Backyard |  About our audio

About our audio

During this summer, your local websites will be giving you quick access to a diverse range of audio programs.

Cricket
ABC Radio has the radio rights to coverage of this historic Ashes season. We also have the Australian rights to stream this audio online. If you are in Australia you will be able to listen to ball by ball coverage of the Ashes campaign via these streams.

Tennis
From January 15, 2007, ABC Radio will be covering the Australian Open tennis, and broadcasting selected games online. Many of these games will be on radio, however coverage of some games will only be here online.

Local radio
While Australian love their summer sport, this year we will also deliver an alternative to sport with a stream of Local Radio content while the games are on. This stream will contain great interviews by well know presenters such as Richard Fidler, Tony Delroy, John Nutting and others. Note: this stream is not the audio you will hear on any specific radio station, rather it is a collection of programs and audio segments broadcast on Local Radio generally.

News Radio
To ABC Radio listeners in a few of our local areas, News Radio is a source of 24 hour news. This summer, take the opportunity to get to know the station as we broadcast News Radio programs across the country via our online streams.




Audio Help

The Backyard uses Windows Media and Real Media player to deliver many of our audio and video services.

Real Player
(NB: The ABC takes no responsibility for the content found on external Internet sites)
Download Free Real player. Real Networks sell a variety of players, but offer the basic player free. Look for the link, and don't be distracted by the "Download Now Free 14-day trial" version.

Windows Media Player
Download Free Windows player

For most users, these players will work right away once you've downloaded them. Your web browser will know which one to use when you click on a link to a media file and will launch it automatically.

For some users, especially those who are connecting to ABC Online from inside a firewall (such as inside a corporate or educational institution), you may find you are unable to use the media services. Some organisations will not allow you to use streaming services. Others may require you to change the settings in your player. Contact your computer system administrator or IT (Information Technology) department to see if streaming is allowed, or what changes you need to make to the settings in your player.
Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do not allow media streaming or require you to alter the settings in your player or browser. If you're connecting through an ISP and having difficulty, contact your ISP's technical help department.

*The ABC makes no representations about any of the programs mentioned herein and takes no responsibility for any consequences of your downloading and installing them on your computer. As always, be sure to read the "Read Me" file and the terms and conditions that come with any software when you download it.
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What is streaming?
To present this content, we use streaming technology. Streaming is the delivery of media content over the Internet using data compression and this process allows the user to start playing the material as it downloads. This saves having to download the entire file before you can play it.

To listen to audio, you need a sound card and speakers or headphones for your computer. To use streaming media, you need players which operate as "plug-ins" in your web browser. The players play both audio and video and can also operate independently of your browser. Most will play a variety of other types of media files as well.
The ABC offers its content for users to stream but unless otherwise specified, we do not allow the downloading and saving of our media content.
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Local Radio Stream
ABC Local Radio uses the Real Media and Windows Media platforms to deliver streaming content at 40kbs or 44kbs. The nature of the encoding system, however, means that the better your internet connection the better sound you will hear. If, for example, you have broadband, you will be pretty much guaranteed a service equivalent to (and sometimes better) than FM radio. A word of warning, though that streaming audio often takes a lot of bandwidth, and unless you have unlimited bandwidth, you may find yourself going over the limit fairly easy. It's worth having a word to your internet service provider about the connection and the account you have before using local radio's streaming audio.

Software
For the best media experience, we recommend Real Player 10 and Windows Media Player 9 or higher. You can still use our streams with older versions of both players, but this may stop you from enjoying some of our new broadband audio and video streams. You can download the players free from the Real Audio website (please note that you only need the Free RealOne Player - you don't have to purchase RealOne premium), or the Windows Media Player website. If you're using Windows Media Player, you need to set the player to stream via http only (go to Tools/Options/Network). It also helps if you have the latest version of Media Player (version 9 and above).

News Bulletins
The audio stream features national bulletins and occasional international bulletins from Radio Australia. This is because state-based bulletins often include news stories which should not be streamed on the web for legal reasons, particularly in cases where news stories cannot be reported universally because of court rulings. At 7.45am daily, replacing our local radio news bulletin, we cross to ABC Newsradio.

Grandstand
Although ABC Local Radio holds the radio rights for many sporting events, we do not hold the online rights for some, especially the footy codes. In the case of cricket, however, we have an arrangement which allows streaming to most countries in the world. Some countries, however, have restrictions in place and, if you live in those countries, your IP address will prevent you from hearing the stream. When we are unable to broadcast sport, we will provide alternative online programs.

Can't Listen At Work?
If you are unable to listen at work, you should in the first instance speak with your IT department, as many workplaces place firewall restrictions on streaming audio.

Other Services
Podcasts - Many of our segments are currently available as Real Media files, Windows Media files or as podcasts. Click on the Podcasting link.

Last Updated: 5/12/2006 9:54:00 AM AEDT

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