Frequently Asked Questions
Q: On Oct 12 1997 1:46AM Tanya Smith wrote:
We just wanted to let you know that we downloaded
winplay3. to listen to what the bands sound like and each
one of the songs we chose, would cut out after 10 seconds.
The song would cut out come in and cut out again. I don't
know if something is wrong with the player or if it is
something wrong with the songs but we thought you should
know. It seems like an awfully lot of work for someone to
go through to listen to a band on this page. Thanks
A: Oct 12 1997 6:45PM
Dear Tanya,
We believe that the "choppiness" of the audio you experienced
was caused by the limited bandwidth (the "speed" of your Internet connection).
That is in case if you are connected to the Internet with the low bandwidth link
such as 28.8 - 33.6 kbps analog modem or ISDN and tried to stream
high quality (44.1 kHz, 128 kbps stereo) audio. In other words: you really
need a fast connection such as cable modem or T1 line in order to play
CD-quality audio directly over the Internet.
However, you can always stream "low bandwidth" (24 kbps 11.025 kHz stereo)
audio that is also provided on our site (today we'll add the links to band's pages. We mark them with a capitol "L")
This allows people with slow connections to hear the song immediately and
then decide wether they want to spend any time downloading the full quality version of it.
High quality audio can be saved to your hard drive before playback. Below we will
provide more detailed information with images on how to do that.
The searchable database on the site generates these "low bandwidth" links automatically - just look for "L".
Our CGI based Playlist tells you on the top of the page which mode are you currently in(High or Low) followed by
the button that lets you switch between those modes.
HINT:
In some occasions switching from high to low bandwidth mode on the playlist does not work properly.
This is caused by the internal caching of the Netscape Navigator.
Symptoms: Even that the playlist claims to be in a low bandwidth mode,
all the linked songs in it are still high bandwidth or vice-versa.
Workaround: Go to Options -> Network Preferences on your Netscape Navigators menu bar, click on
"Cache" tab and find "Verify Documents" section. Choose "Every Time" radio button and press OK. All done!
Netscape will now ignore its internal cache and get the fresh copy of the playlist from the server *every time*.
c) Choose "Ask User" radio button. You can also assign a directory for downloaded songs (i.e. C:\songs or any other dir.) Default is Winplay dir.
d) Click OK
If the link you clicked on was "L", feel free to choose "Play Only" in the dialog box,
if not then you should definitely choose save only. In addition, you can mark "Play after save"
check box which will instruct Winplay to start playing the song automatically after it's been saved to your hard drive.
Tanya, we really appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention as many other people may experience same or similar
problems - getting the most out of our site. We agree that our answer to your question turned out to be rather *lengthy* :)
but hopefully not too confusing. Understanding all of the above is quite rewarding though - it opens the door to the
HiFi audio on the Internet as there are lots of web pages, usenet newsgroups, IRC channels and ftp sites offering great music...
the Music Industry will hate us for this one :)
Also, if you have any further questions feel free to mail them to webmaster@bandlan.com.
a) Open Winplay3
Next time you click on any of the audio links on our site you'll see the following dialog box:
b) Go to Options -> Url...
It is highly recommended to connect your computers sound card to your home stereo if you have one.
You need at least a PentiumTM class computer in order to play back audio files at
full quality.