English Composition 1

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Listening to the Audio Files

The audio files are a somewhat new addition to the course, and, as we begin the semester, I am unsure of how many audio files I will be creating. However, I am enthused about adding a lot of audio content to the course and hope to include one or two audio files with each assignment unit.

Some of the course web pages for English Composition 1 Online include audio files. Each audio file is saved in two different formats, Real Player and Windows Media Player, to try to ensure that everyone can access and listen to the file.

Most likely, you will be able to listen to the audio files in one or both of the formats without having to make any upgrades to your computer. However, if you cannot access and listen to the files, you should go to the appropriate web pages to download and install the free software needed to listen to them. Links to those pages are below:

(The location of these download pages may change, so please let me know if you are unable to locate the programs to download by following these links.)

Downloading the Audio Files

You simply need to left mouse click on an audio file link to start downloading an audio file.

You can listen to the files online, or, if you prefer, you can download and save the files to your computer, allowing you to listen to them later without having to be online. Below is information to help you understand how to listen to the files online and how to save them to your computer for later.

Listening to the Files

In both Netscape and Internet Explorer, left mouse clicking on an audio file link will begin the process of downloading the file to your computer for online listening. Once the complete file downloads, it should start playing on your computer.

After clicking on the link, if you see a warning box telling you of a possible virus risk, just indicate that you want to download the file. This virus warning appears by default whenever you begin to download files from the Internet.

Important Tip: In some cases, you will have to wait two or three minutes as the entire file loads to your computer. The file will start playing only after it has completely downloaded.

However, you can start listening to the files just a few seconds after you click on the link if you use Internet Explorer and click on the Windows Media Player version of the file, or you use Netscape and click on the Windows Media Player version of the file, but only if you have installed a recent version of Windows Media Player.

Saving the Files

Downloading the audio files as explained above allows you to listen to them, but you can also save the files to the hard drive of your computer to listen to at a later time or to listen to repeatedly without having to return to the web page to access them.

To save the audio files to your hard drive,

Right mouse click on the audio file icon.
In Netscape, choose "Save link as." In Internet Explorer, choose "Save target as."
Pull down the "Save in" menu to choose where you would like to save the file (make sure to remember where you save it).
Give the file a name or leave the name as is (make sure to remember the file name).
Click "Ok" and allow the file to download.
You can then locate the file on your hard drive and listen to it by double left mouse clicking on the file name.

The audio files are somewhat large, so you should avoid saving them to disk. Save them to the hard drive of your computer instead. Only a few audio files will fill a floppy disk.

Of course, the audio files present important information, so please let me know as soon as possible if you have any difficulty accessing and listening to the audio files!