Chapter 1: Understanding Streaming Media Concepts

Overview

Streaming media has become enormously popular in the last few years, and this popularity can be attributed to many factors. One obvious factor is that surfing the World Wide Web has become a popular pastime for a growing number of users. Surfing is possible because advances in technology have made broadband access more commonplace in households, schools, and businesses. While the “World Wide Wait” is not quite a faint memory, many users now have options for speeding up the flow of data that they didn’t have before.

Content providers, such as news organizations and record labels, have recognized the potentially vast audience on the Internet and have incorporated audio and video into their Web sites in the form of news stories, music videos, movie trailers, and interviews with artists and performers. Companies, both large and small, have found that streaming audio and video from their internal Web sites is one way to reduce travel costs because employers can conduct training sessions or virtual company meetings where employees never have to leave their desks. Universities are now offering distance learning courses as a way to reach more students, such as those who cannot attend on-site classes due to family or work responsibilities. And parents are now able to keep grandparents up to date on the growth and progress of their grandchildren despite differences in geography.

So now that you understand how streaming audio and video are being used today, let’s take a look at what streaming is and demystify the process of getting digital media content out of your camera or VCR and onto users’ desktops.