Welcome to the Song Listening Booth's Frequently Asked Questions.

?What's the best file format for listening to songs?
Real Audio is fastest, but it sounds the worst.
MP2s are used by many sites, and are sometimes smaller than WV2s, but....
WV2s often sound better than MP2s. This may be the only site using WV2s.
Near CD Quality is obtainable from some MP2s: read the MP2 FAQ for details.

?How do I play a WAV &/or MP2 file?
If you have Windows 95 and a sound card:
 inside the Windows Explorer: WAV & MP2 files will play
   by just clicking on them with your mouse.
 (Read the MP2 FAQ for info on how to play an MP2 with Near CD Quality.)
If you use Win 3.1 or a MAC: see "Useful Links" on the main web page.

How do I play WV2 files?
Convert them to WAVs, and then play the WAVs.
To convert all WV2 files to WAV files: you need SONARCX.EXE (25K),
and WV2WAV.EXE (size=2K)....
 then you just double click on WV2WAV.EXE with your mouse.
*Be sure all the files that are needed (the WV2s, SONARCX.EXE,
and WV2WAV.EXE)  are all located together in the same subdirectory.

?Where's the cool graphics?  Where's the blinking twirly things?
You're on the wrong page.  This page is for listening to new songs.

?Who are you?
The brother of a songwriter.

?Who is the songwriter?
Same guy whose name appears on the Copyright notices.

?What's he look like? How about some pictures?
He's ugly, I'm the good-looking one. That's under construction.

?I have R.A. version 2.0. Can you set it up for my version of R.A.?
No, sorry. You should realize that R.A. version 2.0 doesn't stream,
 so you're just downloading a (crappy sounding ra) file, anyway.
The WV2 &/or MP2 version is going to be a better sounding download.

?Can you set it up so a 14.4 modem can use R.A. 3.0?
Yes, but I won't, because I tried it, and the 
sound was unacceptable when "streaming".
You CAN click on the R.A. "download" link, however, 
and download it to your HD, and THEN play it. 

Consider this: the WV2 &/or the MP2 files give higher quality sound
than the RA files, and so they are a better choice to download. 

?Why are you using the WV2 file format?
I use it because.... when using the same 44.1Khz audio source: 
          a mono 8bit 11Khz WAV file.... sounds better to me....
    than a mono MP2 32K-BitRate file.... 
The 8bit 11Khz WAV file can then be reduced in size by Sonarc, and
the WV2 can then be compared to the size of the 32K-BitRate MP2 file.
Even if the WV2 ends up being slightly larger than the MP2, the
WAV sounds better to me.... so I prefer WV2 over a 32K-BitRate MP2.

By the way....
In order to get a good idea of what a song REALLY sounds like:
YOU NEED TO HEAR BOTH versions....
the mono Full-Length version, as well as....
the stereo Near CD Quality excerpt version.

?What if you haven't answered all my questions?
Email me, and I will try.

_E_O_F_->