More and more Web sites have sound clips (music and talking) available for those whose computers are equipped to play them. To hear sound sent over the Internet, you need special software (called a sound helper application) and hardware installed on your computer. The hardware components you need are speakers and a sound card, which can be obtained from your local computer store for a fraction of what you paid for your computer. Macintosh users need not worry about this (Macs come equipped to reproduce sound). The software you need is readily available free on the Internet (read on).

Once you have the necessary hardware and software, there are two ways to hear sound. The first involves downloading complete sound files onto your computer and then playing them. The advantage of this method is that you get good quality sound when you play it. The disadvantage is that you can't hear anything until the whole sound file has been downloaded to your computer.

The second method is listening to sound in real time as it is sent to your computer over the Internet. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to wait for a sound file to be fully downloaded to your computer before you can hear it; you listen to it as it is being sent to your computer, in real time. The disadvantage is that the quality of the sound is so-so and depends on how much traffic is on the Internet at the time you are listening.

For free software that enables realtime audio, read about the RealAudio Player. For free software that enables sound to be downloaded, go to IUMA help for Windows or IUMA help for Macs.

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