Our streaming audio clips always consist of the sound samples found on our New Arrivals list. It is an mp3 stream. While you can listen to our soundclips individually by clicking on separate songs, this streaming radio thing will play our new Arrivals clip in an uninterrupted random order.
While listening, we recommend that you have the New Arrivals page open so that you can peruse our descriptions, find out the prices and other info about the records, and mailorder!
Streams may always take a few seconds to start depending on your bandwidth and the need to buffer data into memory. The benefit of streams is that they can start to play even before the file has finished being downloaded and they also conserve the bandwidth used by you and by the server providing the data.
All operating systems these days come with an application/program, in MacOS, iTunes, and in Windows, Windows Media Player (WMP), that handle internet audio content by default.
If you have then installed an application onto your system - such as winamp or realplayer - and accepted the changes the installer makes to the default handler settings for any audio content then your system may well act slightly differently from how we describe it here.
If you are having any problems where by the files are not automatically opening then the most likely problems are that: (1) you may not have the software installed to handle the stream (2) you need to check your browser preferences to see that it is post processing file downloads and that it knows what application to use to handle the respective file format with. Further information is contained below.
ON AN APPLE MAC (MACOS9 or earlier)
If you don't have iTunes installed to handle your internet audio content then you can download it from Apple for FREE. The last version for OS9 is iTunes 2.0.3. Once installed you should simply be able to click the stream link, the .mu3 file will be downloaded to your desktop and itunes will automatically open it and begin to stream the music. If it doesn't you may need to check your browser preferences for post processing file downloads or see that you have iTunes setup as your default internet audio content handler.
Link to iTunes.
ON AN APPLE MAC (MACOSX)
iTunes (installed by default on OSX in your applications folder) should be setup to play MPEG streams automatically upon download. Simply click on the stream link, the .mu3 file will be downloaded to your desktop and itunes will automatically open it and begin to stream the music. If it doesn't you may need to check your browser preferences for post processing file downloads or see that you have iTunes setup as your default internet audio content handler.
Link to iTunes.
ON A WINDOWS PC
On newer versions of windows, Windows Media Player should open the file by default. Again, simply by clicking the link the .m3u file will be downloaded and WMP should automatically open and play the stream. If you have winamp or real audio player installed then the stream may well open into either of these two programs.
Link to Windows Media Player.
ON AN APPLE MAC (MACOS9 or earlier)
RealPlayer for OS9 is notoriously buggy and you can expect it to randomly crash, taking down your entire computer. In system 8.1 Real Player was a memory hog but didn't really ever crash, but as the classic MacOS matured, the problems got progressively worse. And were never really fixed by Real. As a Mac user, my personal advice would be that if your using OS9 don't bother installing Real Player 8, unfortunately because Real uses a proprietary format there are no alternatives available!
Link to Real Player 8.
ON AN APPLE MAC (MACOSX)
Realplayer is available for MacOSX, and is more crash proof than its classic OS9 cousin! It is available, both in a commercial format and FREE version. The free version can be reached at the link below. Once installed a simple click of the Real Audio stream link and the .ram file downloaded onto your desktop should be automatically open in RealPlayer. The stream can be slow sometimes, and appear as if nothing is happening, you may well have to wait a good few seconds before you hear music.
Sometimes Real Player may not appear to be playing automatically but it seems that songs can take up to 1 and a half minutes before they start to play! So bare with real player and it will get to the music in the end. "
Link to RealPlayer One.
ON A WINDOWS PC
After you click on a real audio link and the .ram file is downloaded to your desktop you should find that the Real Audio player for your version of windows opens automatically and starts playing. If the program doesn't start automatically then the likelihood is that you don't have it installed, and as it is not installed by default you will have to go to the real web site and download it. The link is provided below:
Link to real downloads.