Purpose of the Book

Get Streaming: Quick Steps to Delivering Your Audio and VideoOnline introduces you to the technology of streaming, the process of sending audio andvideo over computer networks in real time. You will learn all you need to know to put music fromyour garage band, a recording of your child s first words, and video of your CEO s annual pep talkon the Internet or your internal corporate network. The book will teach you the basics of capturingsounds and moving images to a computer hard drive, converting them to files optimized for Internettransmission, and broadcasting them to whoever wants to listen or watch. We ll also talk about thebusiness of streaming media and some of the opportunities presented by the medium. Above all, ourgoal is to get you excited about using this groundbreaking technology to broaden the impact of yourcommunications, whether it s to thousands of employees in a large corporation or your extendedfamily.

Scope of the Book

Streaming media covers a broad range of options, software vendors, and networkingtechnologies. This book will focus on the proprietary methods of four major manufacturers thatdominate 98 percent or more of the market. The leading vendors, followed by their major streamingbrands, are

• RealNetworks (RealPlayer/Helix)

• Microsoft (Windows Media Services)

• Apple Computer (QuickTime)

• Macromedia (Flash MX)

The book will also detail some of the leading non-proprietary streaming technologies, notablythe Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) set of standards, including MPEG Layer III (MP3) andMPEG-4.

We won t be discussing networking technologies in minute detail or application development,such as...