Streaming Audio

What if, instead of having to wait until a sound file was fully downloaded, the file could begin playing while it was still downloading? Well sir, that's what streaming audio (and video) is all about. RealAudio (http://www.realaudio.com/) was one of the first players in this field, and is probably still the best known. StreamWorks from Xing Technology is a similar deal, and Macromedia's Shockwave also incorporates streaming audio. With streaming audio, the sound file is downloaded into a buffer, then sent to the sound card. The file starts playing a few seconds after downloading begins, and if the Web doesn't bog down too badly, will keep playing more or less smoothly to the end.

Creating RealAudio files is easy enough, as audio editors like Sound Forge now allow you to save in RealAudio (.ra or .ram) format. You can include streaming files in a Web page the same way you include any audio file. The catch is that your Web server must have the RealAudio extensions installed, and many hosting services charge an extra fee for this.

Streaming audio also makes it possible to broadcast live or prerecorded music over the Internet on a continuous basis. Internet "radio stations" can broadcast to a worldwide audience, and therefore can specialize in a particular type of music, as no geographically-limited station possibly could. The world's greatest radio station, Florida's WMNF, can now be heard live over the Internet, thanks to RealAudio (http://www.wmnf.org). This community radio station has no advertising - it is supported solely by listener contributions. It's a station for serious music fans, and has a kaleidoscope of different programs, each focusing very tightly on one particular style of music, including jazz, blues, bluegrass, reggae, punk, polka and Klezmer, to name only a few.

So how does it sound? To be honest, Internet "radio stations" sound pretty poor at the moment. The hype mill maintains that RealAudio sounds just as good as FM radio, as it has the same potential dynamic range. This is a spurious comparison - poor digital audio sounds very different than poor analog audio, and streaming audio sounds fair at best. But being able to listen to your favorite station anywhere in the world makes up for the mediocre sound quality, and as bandwidth improves, Internet broadcasting is going to explode.

MIDI for the Masses
Audio for the Worldwide Web
Including Sound in a Web Page