From...

May 12, 1999
Web posted at: 10:01 a.m. EDT (1401 GMT)

by David Needle

SAN FRANCISCO (IDG) -- Some real gems were on display at the RealNetworks developers conference here last week, when 80 exhibitors showcased streaming-media products from multimedia-editing tools to consumer portable music players.

One intriguing product was NetRecorder, for porting Internet files to traditional audio media. Slated to ship this summer at about $100, NetRecorder is priced significantly less than are competitive products, according to Philip Monego, chief executive officer at Voquette. For example,

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	IDG.net home page
PC World home page
FileWorld find free software fast
Make your PC work harder with these tips
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
		IDG.net's desktop PC page
		IDG.net's portable PC page
IDG.net's Windows software page
IDG.net's personal news page
Year 2000 World
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for computer geniuses (& newbies)
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
News Radio
	Fusion audio primers
	Computerworld Minute

the competing Mobile Player from Audible sells for $299 and lets you record off the Internet and onto tape.

NetRecorder, on the other hand, can store audio to minidiscs or recordable CDs, as well as standard audio cassettes. It also supports text-to-speech conversion, so you can save e-mail files with Word attachments to tape for later listening.

"We call it audio printing," Monego says. "You can just drag a Word attachment to an [on-screen basket icon] and it's recorded." NetRecorder supports popular streamed-audio formats such as RealAudio, Microsoft Media Player, MP3, .wav, and Midi files. NetRecorder will be available from the Voquette Web site.

Edit for effect

Avid Technology, best known for its professional video solutions, reviewed a beta version of its Avid Cinema for Windows consumer software, which lets you easily segment and move around clips of video samples stored on your PC. You can also add audio to your clips by talking into a microphone as you minimize or mute sound from the camcorder or VCR.

The $99 package shipped last year, but the update, due out this summer, adds effects and supports the latest RealPlayer G2 software, as well as Apple's QuickTime, MPEG, and AVI files. A Macintosh version is also available.

Calling all Web sites

Tellsoft Technologies showed off several products designed to simplify the process of getting audio onto the Internet via telephone. "This is audio on demand," says Shaun McNerney, executive vice president and co-founder of Tellsoft.

The Tellsoft iTalk Email Solution is a subscription service that lets you deliver voice e-mail messages as attachments to anyone with an e-mail address.

The iTalk Server combines industry-standard computer telephony boards, software, and a management interface to convert recorded messages into streaming-media files. You can publish the media files on one or more Web sites and replay them on demand via telephone or the Internet.

The iTalk LE (Live Encoding) Server lets users broadcast live events that are published to one or more Web sites for on-demand replay via telephone or Internet. Tellsoft positions the product for recording and playing back conference calls, or for distance learning. At one Tellsoft customer, Prudential Securities, brokers broadcast over the telephone market analyses to customers on the Internet. The brokers simply call into the system by phone and leave their message.

Yackity yack

And for those who struggle to keep up with the thousands of new Webcasts popping up each day, Yack has arrived. On Yack, the self-proclaimed Guide to Live Internet Events and Chats, you can search for specific events among 16 channels, check out a daily calendar, or peruse such listings as Yackcellent or the daily top six list of events and chats. In short, consider yourself guided.