General questions

The book I tried to open did not display completely on the screen. The text just stops in the middle of a lesson.
How can I find the transcript or audio of the program that I saw on TV today (or any particular day)?
How can I change the font size of the text so I can print out a book on fewer pages?
The books are hard to read with the text going all the way across the screen. Is there a way to make the column of text more narrow from left to right?

Audio questions

How can I play the audio files (either MP3 or RealAudio)?
Is there a way to convert the RealOne (.ra) format files to a format that can be copied to a CD and played on a regular stereo?
Where is the free RealOne Player? All I can find is the one that you have to buy. They ask for my credit card number.
How can I increase the volume of the audio files?
How can I listen to the audio of a lesson and view the text at the same time?

Q: The book I tried to open did not display completely on the screen. The text just stops in the middle of a lesson.

A: Each book is pretty large and takes a few seconds to load. From time to time, internet connections or servers may be slow for various reasons. If this is the case, your browser may time out and not load the text of the book completely. Should this take place, click refresh or reload on your browser to try again. This will normally make the whole book display.

If it still does not display completely, make sure that you are really on-line and not just accessing the same copy of the book in your computer's cache. Also, try closing your browser and then re-opening it and going back to the book. This is to assure that your browser is truly refreshing and not just reading from your computer's cache.

If the book still does not display completely, please send me an email to let me know. On rare occasions, a file for a particular book can get corrupted somehow, and I may have to upload a fresh copy of it.

Q: How can I find the transcript or audio of the program that I saw on TV today (or any particular day)?

A: The easiest way is to get the number of the broadcast off of the blackboard and then just look it up in the big table on the main web page. If you do not know the number, you can get the number of the program that runs the next day (or next week if you are watching a station that only airs the program weekly) and subtract one from the number. Write down the program number that is on the blackboard. There will be three numbers, one for the Book, one for the Lesson, and one for the Part. For example, it might be 27-3-2. In that case, you would subtract one to get the previous day's number and go to Book 27, Lesson 3, Part 1 in the big table on the main web page.

Some of the earlier recorded programs may not have the number on the board. If that is the case, go the the top of Les's main page and click on "search this site". Then enter a key phrase or words that Les Feldick spoke during the program and click "search". Some possible books should turn up in the list. Once you are inside a book, use your browser's "find" function to search for the key phrase.

Here is another option: If you know the main passage of the Bible that Les was teaching out of, you may be able to find it by looking for that part of the Bible in the titles in the main table. Most of the titles tell the verse references of the main passages that are covered in the program.

Q: How can I play the audio files?

A: To play an MP3 audio file, left-click your mouse on one of the numbers in the "MP3" column of the big table on the home page. This should bring up Windows Media Player or whatever the default media player for your computer is and begin playing the MP3 audio file. These files are about 3 MB in size.

This web site also has the programs in RealAudio format. The RealAudio files are smaller, about 1.8 MB, and are of slightly lower sound quality. To hear the RealAudio files, you will need the free RealOne Player software. They also sell one with extra bells and whistles, but you don't need that one to play the audios. The basic free player will work fine. You will need to fill out the form on RealOne web site. It will ask for your connection speed and what operating system you have. Don't worry, it's easy to download, install, and operate. After you download the RealOne program, run it to set it up and answer the questions it asks. Then just come back to the home page of this web site, scroll down to the big table, and click on the number in the "Listen" column for the lesson that you want to listen to.

For either the MP3 or RealAudio formats, those who have slow connections may have to download the audio files before playing them. All of the audio files are copyrighted (Copyright Policy) by Les Feldick Ministries.

Q: Is there a way to convert the RealOne (.ra) format files to a format that can be copied to a CD and played on a regular stereo?

A: Yes, but it may not necessary anymore. In the spring of 2007, we began putting MP3 audio files on the web site. As of July 14, 2007, we currently have the first 31 books available in MP3 format. We plan to put the rest of the MP3 files on the web site in the coming weeks.

