• Sound, Music, MIDI
• CDs and DVDs full of pictures, action and sound!
• Editing photos and making movies in a few minutes!
• The potential of using multimedia

Multimedia Magic

1.

Multimedia applications are used in all sorts of fields. Fore example, some museums, banks and estate agents have information kiosks that use multimedia. Companies produce training programs on optical disks, and marketing managers use presentation packages (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint) to make business presentations. Teachers use multimedia programs to make video projects or to teach subjects such as music and languages. They have all found that moving images, sound and music involve viewers emotionally as well as inform them, and make their message more memorable.
The power of multimedia resides in hypertext and hypermedia. If you click on a hypertext word, you jump to another screen with more information about that subject. Hypermedia is similar, but also works with sound, graphics and video.

2.
To capture sounds in digital format and play them back, modern PCs contain a sound card. This is a type of expansion card which offers two important capabilities: (i) a built-in stereo synthesizer and (ii) a system called Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or (MIDI). This allows electronic musical instruments to communicate with computers.

Courtesy from Google pictures.

You can also listen to music on your PC. Many radio stations broadcast on the Web using a technique called ‘streaming’. This lets you play an audio file in a continuous stream, while it’s downloading, before the entire file is transmitted. Sometimes bands transmit concerts on the Web in a process called ‘webcast’ (to use the Internet to broadcast live or delayed audio and/or video transmissions). To listen to online music you just need a plug-in like RealPlayer.

3.
There are two ways of storing photos on a computer. The first way is to use a digital camera. Photos are stored in a memory chip and then they’re downloaded to the computer. The second way is to scan printed photos by using a scanner. With special software you can repair flaws, and effects and even save your photos on a CD.
Video is another important part of multimedia. Video computing refers to recording, manipulating and storing video in digital format. In fact, today you can make your own movies on your PC. This is what you have to do: first capture images with a digital video camera and then transfer the digital video to your computer. Next, with a video editing program (e.g. iMovie) cut your favorite segments, re-sequence the clips and add transitions and other effects. Finally, save save your movie on video CD, a DVD or a videotape. You can also place your work on the Internet.

4.
Multimedia software is usually interactive and comes on CD-ROMs or DVDs. For example, the Compton’s Encyclopedia enables you to read about whales, look at photos of whales, listen to whale songs, and view animated sequences. Similarly, the Grolier Encyclopedia lets you read about birds, view pictures of birds, and listen to recordings of their songs.
Other CD-ROMs include games, guides, dictionaries and educational courses about history, science, the human body, cinema, literature and foreign languages.

a. hypertext b. MIDI interface c.Video editing
d. streaming e. webcast

CONDITIONAL CLAUSES

When you want to talk about a possible situation and its consequences, you use a conditional sentence. Here we examine TWO TYPES of conditionals:

1. First Conditional (possible situation):

If  A  happens                                 B will happen
(simple present)                             (will + verb)

e.g. If you click on the speaker icon, you’ll get a piece of dialogue from the movie.

a. When the verb to be is used in the main clause, the base form be is used after will.

e.g. If you hire a fast Internet provider, your phone bills will be lower.

b. The negative form of will is won’t (will + not).

c. In the main clause, we can also have a modal (can, may), an imperative, or a present tense verb.

2. Second Conditional (unlikely situation):

If A happened                      B would happen
(simple past)                         (would + verb)

If I had money, I would (I’d) invest in a multimedia upgrade kit.

a. Attention: when used in the if-clause, the verb be becomes were for all persons.
If I were you, I wouldn’t give my password to that guy.

b. When the verb to be is used in the main clause, the base form be is used after would.
If I were you, I would be very happy.

Other modals (could, should, might) may appear in the main clause.
Ex. If I had enough money, I could buy an upgrade kit.

Note: You need to learn some past tense forms of the verbs to use the second conditional correctly.