On 2 Sep 2003, at 11:21, Matt wrote:

> Of course Real Audio and Windows Media come to mind.
> (Windows Media always seemed to perform better with the
> internet connections that I had.)

When I was on dialup, I never got reliable connections 
using either of them. Only streaming MP3s worked 
reliably.

Since going to broadband, I still have problems with RA 
streams. Don't do Windows Media at home, since I 
don't do Windows there, so I don't know if going to 
broadband would help its connection problems.

> Does anyone know the pros and cons of these two? 

AFAIK, Windows media only works on Windows 
machines. Leaves out Macs, folk using Linux, etc.

RealAudio only works on systems that have a RA 
player available.

> Hardware/software/cost/quality, etc?
> 
> Then there is MP3 technology. That always seemed to work
> best for me because it would download the whole file and
> play without interruption. It would also take less server
> space to archive.

There's also streaming MP3, in which you stream the 
MP3 and the visitor's MP3 player. Of course, that 
requires the visitor have an MP3 player, but such 
players are available for a lot more OSes than WMP 
and RealAudio.

IIRC, the Shoutcast streaming MP3 server software is 
available free.

David
dvjones(at)ksbe.edu
 

• Web Designer Courses
• Off the Shelf Training Courses

HWG hwg-techniques mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA