player itself is free to
users.
![Gordon Black](../../../images/edtGordon.gif)
Come July, Gordon
Black's computer will be processing daily video clips from the Tour
de France. |
Grab a free player You can download the latest version of the
media player free from the Windows Media
Player download site.
![](../../../../images/edtBluePixel.gif)
Using your Windows Media Player: To
start the Windows Media Player, simply:
- Click on a music file, or
- Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Entertainment, and then click Windows Media Player.
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