The Poor Student's Guide to Streaming Audio

Contents

Introduction

MP3 Streaming

Open Source Streaming

Credits

Student number 9832047

For Andrew Brouse's Music and the Internet

April 22, 2002

The Poor Student's Guide to Streaming Audio: Introduction

While the pundits will forever argue about what the internet was supposed to be and what it will be in the future, the fact of the matter is that, in its present form, the internet already offers technologies to its users that didn't exist more than 15 years ago. One of the most important of these is audio streaming, a process that allows listeners to tune into audio content from anywhere in the world over the internet. Since the early 1990s, companies like Xing, Real and Microsoft have been experimenting with the transmission of digital audio over the internet in realtime, a process which has matured significantly in the last decade. Advances in compression algorithms and increases in processor speeds and data transmission rates have all helped to not only make audio streaming accessible, but to drastically improve the quality of sound involved as well.

However, the existence of a technology in and of itself is not enough to ensure that everyone will have access to it. Ever since the so-called "Dot-com collapse", web developers have realized that running a large website can quickly turn into a very expensive proposition. The high bandwidth requirements required for streaming audio delivery coupled with licensing fees charged by the major providers of streaming software (Real and Microsoft) can become a serious financial liability for all but the largest of commercial sites involved in streaming media. Smaller sites and those without commercial intentions are left to either find means of support, be it in the form of advertising, sponsorship or visitor donations, or else look for software that doesn't come with expensive licensing fees.

Despite these potential difficulties, the number of individuals streaming audio from their personal computers is actually on the rise. If the aspiring broadcaster knows where to look, he or she can find alternatives to the better known (and more expensive) software from companies like Real and Microsoft. With this in mind, let us examine some of the freeware and open-source alternatives for streaming audio over the internet.