Music Playback

• Q: What can I do if I'm not getting sound from BlueBeat?

  A: First, please make sure your system meets the requirements of the BlueBeat music service. If you've played music through our site and are only encountering problems now, you may wish to double-check that your sound card is working properly and that volumes are set correctly. On rare occasions, other software that communicates with your sound card may conflict with the BlueBeat service. Please ensure that you're not running programs such as immersive gaming, or audio recorders, which might be occupying too much of your sound card's resources. Contact us if you cannot pinpoint the source of the problem.

• Q: I'm getting "error X in song authorization" when I try to listen to music through the BlueBeat player. What is going on?

  A: We are currently investigating this issue and hope to eliminate these errors soon.

• Q: Why do I need a broadband internet connection to listen to BlueBeat?

  A: We stream music at an astonishing 320kbps rate which guarantees that your music sounds terrific even (especially) when piped through home speakers. Thus we recommend that the bandwidth of your internet connection exceeds 384kbps for flawless music delivery. You also have the option of playing music at 160kbps (still some of the highest quality in online digital music) by changing your account settings when logged in.

• Q: I have a firewall. How do I make sure I can listen to BlueBeat through it?

  A: You'll need to enable access to port 80 for BlueBeat.exe in your firewall settings. Please consult your firewall documentation if you need further assistance.

• Q: When I click on a playlist in Internet Explorer, nothing happens! What should I do?

  A: There may be a issue with Internet Explorer's cache of temporary files. We have found that clearing the temporary files resolves this problem. Please click on the Tools menu and then select "Internet Options..." Under the "Temporary Internet files" heading, click the "Delete Files..." button. When this is done, restart your browser and try again.

• Q: I'm getting choppy music playback. Do you have any suggestions?

  A: The most frequent cause of choppy music is a slow internet connection (Why do I need a broadband internet connection to listen to BlueBeat?). It is also possible that there are incompatibilities between your system and the BlueBeat music service. If you suspect this is the case, please review our system requirements page, and if that does not seem to address the problem, visit our problem report form and notify us.

• Q: I'm using the Opera web browser and when I click a playlist, nothing happens or I receive an error!

  A: Head to the Tools menu, then click on Preferences. Open the Advanced tab, then click on the Downloads section in the left menu. In the list, you should see an entry with a MIME type of "audio/x-bluebeat" and a file extension of "bbt". Click on this entry and Delete it. Click OK and now try playing music. You should now receive a prompt asking what to do with a BlueBeat playlist file. Click "Open" without checking "Remember choice..." The BlueBeat player should launch with your requested music.

  We understand this is not an ideal situation and are currently trying to track down the source of this bug. Until it is fixed, however, music playback in Opera will require that extra click. You may also try another browser for the time being - sorry for the inconvenience!

Install / Uninstall

• Q: I got an error that says, "Setup could not complete because your system either does not have a compatible audio/sound device or a sound device is not present on your system...(cont'd)" What should I do?

  A: It is likely you have an emulated sound device or have lowered your sound device's Hardware Acceleration.

  To fix this problem, please try the following. Click on Start Menu --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices (For Win ME/98se users, it is called "Sounds and Multimedia"). Click on the AUDIO tab, and click on ADVANCED, under playback. Then click on the PERFORMANCE tab and make sure that HARDWARE ACCELERATION is set to FULL.

• Q: How do I uninstall the old version of the BlueBeat software (to upgrade to a newer version)?

  A: As of October 2005, please open the Add/Remove Programs window in your control panel and uninstall BlueBeat. It can be found through your Start menu > Settings > Control Panel

• Q: I'm having trouble installing the BlueBeat service on my computer. Please advise.

  A: If you're sure your computer meets our system requirements, here are some additional tips. First, you may wish to download the latest version of the BlueBeat player. Older versions of the player might not work with the service and will need to be upgraded. Additionally, if your computer is set up for multiple users, you'll need sufficient access to be able to install new programs (under Windows XP and 2000, this is often called Administrator access). If you've found that the installer has finished but BlueBeat does not work, please reboot your system.

• Q: What should I do if I encounter an error during the installation of BlueBeat?

