nice try...

[dchenes]

I found a .ram file of a very silly song I've wanted to hear again since I heard it the first time (on NPR, in 1999). So I go hunting for the program I need to actually play the thing, and I find it at realaudio.com. There's a 14-day free trial version available for download. Cool, says I, but what do they want my e-mail address for? So I read the terms of the download and discover that it's an opt-out process. You get the trial version, AFTER you provide them with billing information so they can charge you for the thing after the 14 days are up. If you only want the trial version, you have to call them within those 14 days and tell them not to bill you. *BZZZT* Sorry, wrong answer, thanks for playing.

So, back to figuring out how to play .ram files without providing my credit card number to people I would then have to tell not to use it.

Comments

[marmota.livejournal.com]

What's the song? I poke around a fair bit on many of the filesharing nets, so perhaps I can find a version with a friendlier file format for you.

[dchenes.livejournal.com]

I doubt you'll find it, but it's The Twelve Days of Christmas by Baxter Black.

[marmota.livejournal.com]

Hmm, looks like you doubted correctly. I've listened to NPR enough to know the guy you're talking about. He's published a few books, but hasn't put out any recordings... which makes it kind of hard to find anyone sharing them. Ah, well.