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Boulez-online uses the QuickTime plug-in to play audio examples in the Compose and Workshops sections of this site. Once again this is a very powerful piece of software which takes some time to download using a standard modem. It is also available on CDRoms attached to computer and internet magazines, but however you obtain a copy it is a small investment for such a useful piece of software
QuickTime itself is not an application, it is an enabling technology. QuickTime is comprised of pieces of software that extend the ability of your operating system to handle dynamic media. Applications then use this technology and turn it into the applications and games. Many games and reference titles have incorporated QuickTime into their development: Myst by Broderbund, Microsoft Encarta by Microsoft, DOOM II by Id Software to name a few. In addition, QuickTime is the basis for many of the industry's most respected digital media tools.
However, QuickTime is much more then just video and sound. It is a true multimedia architecture that allows the integration of text, still graphics, video, animation, 3D, VR and sound into a cohesive platform. QuickTime makes it easy to bring all of these media types together.
Within Boulez-online QuickTime technology is used only to play audio files. The benefits of this method are the compression facilities that QuickTime uses. This means that large files that would take a very long time to load onto your computer can be reduced in size to such an extent that they can even stream - begin playing as they load - but without sacrificing a great loss in quality.
The thing that allows this kind of content to be available direct from your browser window is Apple's QuickTime Plug-in for Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. This is a piece of software that lives inside a folder on your computer and launches a playback 'engine' when a web-page requests it. It does not open a new application but works within the page you are looking at, it can even work inthe background.
Within Boulez-online you click on an image marked:
and this begins the loading of the sound file which can then be controlled by the QuickTime controller:
You may experience some stopping and starting of the sound whilst it is loading. This is due to your connection to the internet. To avoid this you can click on the pause button that replaces the play triangle to halt playback. Then wait until the whole file is loaded - the central bar goes from light grey to dark as above - drag the play button back to the beginning and play.
All files should take less than a minute to load.
Once loaded you can play each file as many times as you wish whilst on that page.
PLEASE NOTE: The use of plug-ins and the latest versions of browsers have an effect on the use of available RAM (Random Access Memory) that your computer has. You should check the documentation that comes with the software or at their web-sites to find what the minimum requirement is for using them. You may need to adjust the memory settings on your computer.
Failure to play audio and software crashes are often caused by not having enough available RAM.
To find out more about QuickTime and to download the software click on the image below.