  A: If the error states that you need to uninstall an older version of the player, please check your Add/Remove Programs control panel (Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel) and remove it prior to installation. For other errors, please contact BlueBeat technical support so we can assist you in finding a solution.

• Q: When I try to run the BlueBeat Installer, it says that "Setup has detected an older version of BlueBeat on your system...(cont'd)" What can I do?

  A: Please uninstall your previous version of BlueBeat using the Add/Remove Programs feature in your control panel. Then, retry the installation process.

• Q: Can I install BlueBeat on my Intel Mac using Boot Camp?

  A: Currently, we are not supporting BlueBeat Installation on Mac Audio Devices.

• Q: Does the BlueBeat player support Windows Vista?

  A: Yes! As of 4-4-08 we now support Windows Vista! Please see our System Requirements page for more info.

• Q: I have an external USB/Firewire audio device, can I still use BlueBeat?

  A: External USB/Firewire devices are not officially supported by BlueBeat at this time. Some users have successfully tuned in with such hardware devices. If you have difficulty with your external device, we recommend using your internal sound card.

Website

• Q: I am having trouble logging into the site. Do you have suggestions?

  A: Please ensure the following:

  1. Your computer's time/date is set to the correct time, date, and year. Please double-check this is true. If you're using Windows, you can double-click the system time on the lower-right corner of the taskbar.
  2. You are using a web browser capable of storing cookies and with cookies enabled. Please review our requirements page to check that you're using a BlueBeat.com-supported web browser. You'll also need to ensure your cookie settings are not too restrictive. (See How do I accept first-party cookies?)
  3. If you're using a web accelerator or cache utility, such as Google WA or Yahoo WA, you'll need to add "www.bluebeat.com", "bluebeat.com", and "secure.bluebeat.com" into the list of sites not to be cached.

• Q: Can BlueBeat remember my login so I don't have to type my username and password next time I visit the site?

  A: The "Keep Me Logged In" checkbox at Your BlueBeat (or your account details page) allows you to keep a persistent session at BlueBeat so you do not have to enter your username/password when you return to the site the next day, week, or month. Keep in mind that if you switch browsers or computers, we will not be able to recognize you and you'll have to enter your information again to log in. (And as a general principle, you should always log yourself out of any online services you're using on public computers!)

• Q: I can't log into the BlueBeat site. Any suggestions?

  A: The most common cause of log-in trouble is an incorrect username and/or password. In the event of such occasions, visit our forgot password page. If you are attempting to log in and you are certain your information is correct, it's possible that your cookie settings are too restrictive (what are cookies?) or your browser has trouble keeping track of your visit (check our requirements page for our browser recommendations). If you continue to experience difficulty, please fill out our problem report form.

• Q: What are cookies?

  A: Cookies are tiny text files associated with your web browser used to streamline your browsing experience. For example, if you were to visit an online shopping site, that site might store your username in a cookie to be able to keep track of your shopping cart as you navigated from page to page. There are often privacy and security concerns surrounding the use of cookies, and for good reason. You might imagine a banking site that stores sensitive information such as your bank or social security number in a cookie! At BlueBeat.com, we assure you that our cookies will never contain any information that compromises your privacy. In addition, we only set first-party cookies, which means other sites will not have access to the cookies we create. (Also see What kind of cookies does BlueBeat.com use? How do I accept first-party cookies?)

• Q: What kind of cookies does BlueBeat.com set? How do I accept first-party cookies?

  A: Our cookies are not personally identifying and only keep track of your browsing session and associated information (definitely NOT personal information!). For your convenience, these cookies are allowed to persist into the future, which means that we'll be able to remember your preferences upon repeat visits. To accept these cookies, please check your browser settings (usually located in Tools -> Options -> Privacy). If you need assistance in changing these settings, please contact us!

• Q: My player skin doesn't change even though I have submitted my preferences for a different skin. What is going on?

  A: First, make sure you have started a new playlist after you have changed your preference. The player skin will not update in the middle of a song or playlist. Note: If you are using the Opera web browser, there may be difficulty getting your browser to recognize that a different skin was requested. We are currently investigating this problem and hope to fix it soon.