Live playback of media files on the web. The most common way to execute media files (audio and video) is to download those files into a local computer and then launch a plug-in or applications program to execute the media file in question. Users have an option of saving the files, although the usual default condition is only to store the file temporarily. Web streaming is quite different. In that case, audio or video files play in real time without having to wait for full downloads of the files. In general, web streaming playback is of lower quality than download playback, but streaming avoids downloading interruptions and the need for storage space in a local computer. However, these are not mutually exclusive options. Streaming can actually be in real time or in "pseudo" web streams. Pseudo streaming downloads a portion of a file sufficient to play it back in somewhat better quality than real time streaming on the fly. Some pseudo streaming software require beginning at the start of the file while others allow starting at various points in the file. MIDI technology is on the rise for audio web streaming. For more on MIDI solutions, see http://www.liveupdate.com from LiveUpdate. Two video pseudo streaming alternatives are Apple Corporation's QuickTime and Microsoft's ActiveX, both of which can be launched as plug-ins to browsers. ActiveX facilitates pseudo streaming of ActiveMovies embedded in AVI, QuickTime, or
MPEG video files. Even 3D movies can be streamed back using OLiVR Corporation's interactive 3D movies from a QuickTime VR source. Two good software downloading web sites are http://www.microsoft.com/activex/controls/ and
http://www.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/navcomponents_download.html   from Netscape.  High end video streaming alternatives are reviewed in NewMedia, September 22, 1997, 47-56.  The NewMedia web site is at
http://www.newmedia.com/   The top ranking "Awesome" alternative in terms of "overall value" was  RealVideo from Progressive Networks at
http://www.real.com/   The price is free at the time of this writing.  Others reviewed include Microsoft's NetShow, Motorola's TrueStream, VSOnet's VDOLive, Viv's VivoActive, Vosaic's MediaServer, and VStreme's Web Theatre.  Prices range from free to over $3,000.   In the past, media playback was relatively free of virus risks.  With the advent of Windows Scripting Host utilities, this is no longer the case.   Precautionary advice is given under
ActiveX . The Web is Alive With the Sound of MP3," Newsweek, February 22, 1999, Page 16.
http://www.MP3.com (hours of free downloads, including the New York Times MP3s.)
http:www.audiogalaxy.com lots of samples and free downloads.)Go to the Frequently Asked Questions at
http://www.MP3.com . MP3 is a file format which stores audio files on a computer in such a way that the file size is relatively small, but the song sounds near perfect. You can identify MP3 files because they will end in MP3. Typically 1 MB is equal to one minute of music or several minutes for spoken work/audiobooks. This is about a 90% reduction in hard drive space and bandwidth
vis-a-vis uncompressed high quality wav files, but the actual savings depends upon the recording quality of your wav files. If you think about a CD-ROM holding 650 Mb, this translates to over 11 hours of high quality audio in MP3 format. More importantly, MP3 audio does not require as much Internet bandwidth as previous audio alternatives.
