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Since Easter 2007, we have been making all our recordings of Sunday morning and evening messages available online. These include regular series as well as visiting preachers and missionaries and other special occasions.

We provide a choice of two audio formats: MP3 and Real Audio. These have been formatted so that most dialup users should be able to listen online as well as download.

Our church Bible is the New International Version. Many of our readings refer to page numbers in this version. You can also follow the Bible text online by clicking on the red text for any sermon to look it up on Bible Gateway (opens a new window).

• Listen online

Left-click on either the MP3 or Real Audio button and the audio should start to play after a short delay.

• Download

Right-click for a menu to save the file to disk for later listening e.g. on a portable player. Or sign up to our podcast (see sidebar). File sizes are typically around 6-7MB.

• What is normally recorded at Goring Free Church
• How to obtain a recording of something not available online
• Tips on searching for sermons
• More information on audio formats

What is normally recorded at Goring Free Church

Prior to August 24^th 2008, recordings were made on tape and only the sermon was recorded, plus very occasional hymns or special events such as dedications. Since then we have been recording digitally and are able to record the whole service, from which the sermon is extracted and put online.

Sometimes a service with a very strong visual content will not be recorded, or not put online if it is.

As well as the Sunday services, we also record:

• Bridging the Gap, held here in 2008 and 2009
• Occasional one-off special services
• A collection of traditional hymns taken from Sunday services and available by request on CDs.

How to obtain a recording of something not available online

For recordings from August 24^th 2008 or later, ask Helen A, Matt, Paul, Mark or Nigel to have a CD created. Tapes of earlier services are still available from the PA console but normally contain little more than the online sermons.

CDs are available on request for Bridging the Gap.

Tips on searching for sermons

• Note that preachers' names may be abbreviated if that is how they appeared in the church bulletin e.g. “Steve”, “Dan” etc.
• Searches are not case-sensitive: when searching for a preacher, either “Nigel” or “nigel” would match.
• Bible text appears in a set format in the lists of sermons but it is not essential to enter the text with the same exact spacing e.g. “1John4” or “1 John 4 :” are both recognised.

More information on audio formats

We are still providing support for dialup users and the two file formats were chosen, after extensive testing in 2007, to get the best possible tradeoff between file size and quality though also with ease of use and familiarity in mind. The MP3 files are 32-bit-rate mono and the Real Audio format is optimised for voice and a 56K modem. The new digital recordings available offline are in WAV format and archived in a compression format without quality loss (FLAC) and obviously offer better sound quality if needed.