Streaming Audio
Streaming audio has become an assumed component of decent Web sites.Anthony Tedesco, editor and publisher of the popular culture e-zine Crisp, says that audio brings their site to life. They consider it indispensable--especially for recorded readings of the poetry they publish. "It lets you hear the rock and rhythm of the poetry--it's empowering."
Ryan Nelson, co-chair of the WWW Artists Consortium Radio SIG and a system administrator for the Internet Channel (an ISP in Manhattan), believes audio's popularity on the Net is due, in part, to it being easy for nontechnical people to produce. It certainly does not require the hardware, software and expertise that video demands.
Nelson feels audio will be a major component of Web media in the next year. "I don't think it'll be something people can't do without, but when somebody wants to hear this morning's NPR newscast three hours later, or preview the new Pearl Jam CD, it's pretty neat to be able to. That novelty and Net telephony are what I think are going to keep Net audio from fizzling out anytime soon."
Jeff Pulver, founder of Voice on the Net says the de facto standard format for Web audio is RealAudio from Progressive Networks. They achieved this position not because they offer the best product, but because they were first and their marketing strategy was aggressive and "horizontal"--meaning they initially took their product to a wide range of Webmasters, especially those at radio stations. (By the way, Voice on the Net is also an excellent site for reviews of Internet voice- and video-enabling technology products.)
A popular site using RealAudio is AudioNet. It offers "realtime and neartime broadcasts of your favorite sports, talk radio shows, interviews, music, and special events," or one can search the archives for favorite recordings. Sonic Net is another great site for RealAudio content.
A few other RealAudio-based services include:
- ABC News RadioNet
- National Public Radio
- World Radio Network
- CBC--the Canadian Broadcasting Company
- C-SPAN
Another major competitor for the streaming audio market is Streamworks from Xing Technologies. Streamworks has both video and audio capabilities, but it has become increasingly popular as an audio product because the quality of the sound, especially for music, has been notably better than RealAudio. Xing marketed "vertically"--where the money was--primarily to major media companies. It can count NBC and several other big players as clients.
Some popular sites using Streamworks are:
Concerning these two formats, Ryan Nelson says:
- KPIG Radio--the alternative country music station in Santa Cruz, CA
- WBBR's financial news programming
- World Radio Network
For delivery, RealAudio is the major player in Web radio, primarily because they're entrenched and have a solid product and a great marketing team. For voice, RealAudio version 1, is OK . . . RealAudio2 is reasonably good at voice or music, but there are better codecs out there.Xingtech's Streamworks sounds pretty good. Their products are scalable to the bandwidth you've got, so if you're on an ISDN line, or T1, you can get higher quality, or stereo. Right now, RealAudio is only as good on a 28.8 modem. Xing's also an up-and-comer in the politics game.
VDOLive is another combination audio+video product that's drawn praise for its audio capabilities. PBS and other major networks are using VDOLive for video on the Net, but more about that in another column.
TrueSpeech Internet from DSP Group, Inc. offers what many regard as the best product for sending streaming voice over the Internet. PC Magazine said: "TrueSpeech Internet is optimized for the spoken word and uses sophisticated modeling techniques to achieve relatively high compression and high-quality playback." They went on to say that it was "an excellent choice for Web authors seeking simple, high-quality playback for audiences with 14.4-Kbps modems."
Vocaltec, the makers of the popular Internet phone, also offer an audio-on-demand product called Internet Wave or I-wave.
ToolVox from Voxware is a low-cost audio product. Netscape has just purchased an interest in the company and licensed key elements of Voxware's digital voice technology for incorporation into the Netscape LiveMedia framework.
With the variety of formats available, the question of just which ones to support is beginning to trouble Webmasters. Two formats are about all most seem to have the patience for. More than that requires too much time to be spent on file duplication.
Some say that the Web itself is like the early days of radio when almost anyone could start a local radio station and reach an audience. The economics are similar, but of course the Web gives you access to a global audience.
Pulver talks about having produced the WCBS Internet radio broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and hearing that a friend of his in Tokyo had heard and enjoyed it--especially the local flavor of it, right down to the local commercials. Maybe that's the real power of Web audio--local radio made available to the whole planet.
- April 17, 1996 -