For anyone who still needs to convert audio files to other formats, here are some possible options:

Windows Movie Maker is a program which comes already installed on many computers with Microsoft Windows. It can usually be found in the "Start" menu under "Accessories" - "Entertainment". Windows Movie Maker does the conversion by playing the RAM file and recording it to a WMA file. Converting a file to the new format takes the same amount of time as listening to the RAM file. First you start Windows Movie Maker, then under the Tools menu, click "narrate timeline". Then change the input source to "stereo mix". Start playing one of Les Feldick's audio files from his web site. Then in Windows Movie Maker, click "Start Narration". You may need to adjust volume settings to a good recording level. When the program is through playing, click "Stop Narration". Then save the file under a name that lets you know which program it is, such as naming it after the book, lesson, and part numbers, like "24-2-3" for example. Then use Windows Explorer to go to the directory to which you saved the WMA file. Typically it is Desktop\My Documents\My Videos\Narration. Right-click on the filename and select "Add to burn list" from the menu that pops up. This will open the file with Windows Media Player so you can burn it to a CD. The resulting CD can then be played on a regular CD player stereo.

There are also alternative methods for converting file formats. Below there are links to four programs that you may want to try. I have not tried these myself, but they have been suggested by one or more visitors to this web site. If you decide to try them, I would recommend scanning any file downloads with anti-virus software.

1. There is a program called Total Recorder that costs about $12 and can convert from RAM files to WAV or MP3 formats. It does the conversion by playing the RAM file at regular speed. So it also takes the same amount of time as listening to the RAM file.

2. The RealPlayer Plus software says it can "Rip, mix & burn CDs and MP3s - fast" at an advertised price is about $20. So supposedly, it can make the conversion without having to play the audio.

3. I am told that Switch is a free converter that can convert Real Audio files to many different formats.

4. I hear that dBpowerAMP is a free converter that can convert Real Audio files to WAV or MP3 formats.

Q: Where is the free RealOne Player? All I can find is the one that you have to buy. They ask for my credit card number.

A: RealOne does have a free player, but they do their best to make the free one hard to find on their web site to try to get you to buy the one with the extra bells and whistles. You may have to click around on their site for a while to find it. Just ignore all the advertisements RealOne Player Plus, the one that is for sale. Look for the small print on the side of the screen that says something like "Or get our basic player" or "free player". Try this link and look for "Or get our basic player".

Q: How can I increase the volume of the audio files?

A: There are at least four ways to increase the volume on most computers. (1) Your operating system has a volume control. In Microsoft Windows, you can access it by clicking on the little speaker symbol on the control bar. (2) The software that you use to play the audio, whether the software is Windows Media Player, RealOne Player, QuickTime, or whatever, will have another volume control. (3) Computers that have external speakers typically have a volume control on the speakers. (4) You can get an audio cable from Radio Shack to connect your computer's speaker output to a home stereo or boom box to make it even louder.

These four methods of volume control are additive to one another. Between the first three, you should be able to turn the audio up very loud. So give them a try. If the first three do not make it loud enough for you, try the tip number four above.

Q: How can I listen to the audio of a lesson and view the text at the same time?

A: Here are instructions for playing the audio and viewing the text of Book 1, Lesson 1, Part 1 (for example).

1. Go to Les Feldick's main web page at http://www.lesfeldick.org.
2. Scroll down to the big table and find either the "Listen" column for RealAudio or the "MP3" column for MP3.
3. Click on the "1" in the "Lesson 1" row for Book 1. (After a few seconds, the audio will start playing.)
4. Go back to your browser and click "Read Book 1" in the table.

This will display Book 1 on the screen. This will also make the RealOne Player or Windows Media Player window go into the background, but the audio will continue playing.

Q: How can I change the font size of the text so I can print out a book on fewer pages?

A: First, right-click on the link to the book and then "Save Target As" to download the book (in HTML format) to your computer. Then you can do one of two things:

Open the HTML file with a word processor, such as Microsoft Word. Then select the text, and change the font size to whatever size you like. Then print.

Or open the HTML file with a text editor, such as Textpad, that has a "Find" and "Replace" function. When you do this, the text will appear, but all of the HTML codes will appear also. The code that controls the font size is the code that says "FONT SIZE=4". Font sizes range from 1-7, with seven being the largest. The main body of Les Feldick's books (not counting the title and lesson headings) are in font size 4, which is large enough to be easy on the eyes, but font size 3 would still be readable for most people. Use the "Find" and "Replace" function to replace every occurence of "FONT SIZE=4" with "FONT SIZE=3", or whatever size you like. Then save the HTML file and close it. Then open it with your browser, which will now display the new size. Then print.

Q: The books are hard to read with the text going all the way across the screen. Is there a way to make the column of text more narrow from left to right?

A: You can easily make your browser window and the lines of text any width that you like. With your browser in a window (not taking up the full screen), put your curser on either the left or right side. Then click and drag the side of the window toward the middle and release. This make the window narrower, and the text moves to match that width.