• How do I access course media through Blackboard?
• How do I access course media if my course does not use Blackboard?
• What are the system requirements for accessing the Media Service?
• My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?
• Can I play all the audio in a folder with a single click?
• I click the play button in the QuickTime player and nothing happens. Why not?
• What is the Playlist?
• A dialog box tells me that a script is slow or "unresponsive." Should I click Continue or Stop Script?

How do I access course media through Blackboard?

• Go to the course for which you need to access course media.
• Click the Course Tools link in the course menu.
• Click Sharestream Media. Wait for the module to load.
• If applicable, click the sub-folder you need to access. Wait for the media to load.
• For streaming audio or video, click the Play button.
• For downloadable audio or video, click the Download button. The file will open in a different program, such as QuickTime, iTunes, or Windows Media Player.
• Note: Some professors add a Media button or link to the course menu. This is a shortcut for students' convenience. The exact name of this link varies based on the professor's preference and the type of media the course uses.

How do I access course media if my course does not use Blackboard?

• Log in to the Georgetown Media Service at http://mediapilot.georgetown.edu. Wait for the page to load fully. Any course that uses course media and in which you are enrolled will be listed.
• Choose the course for which you need to access media. If applicable, click the sub-folder you need to access. Wait for the media to load.
• For streaming audio or video, click the Play button.
• For downloadable audio or video, click the Download button. The file will open in a different program, such as QuickTime, iTunes, or Windows Media Player.

What are the system requirements for accessing the Media Service?

• In order to access the Georgetown Media Service through Course Tools or at mediapilot.georgetown.edu, you need a computer with a broadband Internet connection. We recommend a wired (LAN) connection on campus. Residential broadband (cable or DSL) may work; however, video streaming requires sufficient bandwidth (appr. 1Mbps of dedicated bandwidth). Wireless routers and shared networks may adversely affect performance.
• The following browsers are currently supported:

  On Windows XP: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2
  On Windows Vista: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2
  On Mac OS X: Firefox 2, Safari 3

• QuickTime 7 is required for streaming media. It can be downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download.

My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?

Users can subscribe to collections of downloadable media, such as MP3 audio files, as podcasts. This way, the collection will be downloaded as a whole. Podcast-enabled software such as iTunes allows users to keep media from a collection together and to periodically check for new media in the collection. To subscribe to a collection using iTunes:

• In your browser, navigate to your course media. Select the folder that contains the media you wish to download and wait until the folder's content is displayed.
• Underneath the folder content, you should see information about the collection, including Title and Collection Type. Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) on this information and select "Open with iTunes."
• Allow iTunes to launch. Log in with your netID. The collection will be downloaded as a new podcast. You can now play the media in iTunes or on a portable player. Note that whenever copyrighted material is downloaded, the University has obtained permission to distribute these materials to you for personal course-related use only. Downloaded materials may not be distributed to others.
• In iTunes' preferences, you can set how often iTunes should check for new media and what it should do when it finds new media.

Can I play all the audio in a folder with a single click?

In collections of streaming media, you can play clips successively with a single click. Note that this does not work for downloadable media. To download a collection of media, see "My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?" above.

• Navigate to the collection of streaming media and click the Play All button above the list of clips.
• Audio clips will play successively until you press the pause icon in the QuickTime player above the list or until you begin playing a different clip. Note that due to a limitation of the system the title and contributor information below the QuickTime player will not be updated after the first clip.
• When Play All is clicked for streaming video collections, the video clips will play in succession in a separate window.
• Playback will not be interrupted when you navigate to other collections during Play All. To return to the collection of the currently playing asset, click the curly arrow icon to the left of the Play All icon.

I click the play button in the QuickTime player and nothing happens. Why not?

Above the list of media, there is a small QuickTime player, which indicates progress during audio playback and provides playback controls. This player is not active until you begin playing a streaming audio clip. To begin playback, click the Play button to the right of the clip title and contributor or, alternatively, double-click the title.

The QuickTime player above the media list is not active during video playback. Video clips have their own player-controller situated underneath the video.

The QuickTime player above the media list cannot be used with downloadable media, which are downloaded to your computer and played in dedicated applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, or the stand-alone QuickTime Player.

What is the Playlist?

The Playlist is a custom collection of media for a particular user. It is listed under the collections (courses) to which a user has access. Any user logged in to Blackboard or mediapilot.georgetown.edu can add media to her or his Playlist from the collections the user has access to.

To add media to your Playlist:

• Navigate to your course media. Select the folder that contains the media and wait until the folder's content is displayed.
• Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the audio or video clip that you want to add to your Playlist and choose "Add to Playlist." Click OK to confirm.
• You may repeat this for other clips in the same collection and in other collections (courses). A Playlist can contain media from different collections.

To remove media from your Playlist:

• Select your Playlist and wait until its content is displayed.
• Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the audio or video clip that you want to remove from your Playlist and choose Delete. Click OK to confirm.

A dialog box tells me that a script is slow or "unresponsive." Should I click Continue or Stop Script?

The software used by the Media Service to verify permissions and to display media information may require more time than slower computers or non-optimized browsers allow by default. If a dialog prompts you to continue running a script or to stop it, click Continue so that the page can load fully and display the media to which you have access.

This is not directly related to your computer's ability to play or download media. However, video playback may also be less than optimal on older or slower systems. (See question 3 about network requirements.)