Help Page

File Formats and Media Players

• Radio Sri Chinmoy has a large collection of Real Player files and a growing collection of .m4a files.
  

• To Use .m4a files you can listen using Apple QuickTime download

• The .m4a files can also be downloaded. It is recommended you use iTunes available

here: iTunes Download

• You can listen to the most recent releases via playlists. On any album published on or after 7th August 2006, just click on "Listen now." These .m3u files stream each track url in turn. The m3u format is supported by a wide variety of applications including iTunes, Realplayer, and Windows Media Player.

Real Audio Files

• To use Real Audio files (.rm or .ram )you can download Real Player
  

here: Real Player download

• (Note: Real Player is available for free. Although many versions on their site do incur a charge.)

Further Notes re: .m4a

• We hope to eventually have .m4a versions of all our files available.
• ITunes can be used to convert the .m4a files to .mp3 files. Many portable music players use this .mp3 standard.
• In some cases, you may need to install or upgrade your version of
  QuickTime before installing iTunes:
• iTunes is completely free, and you should be able to find a version
  suited to your computer and OS on the Apple site.

Further notes Re: Real Player

• Real Player files end in .rm or .ram

• At the moment to stream the Real Audio files in Real Player you will need a broadband connection.
  

• Real Player is also free, but on the Real site you sometimes have to look carefully for the free version. You do NOT need to give your credit card or purchase any "trial" version of a commercial product or service. (If you accidentally find yourself downloading Real Player Plus, go back and have a look for the free version, sometimes called Gold.)

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If you have a fairly modern computer and recent OS, you should be able to download recent versions of Real Player and iTunes (both PC and Mac versions are available), and use all our audio files.

If You Have an Older Computer or Operating System

• If you're running Windows 98 SE or Mac OS 9, you won't be able to

1. install a version of iTunes that will play the .m4a's. In that case,
2. you may do better with Real Player and the Real Audio files.

• A user has tested Real Player 10.5 with a Pentium II 400 MHz machine running Windows 98 SE with 96 MB of memory.
  He reports that this runs fine, and will play both Real Audio files and downloaded .m4a files.
  So if you're running Windows 98 SE, this may be the best way to go.

• If you have an old Mac running OS 8.1 to 9.x, you should be able to install Real Player 8 to play Real Audio files, though this version is buggy.
  One user suggests only opening Real Player 8 to play Real Audio files, and closing it when not in use. You can download legacyversions of Real Player here: Legacy Real Player versions
  

Winamp

If you use Windows 98 an alternative to Real Player is winamp.

A user has tested the free Winamp 5.21 Full. He reports that for simple playback of downloaded .m4a audio files, Winamp 5.21 Full works fine on a Pentium II 400 MHz machine running Windows 98 SE with 96 MB of

memory. You can download Winamp Full here:

• If you're on an older Mac running OS 9.2.2 and QuickTime 6.0.3, you can play downloaded .m4a's using the built-in QuickTime Player. Thefeatures are bare, but this should give you basic audio playback.

Additional Notes

1. On the Winamp site it's claimed that Winamp Lite will play .m4a files. This may not be correct. It seems you need Winamp Full to play .m4a files "out of the box."
2.  The Winamp Full installer has checkboxes enabled by default to install eMusic and AOL Music Now trial offers. If you don't want this, during installation be sure and uncheck the boxes that say:
   
   - eMusic Icon and Offer for 50 Free MP3s!
   - AOL Music Now Icon and Offer for 30 day free trial!
3. If you have Windows 2000 or better, or Mac OS X, we recommend using iTunes, which also requires QuickTime. But if you're running

   Windows 98 SE and decide to use Real Player 10.5 or Winamp 5.21 Full, you do not need to install QuickTime. These programs can play the free .m4a files found on Radio Sri Chinmoy without QuickTime.

4. If using Real Player, after installation you may want to go through the preferences and turn off most options found in
   

   Internet/Privacy, AutoUpdate, and Message Center. Many users prefer that Real Player "phone home" as little as possible. :-)

Browsers

The audio files at Radio Sri Chinmoy should work on all the major browsers. Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Netscape. It may be necessary to use the latest version of the Browser. We have a preference for Mozilla Firefox