If you've heard that you need a broadband connection to enjoy the fun stuff on the Web, don't worry. Not every multimedia site caters to the high-speed crowd. Some provide audio and graphics files that work well with slower connections. You wouldn't want to watch a full-length film over a 56K modem, but simple animation and sound clips are fine.

Streaming video on the Web isn't exactly the same quality as the picture on your 36-inch TV in the family room. And streaming audio can barely give FM radio much of a challenge. But as bandwidth (the measure of your Internet connection's data transfer ability) improves, the quality of streaming video also improves.

To use some Internet lingo that anyone who has ever played with a hose or a straw can appreciate, the fatter the pipe (the bandwidth), the more information that gets through. This is key to making streaming multimedia on the Internet as high-quality as possible.

Right now, bandwidth varies from the lowest of the low (56Kbps or slower), up to broadband (you get a broad amount of bandwidth) cable modems, digital subscriber lines (DSL) and T1 lines found in most offices.

With all those different speeds, entertainment sites such as AtomFilms.com and Windowsmedia.com offer a selection of links for digital video or audio streams. You'll see links for different speeds so you can choose the stream that's right for your amount of bandwidth.

The difference in bandwidth options is in size and quality. You must sacrifice both, to an extent, when you are on a slower connection. Besides, you wouldn't want to choose the T1 option if you're on a 56K modem. You'd wait forever and still not get a great image.

So, if you've got a 640Kbps DSL line, choose the "300K" option for a digital movie -- your connection can handle it. You still shouldn't expect DVD quality; there's always a chance of Internet traffic congestion slowing things down. Likewise, if you're still dialing up with a modem, at best you should pick 100K, preferably lower. -- Eric Griffith