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Today's Internet offers a rich diet of multimedia with streaming audio and video; still, animated, and live images; and interactive virtual gaming as ingredients. If you've yet to watch the video highlights of your favorite baseball team's latest victory, tuned in to your favorite radio station from your computer or laptop, or entered a virtual gaming site, you need to hop on the online multimedia bandwagon and get a taste of truly exciting full-fledged multimedia experiences.
Before you jump online and check all the latest gizmos and gadgets and bells and whistles, you may want to do a quick inventory of your computer to ensure you have what it takes to see and hear the available content as it was intended. Here's a short list of some hardware and software you will need:
A sound card (either a componenet you install, or one that is built-on to your motherboard)
A set of decent speakers (some pcs/laptops have built-in speakers, but they are rarely adequate for a full listening experience)
The software driver or media player for playing back your streamed/downloaded music and video (it should be compatible with your computer and other software that your computer uses)
For high-end graphics, you'll want an AGP or PCI video card; for standard graphics, your onboard or shipped video card will suffice. (If you will be gaming, you'll definitely need the high-end devices for full graphics rendering.)
A high-speed internet connection (anything under 56k will severely hinder the quality of a streaming file, however it's suitable for downloading and playback at a later time)
At least 256mb of RAM installed on your system. (This is the minimum requirement; more is always better. Be sure it complies with you motherboards requirements.)
Software available for a full multimedia experience is abundant. A few examples include QuickTime (which comes bundled with many programs, including iPod's iTunes); Microsoft's Windows Media Player, which comes with any Microsoft Operating system product since Win95; RealPlayer from RealNetworks, which provides an interface for music, video, and online games; and Nuullsoft's WINAMP, which offers live video and audio streaming as well as other features.
Some tools come out for the Microsoft Windows operating system months before they're available for the Macintosh. Also remember that many Internet multimedia tools will only work well with speedy Internet connections; you'll want to have at least a 56kbps modem to get the most out of Internet multimedia.
Plug-ins and helper applications are software that work with your browser to bring Internet multimedia alive. The line between helper app and plug-in is a fine one -- and it's growing finer. Traditionally, helper applications were complete applications that operated with or without a browser. The browser can be configured to "launch," or load, the helper app automatically after downloading a compatible file. For example, a user might click on an audio link on a Web page, the audio file downloads to the hard drive and then a helper application such as Media Player or Quick Time automatically opens and plays the sound.
Plug-ins are also software. They don't really have a plug, but you get the idea: They "plug into" a browser and add functionality. (Plug-ins generally don't work independently.) For example, the Shockwave plug-in enables the browser to play animation, sound and other multimedia offerings produced with Macromedia's Shockwave developers software.
Plug-ins are almost always free, available for download on the Web pages of the companies that built them, and on the pages of sites who use them. (The companies in turn make their money by licensing to Web publishers the software needed to produce the multimedia you want to see.)
Multimedia plug-ins and helper applications fall into three main categories: audio, video and 3D.
The most innovative method of delivering sound over the Web uses "streaming" technology. In the past, Web surfers had to click on a sound file and wait 10 or 15 minutes for the entire file to download before hearing a one-minute clip. Streaming allows you to hear a sound file as it's downloading to your computer, so you don't have to wait as long.
One of the pioneers in streaming technology is RealNetworks. (http://www.real.com), whose RealAudio software can deliver sound to hundreds of users at once.
A short time ago, you had to download a video file to your hard drive before you could play it. Today, you can click on a video clip and watch it in a few seconds. VDOnet Corp. (http://www.vdolive.com) has incorporated streaming technology into its VDOLive plug-in. The VDO "scalable" server detects your connection speed and streams out the appropriate amount of data.
Other popular video streaming tools include QuickTime by Apple, Inc. (http://quicktime.apple.com).
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