Monday, February 16, 2004
audio/x-pn-realaudio plugin error in Explorer on OSX
I'm trying to find out who is still in the race for the Democratic nomination so I don't throw away my vote when I send in my California absentee ballot today. So I look at the Kerry website, and there's this video that they are posting in response to Bush's recent smear of Kerry. But when I say that my preferred client is RealAudio (I have Real One Player installed), the video fails to load, saying that I lack the audio/x-pn-realaudio plugin. I click on the link it provides, but is just sends me to a site where 1000s of people are posting the same question: "So, where's the audio/x-pn-realaudio plugin the link promised?". One or two people try to help, saying "Download Real One Player". But I already have it installed. Do I have to install it again?
No: Here's the solution. If you are using Explorer to browse the web (and if you already have Real One Player installed), under the Explorer menu, go to Preferences, then File Helpers. Click in the right pane, and press "r". You will see three entries that say "Real Player". That's wrong; they should say "Real One Player"; we're going to fix that. Click on the first one of the three, and then click "change". under "Application" you should see "File type:" and then "PNRM" in a box. Remember that, since we're going to have to type it back in in a second. Click on "Browse", then find your copy of Real One Player in your Applications folder. Click on it, click OK, then re-enter PNSM in the box that has just been cleared. Do the dame for the other two "Real Player" entries. Click OK. Now (this is important) quit Explorer, and re-start it. Now click on the link you were trying before, and you should have Real Player start up in your browser.
So the way I figure it, there were at least three bugs involved here:
If you found this useful, email me at ron@chrisley.freeserve.co.uk.
I'm trying to find out who is still in the race for the Democratic nomination so I don't throw away my vote when I send in my California absentee ballot today. So I look at the Kerry website, and there's this video that they are posting in response to Bush's recent smear of Kerry. But when I say that my preferred client is RealAudio (I have Real One Player installed), the video fails to load, saying that I lack the audio/x-pn-realaudio plugin. I click on the link it provides, but is just sends me to a site where 1000s of people are posting the same question: "So, where's the audio/x-pn-realaudio plugin the link promised?". One or two people try to help, saying "Download Real One Player". But I already have it installed. Do I have to install it again?
No: Here's the solution. If you are using Explorer to browse the web (and if you already have Real One Player installed), under the Explorer menu, go to Preferences, then File Helpers. Click in the right pane, and press "r". You will see three entries that say "Real Player". That's wrong; they should say "Real One Player"; we're going to fix that. Click on the first one of the three, and then click "change". under "Application" you should see "File type:" and then "PNRM" in a box. Remember that, since we're going to have to type it back in in a second. Click on "Browse", then find your copy of Real One Player in your Applications folder. Click on it, click OK, then re-enter PNSM in the box that has just been cleared. Do the dame for the other two "Real Player" entries. Click OK. Now (this is important) quit Explorer, and re-start it. Now click on the link you were trying before, and you should have Real Player start up in your browser.
So the way I figure it, there were at least three bugs involved here:
- The original bug that had the wrong application name (and presumably path, but there was no way for me to inspect that to check) in the File Helper settings;
- The unhelpful link that was provided when the missing plugin was detected;
- The clearing of the "File Type" box when the proper application location was found.
If you found this useful, email me at ron@chrisley.freeserve.co.uk.
