Audio Streaming

WHAT IS AUDIO STREAMING - It's a method of delivering an audio signal to your computer over the Internet, and differs from the "normal" method of receiving Internet audio in one important way: instead of having to download a ".mp3" or other type of audio file completely before being able to listen to it, you hear the sound as it arrives at your computer, and therefore do not have to wait for a complete download. As the data arrives it is buffered for a few seconds and then playback begins. As the audio is playing, more data is constantly arriving (or streaming), and as long as you are receiving a constant stream of data, you should hear constant audio. Think of a bucket (the buffer) with a hole in the bottom, being topped up with water (the data). As long as there is water in the bucket, it will continue to pour out of the hole, and will do this as long as there is water in the bucket. Similarly, as long as there is data in the buffer, you will continue to hear sound.

There are two major components involved: the streaming server and the source client. The streaming server will be the place where all listeners of your station will connect. The source client (in general) runs on a separate machine than the streaming server, but does not necessarily need to. Source clients send the content to the streaming server and provide the stream data (encoded audio) that is then relayed out to listeners by the streaming server.

For end users (listener), they need to have a media player installed on their computer in order to listen or receive the stream (audio). Most common media player that can receive audio streaming are windows media player, winamp, vlc media player and itunes.