To listen to Real Audio you will need a recent version of the RealPlayer. There are 2 versions of the player. The RealPlayer works with your browser and allows you to listen to audio and see video from within your browser. The pay version has some nice features like bass and treble controls but, the free version of the player is totally adequate and is what I use. You will have to hunt around on the site to find the free player. Follow the download and install instructions on the RealNetworks download page. www.real.com

I strongly recomend getting a current (5.0 or later) version of Netscape or Internet Explorer

Before trying to listen to RealAudio on the web is is a good idea to test your RealPlayer by listening to a sample RealAudio file on your hard drive. The file "welcome.ra" that comes with the player is ideal for this. If you are having problems getting the player to work, take a look at the FAQ pages at www.real.com for more ideas on how to solve the problem.

If you are connecting from behind a firewall or you are using AT&T's Worldnet or another similar service, you may have problems listening to RealAudio because of firewall restraints.

To listen to mp3 files you will need either a stand alone player like Winamp www.nullsoft.com for Windows or Macast for the Macintosh www.macdownload.com.

Apple's Quicktime is a good alternative to a stand alone player as it allows mp3 files to be played from within the web browser. Quicktime 5can play mp3 files as streaming media. For general surfing of mp3 audio, I think that Quicktime is the way to go. It has the convenience of RealAudio and the sound quality of mp3. www.apple.com