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How to Hear MDN's MP3 Audio

If you are using a dial-up connection, a modem speed of 28.8K or higher will work fine. Maybe 14.4K would work, but we haven't tested that. And forget anything below 14.4K speed.

For the vast majority of users, your browser probably already has the ability to play our audio streams. If so, there will be an audio control panel on our NewsLive page for both the House and Senate.

Microsoft's Internet Explore should work fine. If you have an Apple, you'll need to install an audio player like Quicktime if you are using FireFox.

If you do not see the audio control panels or if they do not work, you'll need to click on the URL audio links. And for those links to work, you'll need to have a couple of other things:

• You will need an MP3 player that recognizes PLS files (MP3 playlists). Windows NT/9X/2000 is a bit complicated because it does not recognize PLS files. If you want to use Media Player, you'll need to point to the actual IP address of the audio stream. The playlist files - HOUSE.PLS and SENATE.PLS have them. And, the addresses indicated on our NewsLive audio page. A better alternative is WinAmp. It is the worldwide standard for MP3 players. In fact, MDN uses WinAmp for encoding the MP3 sound. But, again, you should not need an external player because with Internet Explorer you can use the audio controllers in the NewsLive page.

  For Apple users, Quicktime should work fine. If you're using FireFox, you'll need to install Quicktime.

  Believe it or not, there's even a player for OS/2 Warp. It's got a pretty slick GUI.

• Next, you need to make sure the PLS (playlists) files are associated with your audo player. That should be done automatically when you install the probgram. If not, use the file-association function to associate files with a PLS extension with your player. Remember, however, that if you are using Media Player, you will need to connect to the audio stream directly..