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PLAYER.FAQ
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1996-09-27
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WebZound Player FAQ
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Q: Why is it that when I shut down the player, the sound continues playing
for a few seconds?
A: The player uses Windows' low level audio routines for playback. This
is done to support a wide variety of soundcards. When you shut down the
player, there is still sound in Windows' buffers which plays. This is
normal.
Q: Why is it that before the sound is done playing, the player vanishes
from the screen.
A: The player has finished sending the sound to Windows. At this point
the controls (File and Help) are no longer needed. The player is still
in the background. This is normal.
Q: The 16 bit version of the player (for Win 3.1) doesn't perform as well
as the 32 bit version (for Win-95).
A: Microsoft made some very large changes in the way multitasking works
between Windows 3.11 and Win-95. The old method isn't as efficient as the
new.
Q: Why is it that some sound files play fine, but others the player spends
a lot of time reloading the buffers?
A: There are actually 3 reasons why this this could happen.
First, if the sound you are playing is recorded at a speed that requires
more bandwidth (network speed) than you have, then your connection can't
keep up. WebZound files can be recorded at speeds slow enough that they
can be played through a 9600 baud modem, and fast enough that only an ISDN
or faster connection can play the file in real time. When you play a sound
in WebZound format, watch the player's "Bits/Sec" display. If that number
is greater than the speed of your connection, there is no way it will play
with out pausing.
Second, the WebZound player uses a lot of CPU (computer speed) during the
decompression stage. This is made worse in Windows 3.1 because of it's
problems with multitasking. If the file you are playing is recorded at a
speed which should pass through your modem, and your "Bandwidth" display
stays green and you still get a pause for "Sound Buffering", you are likely
running on a computer that doesn't have a fast enough CPU or have too many
things running at once. Try starting the sound with the minimum number of
programs needed (your network layer and the web browser) running. If it
still pauses, try shutting down your web browser after the player gets to
the "Net Buffering" stage. If after both of these, the sound still pauses
you simply don't have a fast enough computer to play that speed file. It
may work correctly on lower speed files because they don't use as much CPU.
Third, if there is a site between you and the site you are connecting to
that is overloaded (this happens all the time) there may not be enough
bandwidth on the net to carry the sound in real time. This will show up
with the "Bandwidth" indicator spending a lot of time in the red, and you
will get a "Net Buffering" that will last for several seconds before
"Sound Buffering" starts. All that can be done is to try the site later
hoping the overload will have cleared up.
Q: Why is it that I can play some speeds fine, but others give me an error
message saying my soundcard doesn't support this format?
A: WebZound uses non-standard playback rates at some speeds. These may
not be supported by soundcard or it's Windows driver. If this does happen
please email to eves@webzound.com with the subject "BUG REPORT URGENT" and
let us know as much as you can about the soundcard you are using, what
operating system, the URL to the site that hosts the file you can't play,
and the specific error message you receive.
Q: Why is it when I run the 32 bit player in WIN-95, the mouse becomes
unresponsive and sluggish?
A: Windows 95 and NT allow a program to specify their own priority. It is
the comination of the player's decompression and the dial up networking
adapter which is using a lot of CPU and making your mouse sluggish.
There is no fix for this, as it is simply a case of overloading the CPU.
If your serial card or modem has anything other than a 16550A UART (or
work alike), upgrading to 16550A with FIFO buffering would be a significant
improvement as they require fewer CPU calls to move serial data at the same
speed. [Note: pardon the tech speak]
This document will be updated with new questions and answers. Please check
www.webzound.com for the latest version online.
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www.webzound.com