By MATT WEST
OK ... time to regroup. I'd better start by admitting I made a mistake in last week's column: The correct address to access Route Y is not www.ry.byu.edu, but just ry.byu.edu. I guess I just get carried away with this 'www' thing sometimes.
But there comes a time when we need to move on and learn from our surfing mistakes. I've learned that if anything, Route Y is a forgiving Intranet;Even after I blatently maligned it, the Route Y magical fairies still sent me e-mail, and interesting mail at that. I received a pleasant virtual greeting card from a reader via the website www.bluemountainarts.com (they care enough to send the very virtual best) on the very same day I received my first 'hate mail,' threatening to beat me with a cardboard toilet-paper roll if I didn't shape up on my Internet skills.
Now I'm not sure if threats involving blunt paper products are the best way to motivate a novice Internet surfer like myself to learn the ways of the web. But your tips, ideas and even challenges do. Case in point: I received a challenge from one of my readers to download sound clips off of the Internet. So I enthusiastically took the challenge and set out to do just that, anticipating that I would eventually find a Homer Simpson quote or something. But quicker than you can say 'd'oh,' I stumbled onto a software program that allows you to do more than just download goofy sound clips.
RealPlayer, a software package developed by RealNetworks, is a program that every net surfer should have. It allows you to download audio, video and animation onto your hard-drive from the Internet, and then play it back at high quality.
RealPlayer is not the only program out there that specializes in the delivery of multimedia over the Internet, but it seems to be one of the market leaders and a pretty user-friendly program. It also involves technology that lets you watch a video clip or hear music as it's being downloaded without download delays. It synchronizes video with any accompanying sound so that you don't have two different media out of sync because of different download speeds.
I downloaded a free trial version of RealPlayer from the website www.realplayer.com and have been having a multimedia field day ever since. The minute you download it you can try it out, using examples right from the RealPlayer site. I highly recommend the Looney Tunes cartoon clip from the animation showcase section for a laugh.
It turns out that NewsNet, The Daily Universe's Internet counterpart, also lets you use RealPlayer. Try listening to the KBYU News broadcast every weekday at 4:30 p.m. at newsnet.byu.edu/audio/kbyunews.html. You can even catch a video clip of Elder Haight's conference address at the address newsnet.byu.edu/video.cfm.
Sports lovers can listen to 24-hour audio sports coverage through espn.com/editors/liveaudio. You can go to www.cdnow.com to listen to music clips of everything from Van Halen to Wagner. You can even see WWII warplanes in action from the site http://members.aol.com/zeno303/Pages/ZenosDrive-In.html.
I know I've just scratched the surface, so I'll try and always mention any cool RealPlayer files that I find in this weekly column. Be sure and e-mail me if you know of any that would be worth mentioning. In fact, I'm curious if RealPlayer greeting cards exist ... if so, feel free to send them.
I'm not to keen on the 'RealPlayer threats' idea though, if you're wondering.
Send your Internet tips, advice and sites to Surfer Matt in 2150 ELWC or e-mail him at west@du2.byu.edu.