Spanish Steps

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Technical help
Some technical notes to make the most of Spanish Steps.
  • What do I need to hear the audio and watch the video?
    You need to download and install a piece of software from Real Media. They offer both a commercial and a free version of the software called RealPlayer. You don't need any of the enhancements of the commercial version to enjoy any of the videos on the BBC website.
    Follow the step-by-step guide from BBC Webwise


  • I can't find the free version of the audio and video software
    Look out for the link to the free basic version at the bottom of the download page. That page is subject to change, so please let us know if you don't find the link.


  • I already have a multimedia computer that plays audio and video
    Audio and video comes in different formats that play on different software. Video requires a lot of data to be transferred over the internet in real time. This means the video data has to be compressed, or "squashed", for it to be transferred, and this requires special software.


  • Why do I need to be connected to the Internet to play audio and video?
    By definition, a website requires that you stay connected to the Internet. You may save individual pages or files on your computer but once you disconnect you lose the main functionality of a website, i.e. you can't navigate from a link to a new page. This applies to pages, quizzes, video, audio and any other elements that maximise the possibilities of the medium.


  • What do I need to play the activities?
    Some of our activities have been enhanced to work with Flash technology. This is a piece of software that allows much more functionality than that of plain web pages, such as drag and drop. However, all of our activities have a basic version without some of the functionality of the Flash but with the same content.
    Follow the step-by-step guide to Flash from BBC Webwise


  • Why does it take so long for the video to download?
    Why does the video stop playing halfway through?
    The internet is like a highway - the more people that use it at the same time, the slower it becomes. Apart from the BBC servers and your local server, there are many other servers along the way, which may get overloaded at times of high internet traffic, e.g. early afternoon and mid-evening.


  • I'm not a home user
    The same issues will also affect users on a computer network. You may also see messages about your network's own security procedures, such as firewalls. In these cases, please consult first with your network's managers.

    • Read more about these and other issues on BBC Webwise