For the record

A few weeks ago, a guardian ad litem (GAL) was deposed at my law office. In preparing for this deposition, my office acquired a digital copy of the audio record of a hearing in the same matter. Once we acquired the CD that the audio was fixed on, I figured we could just put it into a CD player in a computer and listen. Instead, the envelope that the court sent the CD in had a single sheet of directions... Find them below.

As a relatively sophisticated computer user, I was able to follow the directions, but it still took me some time. Having to register with a website in order to listen to a 30 minute hearing (once) did not seem necessary. I don't understand why the court system keeps its audio records in a proprietary format. If "For the Record" the company were to go out of business, would that render all of the court's audio records useless?

The player is good - it keeps track of the start and end times of the hearing. So, ten minutes into the recording, you can tell the corresponding time was ten minutes into the hearing - if the hearing started at 10:00 am, the player will display 10:10 am. Aside from that, I'm not impressed... Give me VLC.