Plug it in: the musts - Brief Article

To bring pages alive with sound, music, videos and animation, you'll need to download and install a few key "plug-ins," small programs that enhance the capabilities of your Web browser. These plug-ins are free--some may be included in your browser:

Apple QuickTime 4.1

(Apple Computer Inc.) www.apple.com/quicktime

QuickTime puts video, animation, audio and virtual-reality objects right in your browser window and supports more than 200 different apps.

Flash 4 and Shockwave Player 8 (Macromedia Inc.) www.macromedia.com

Two of the richest plug-ins, they add fluid animation, music and interactivity. Shockwave Player is bundled with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, America Online and Netscape Navigator.

RealPlayer 7 (RealNetworks) www.real.com

Plug-ins like RealPlayer 7 provide near-instantaneous playback of sound and video, even with a 28.8 modem. RealPlayer is "streaming" technology: Video clips and sound files begin playing files that "stream" down to the user's PC. Users can also play back video at full screen.

Windows Media Player v.6.4 (Microsoft Inc.) www.microsoft.com/ windows/mediaplayer

Microsoft's response to RealPlayer and other broadcasting plug-ins. Replaces Microsoft's NetShow and ActiveMovie Player plug-ins and supports a vast number of multimedia technologies on the Web, including NetShow ASF, RealVideo/RealAudio, MPEG 1 and 2, MP3, WAV, AVI, MIDI, MOV, VOD, AU, and QuickTime files.