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Best Free Browser Plug-Ins

Make Your PC Sound Great

Forget your browser's bundled RealAudio player. RealNetworks' latest plug-in handles more than just streaming Web radio programming. In addition to FM-sound RealAudio, RealPlayer handles two types of streaming media--RealVideo programs and RealFlash animation. 6.5 min. r32up50.exe, 1.33MB, www.real.com/products/player

Radio Free Web

Okay, so now you've got RealPlayer plugged into your browser. RealAudio Tuner lets you tune in sites that broadcast RealAudio radio, and you can program up to ten radio stations from around the world as preset buttons. 4 min. ratuner.zip, 810KB, www.dragontek.com/RATuner

Cheap Phone Service

PhoneFree may turn your PC into a $2000 telephone, but you can't knock the hourly rate. Big Bits Software won't charge you for using the Internet to chat up other users of PhoneFree, as well as Netscape's CoolTalk and VocalTec's Internet Phone. And use PhoneFree to leave voice-mail messages in e-mail boxes. All you need are a mike, a sound card, and speakers. 4 min. 377KB, phonefree.com

Beat This

Pick an audio format--any audio format. AIFF, MOD, AU, MIDI, and good ol' WAV--and odds are Beatnik can handle it. But this plug-in is really designed to play HeadSpace's own RMF--a tiny MIDI-size format that handles the high-quality waveform samples online composers love. 16 min. beatnik-plugin-1-1-7.exe, 1.9MB, www.headspace.com

Prepare to Be Shocked

Macromedia's development tools produce highly interactive Web page animations with good sound. Even better, these compact packages load quickly on dial-up lines. To play games and simulations at Shockwave sites--or to use their dynamic user interfaces--get this latest version of the plug-in. It handles both regular Shockwave and Macromedia's new Flash apps that power streaming animation and graphics as well as interactive banners and maps. 4.5 min. 939KB, www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download

Un-Plugged

Encountering mysterious browser crashes because of plug-in conflicts? Give this Netscape Navigator plug-in a try. Plugsy lets you mix and match your various third-party and Netscape multimedia plug-ins and helper apps. With all of them working in organized harmony, you can avoid the resource clashes that cause browser crashes. 16 min. $29.95, 30-day free trial. pl32e107.exe, 610KB, www.digigami.com/plugsy