Franciscan Radio features are offered on this Web site for three possible types of media players: Windows Media Player, Real Media (RealPlayer, RealOne) or MP3 players. If you’re having trouble listening to one media player, the first thing you might want to do is try another player. For our “Saint of the Day” audio feature, we offer all three player choices. Players allow you to listen to audio clips and to view video clips. Also, episodes of American Catholic Radio can be downloaded in MP3 format. Once saved on your hard drive, MP3 files can be played using the media player of your choice.

Included now in some of our features is a podcast—an automatically updated audio “show” consisting of a collection of MP3 episodes—and/or an RSS feed, which lists a collection of links to article headlines instead of audio episodes.

 

Streaming Media Players

Windows Media Player has been included with most new computers for a few years. It is probably on your machine. If it is not, download it at the Media Player Web site by clicking on the graphic to the left.

If you are having problems with your Windows Media Player, visit the Windows Media Community for tips on getting started with Media Player, answers to frequently asked questions and helpful articles.

RealPlayer and RealOne are favorites for many streaming-media fans. They are available to download for free from the RealPlayer Web site by clicking the graphic to the left.

For more help with RealPlayer or RealOne Player, visit RealPlayer Customer Support for searchable support articles, frequently asked questions and a customer support contact form. If, while trying to play audio with RealPlayer or RealOne Player, you experience a “cannot connect” error, visit RealPlayer Connection Troubleshooting for details on possible causes and solutions.

 

How to download and listen to MP3 files

You can download MP3 files and media players from the Web. Typically, you need to actually download the stand-alone file before playing it, unlike “streaming” audio that you can play directly from a Web page. A podcast is an automatically updated audio “show” consisting of a collection of MP3 episodes. You can listen to MP3 files online or offline.

To download and save an MP3 file, right-click the MP3 link and select “Save Target As….” The “Save As” dialog box then appears. Select a folder or “Create New Folder” for your MP3s. Click “Save.” The download will begin. After the download is complete, click the MP3 file and your default media player will open and play the file.

 

A podcast is an audio “show,” typically made up of MP3s, available online for downloading with a free subscription via an automatic “feed.” Podcast producers refresh the podcast with new episodes that are automatically added to your subscription. You can listen to the podcast on your computer or on a portable media player.

The first thing you need is a podcatcher. With a podcatcher (also called a podcast aggregator), you can subscribe to your favorite podcasts, then sync them to your iPod or other portable media player. You can download a free podcatcher, or subscribe to any number of Web-based podcatchers. With the Web-based podcatchers, you don’t have to download anything. Simply subscribe to a free online service. With the desktop podcatchers, you’ll need to download and install free software to your computer. The links to some popular podcatchers are listed below.

Some Popular Free Web-Based Podcatchers
(listen online):

Some Popular Free Desktop Podcatchers
(requires download to your computer):

iTunes / Yahoo! Music Engine

View more desktop and Web-based podcatchers or here.

You’ll discover that you can start listening to a feature, then open a window to work with other software while you listen. Enjoy! Be inspired!

 

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an easy way to be made aware of a Web site's latest news or feature updates. A Web site publisher creates an RSS feed that lists article headlines, summaries and links back to the latest full-text articles on its site. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, every time a new entry or article is published to the Web site, a link to the entry or article is added to your reader.

RSS feeds are identified by a small button that says either RSS or XML. However, if you click one of these links, you will most likely get a page full of garble in your browser. To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader, also called a news aggregator.

Some RSS readers are stand-alone software applications that must be downloaded. Others are offered by Web sites that you can log into (like Bloglines, My MSN or My Yahoo!). All of them allow you to find and subscribe to various RSS feeds. Each offers different options. There are many different RSS readers available. Google has a good directory listing of all kinds.

After you have subscribed to an RSS feed, headlines will begin to "flow" to your reader. When you see a headline that interests you, just click it to view the full article.