Why doesn't the video start to play right away? There are several factors that determine how long it takes for a video to start to play after you click on it. In general it normally takes about 30 to 60 seconds before it starts to play. Factors include your connection speed, how much internet traffic there is (evenings are the busiest). Here are a few links that you can use to test your system: Test1 (You should see our logo appear within 30 seconds and hear "Welcome to YourOtherTeacher.com" Test2 (Use the RealVideo 9 Sample Clips) When the lesson is trying to load, go up to the Real Player menu at the top and click on "View", then "Statistics". This will tell us how good of a connection you have. The main items here are the values for "Encoded" and "Average". "Encode" is the value of the way the file is trying to be delivered to you, whereas "Average" is the rate that is being delivered to you. If all is fine then these two values should be close. Let it run for 5 minutes to see if it every plays. You may also want to check to see that the Real Player settings are right. The main one can be found by clicking on "Preferences" under the "View" menu. Then click on the tab "Connection". Make sure that your connection speed is shown in the "Normal Bandwith" box. If you want you can put in a LOWER value that you actually have. The initial quality will be lower. If your connection speed can support a higher quality the system will automatically adjust for this. The advantage of a lower rate is that the videos will load faster, but at an initial reduced quality. If you contact our support center we will need some basic info: -What type of connection do you have, ie a 56k dial up modem, dsl, cable modem, etc? -Windows98, ME, etc? -Encoded and Average values discussed above