Hi, I'm Rick Hendershot of Videoinabox. In this series of presentations I want to give you a basic introduction to Streaming Media. I will introduce the technology, as well as touch on its advantages, potential applications, shortcomings, and costs. I will also provide some things to think about when developing content, as well as suggest some alternative approaches to using this technology in your company, organization, or association.

In this first presentation, I want to provide an introduction to Streaming Media, so first, let me give you a few quick definitions. We know that our personal computers are generally capable of playing what used to be referred to as "multimedia" content — audio and video — from cds, and occasionally from files downloaded from the internet. Streaming Media is another way of receiving content of this sort. Rather than getting this data from a cd, you receive it from the internet. This means that Streaming Media is a specific sort of DELIVERY SYSTEM for audio and video content. In other words, it is a technology that is not directly concerned about content — but rather the delivery of content. In that way it is like radio or television or telephone technology. In a very important sense, these are all just content (or data) delivery technologies.

So the process works like this. First, a client computer requests a specific file from a server. Second, the server receives the request and then sends the file out over the internet (much like a web server) in a data stream specifically directed to the requesting client. Third, the client receives, decodes, and "plays" the requested file, using a Media Player like Windows Media Player, the Real Player, or the QuickTime player.

This is called "streaming media" because of the peculiar way the client receives and plays the file. Media files are usually quite large, and often take several minutes to download, even with a fast connection. Most people are too impatient to wait for the entire file to download before playing it. So the media player on the client machine actually begins playing the file before it is all downloaded. In other words, the file is played as it is downloaded. The data is "streamed" to the player, and it is processed as it is received. This is perfect for viewing or listening to media — like songs, videos, audio presentations, etc. —that unfold over time.

Another advantage of streaming media in this way, is that the person viewing the media files doesn't have to download and save them somewhere on his or her local computer. This makes it much easier for content publishers to protect the copyright of their work. A streamed file does not end up on the client computer in its full and final form, and so cannot be as readily copied by the viewer as a downloaded file can be.

Now let's look a little more closely at how Streaming Media differs from other technologies...

The fact that it is internet-based determines three of the most distinctive features about Streaming Media. First, it is completely digital. This means it can be shared among computers or digital devices. It can also be edited, chopped into pieces, and mixed with other digital media by using various — often quite inexpensive — software programs.

Second, it is streamed from internet servers to personal computers through the same internet "pipe" that carries all other internet traffic. As we will see, this is an obvious strength as well as its greatest weakness. It is a strength because you do not need a dedicated box (like a TV set or radio) to receive the media, and it can be easily integrated with other types of content normally accessed on the internet. For instance, imagine having live television images running right on the pages of your evening newspaper. Well that's pretty much what you can do with streaming media running on a web page.

The weakness of relying on the internet pipe to send and receive media files is that they are usually quite large, and they eat up bandwidth like crazy. And because bandwidth is so expensive, the range of applications where a company can afford to use streaming media is pretty narrow. In fact this is the major challenge confronting those of us involved in the steaming media industry — to find business models that actually make streaming media economically viable on a commercial scale.

The third distinctive characteristic of streaming media is that for the most part it is accessed "randomly", or "interactively". This clearly sets it apart from other mainstream media. With streaming media you ask for certain data, and that's what you receive. You ask for the "How to do drywall" video, and that's what you get. You ask for George Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, and it's sent to you. Unlike with most electronic media, you, the viewer, determine what you view (or hear), and when you view (or hear) it. As we will see, this random access model may ultimately prove to be unworkable. That is a topic we will touch on at some length in future parts 3 and 4 of this series.

Just a few words about content...

It is not too difficult to see how these features tend to determine the sort of content that is developed for streaming on the internet. Still images, video productions, and recorded audio are all ideal because they are all easily digitized. Which means they are relatively easy to place on a server, and then feed out over the internet to anybody with a satisfactory connection to the pipe. Unfortunately, as I have already mentioned, the amounts of data contained in many streaming signals is very large, and using the internet pipe to broadcast them in this way quickly reveals its serious limitations. In fact many connections to the internet cannot handle video signals, because these connections are not fast enough. And many older computers cannot even adequately process the amount of data contained in a typical video signal— even if the connection to the net is satisfactorily fast.

This has resulted in many attempts to make the delivery of streaming media more efficient. On the one hand, there have been very significant attempts to upgrade the data handling capacity of the pipe, and of our individual connections to it — like the introduction of cable and dsl connections. At the ame time many companies have developed methods of compressing data to make media files smaller without completely ruining the quality of the output signal.

All of these attempts to advance streaming technology, along with just a general upgrading of the capabilities of individual personal computers, continue on a daily basis. Streaming media has a long way to go before it can be a serious rival to television or radio broadcasting. But it is slowly coming together, and its built-in advantages are just so significant, that it is surely just a matter of time before it becomes a part of our everyday lives.