Topics:

1. What are Windows Media Files?
2. How do I Listen to or View These Files?
3. Nothing Happens when I Click the Link to a Windows Media File
4. Where do I get Windows Media Player?
5. Why Does the Progress Slider not Work When the Program is Playing?

What are Windows Media Files?

Windows® Media files are streaming multimedia files that either display a video, or play an audio clip.  Most of the Windows Media files on this Web site play audio.

When you click a link to one of these files, the Windows Media Player is opened on your computer, and the clip is played.  The same Windows Media Player is used to play video and audio.

Almost everyone's computer has the Windows Media Player already built in.

How do I Listen to or View These Files?

Simply click the link to the Windows Media file.  On this Web site we sometimes use an icon that looks like one of the ones shown here:

 or

When you click on the hyperlink, the Windows Media Player will open and the file will start to download.  The downloading may go on for several seconds before you hear or see anything.  This is because the file is "buffering" on your computer; this means that enough of the streaming file must be on your computer so that the player can play it when it's time.

Sometimes, if your Internet connection is slow, or when the Internet is busy, the player will stop playingthe file from time to time, and allow the buffering process to catch up.  This can be annoying, but your only choices are to suffer through it, wait until a less busy time to listen, or to try a better Internet connection.

But Nothing Happens When I Click the Link!

If, when you click on the Windows Media file link, your computer asks if you want to "save the file as"; this means that your computer does not recognize the file type, and likely does not have the Windows Media Player installed.

If Microsoft Internet Explorer is not your browser, the  you may not have the Windows Media Player installed or properly configured.

If your computer's operating system is not Windows, then you may not have the Windows Media Player installed.  Check the link below for a version suitable for your system.

Where do I Get Windows Media Player?

If your computer does not have the Windows Media Player installed, you can obtain it for free from the Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

Why Does the Progress Slider Not Work while the Program is Playing?

We have noticed that on many installations of Windows Media Player, the program progress slider cannot be manually moved with the mouse.  We are not sure why this is, but think it may be an inconsistency between the version of player used and the version of encoder used to create the file.

This problem seems to exist on Windows Media Player version 6.4 and not on version 7.1.  We will post more info here on this issue as we become aware of it.