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GeoCities Adds Free Streaming Media

You can easily add multimedia tools and tricks to your free Web pages.

By Richard Jantz, PCWorld   

GeoCities last week launched GeoMedia, a new service that uses RealNetworks' streaming RealAudio G2 and RealVideo G2 components of RealSystem G2 technology. In the past, visitors to GeoCities Web sites had to wait for multimedia files to download before they could view them. With GeoMedia's features, you can now enjoy the instantaneous online viewing capabilities of streaming media. That service makes GeoCities the first community Web site provider to offer a low-cost multimedia publishing service for its members.

Small businesses can use GeoMedia to deliver multimedia presentations of their products and services. Others may use it for more personal matters such as a baby's first steps, a wedding, rafting adventures, sports events, and other occasions they want to share with family and friends.

Stepping Into the Stream

After a simple sign-up to become a GeoMedia member, I downloaded the custom software (RealNetworks' RealProducer G2 and RealPlayer G2) and converted some of my existing audio and video files into streaming content. You can also create your content directly from a video-capture or sound card, or from a live broadcast. I used GeoBuilder, GeoCities' free online Web-publishing program, to incorporate the clips into my GeoCities pages.

The experience was a mixed bag. Although GeoCities does a decent job of explaining how to create Web pages with streaming content, getting things the way I wanted involved some trial and error. Part of the problem is that digital video has different formats and standards that can complicate the conversion process. In some cases, the streaming video didn't look as good as the original clip.

On the other hand, I found that even a small amount of streaming content can really enliven an otherwise static Web site. The learning curve will probably be worth it for many GeoCities customers. GeoMedia members get 5MB of streaming media free each month, but if that's not enough, $5 buys you an additional 100MB per month.

Another Multimedia Freebie

GeoCities has also posted a free multimedia content tool called GeoThingMaker, a cobranded version of ThingWorld's ThingMaker. This handy drag-and-drop tool helps you easily create objects called "Things," which are interactive buttons, navigation widgets, animated logos, and characters. Even simple games are available as Things, and all of these objects help spice up a mundane home page.

You can use GeoThingMaker to enliven still photos and images with attributes like movement and color, and add short sound effects. GeoThingMaker automatically creates the HTML code for your objects, which makes them easy to insert into existing Web pages using GeoBuilder. Hundreds of Things are already available for you to copy and paste directly into GeoBuilder.