Explain Download vs Streaming to me please

[narway]

Looking for info on what kind of program to upload to my site to stream audio (now in compressed .wma's). How-to's ?
Must I convert .wma's back to MP3's ....etc ? Any info appreciated. Clueless at present.
Thanks
Narway

[stevel]

PowWeb does not support streaming servers. You can have wma or mp3 or other types of files on your site, and some players will start to play before it is all downloaded, but that's not streaming.

Please note that PowWeb is very strict regarding copyright violations - make sure you have the appropriate rights from the copyright holder before uploading any media files to your site.

[Jami]

Hey stevel (and others) What IS REAL streaming...?

BTW: I post voice audio files from my clients, which they create - so no copyright issues here.

It was my understanding that - since streaming was playing the media file off the server in real time - bandwidth use and how many people are accessing that same file at the same time are HUGE issues. It was my understand that one needed special software that would in affect manage one's traffic for streaming to more than 5 people at the same time, and that this software cost hundreds and thousands of dollars.

Downloading MP3s I understood to be far less taxing on one's server and bandwidth, plus serving several people at the same time isn't such a big deal.

Feel Free to jump in with the truth about these things :o anytime!

I have also heard some vague mention of embedding a player - not sure what advantages with regards to bandwidth and total traffic there would be in this....

And I've heard others say - tah tah (okay, maybe not tah tah exactly) there isn't any streaming issue, we throw all our stuff up and it streams right off our reg. server just fine.... hum, really?

Now I don't want to offend PowWeb, or suck up all my servers resources, but I would like to be able to stream without conflicts - What is the truth on this subject of streaming audio and MP3 (playing and downloading) without dropping a ton of $- And What are the true solutions for us who are NOT trying to put up pron (see I don't even know how to spell it :-) on video!

Calling all experienced experts - Thanks for the help!

[YvetteKuhns]

You can simulate audio streaming by linking to an m3u file. An m3u file is a text file that has the URL of the mp3 you wish to play. If someone tries to save the song, he/she only saves the m3u which is the URL. That person would have to know to open the file in Notepad to find the URL and then try to access the song directly to STEAL it. The song will play in the browser using whatever default mp3 player the visitor has installed.

Be sure to monitor your bandwidth usage if you get alot of traffic. Use robots.txt file to tell robots not to index your mp3s. You don't want people to search on Google or somewhere to find your songs just to download them. Ever see a music folder where people download every song listed in the directory? Put an empty index page in your mp3 folder, so visitors cannot see the list of mp3 files.

[stevel]

"real streaming" is when you connect to a background server process that feeds the client the media file and is more common with live feeds. Many clients can start playing ordinary media files before they are fully downloaded.

[Jami]

"real streaming" is when you connect to a background server process that feeds the client the media file and is more common with live feeds. Many clients can start playing ordinary media files before they are fully downloaded.

Okay - this is the part I get confused about. It sounds like your saying that they can download, but if their browser is set to play the file will also play - so are they getting both a download and listing?

What is happening when someone just clicks on a MP3 and it starts to play - they aren't getting a copy on their computer, are they 'streaming'?

Thanks !

[YvetteKuhns]

What is happening when someone just clicks on a MP3 and it starts to play - they aren't getting a copy on their computer,

The file is downloaded to the computer. The person can open it to play it, but the mp3 is stored in the Temporary Internet files. They can save it to the computer, but they actually have already as explained.

When you click a link to m3u, it plays the mp3 but only the m3u is downloaded. That is just a text file with the URL to the mp3. If someone clicks to save target as, he will get the m3u file.

[Jami]

Thank you stevel, your posts are very helpful....

So just putting up MP3's that people may or may not 'play' off the server is exactly what PowWeb frowns upon - right?

But setting up things to force and download (like zipping the files) is okay with PowWeb as long as one is watching the bandwidth.

The other truth would be that PowWeb doesn't mind if people offer a few files for streaming only (to save their copyright) as long as it doesn't spike the system resources. But PowWeb doesn't want websites designed just for streaming product/service - for that they want us to use a special host such as PlayStream.com.

There, I think that clears things up!

One more question please.... I read (here) about purchasing another PowWeb account for people who offer lots of images and are using up the current bandwidth quota. The second account would double the bandwidth quota. My question is - does PowWeb have a way to balance ones load over two accounts, or would the balancing have to be done by hand moving half the files to the new space physically? And then how would linking be done - or what would the path look like :p to this second account package.

Thanks again for your help.

[YvetteKuhns]

PowWeb does NOT support streaming media. But you can use Flash and php to play songs or simply link to m3u files. PowWeb doesn't want you to exceed your bandwidth or infringe on copyrights.

But setting up things to force and download (like zipping the files) is okay with PowWeb as long as one is watching the bandwidth.

Why would you let people download your music? Don't you want to protect your music?

[Croc Hunter]

So just putting up MP3's that people may or may not 'play' off the server is exactly what PowWeb frowns upon - right? No. Powweb doesn't care if you do that. As long as you own the copyright you can put them up on your site anyway you like.

One more question please.... I read (here) about purchasing another PowWeb account for people who offer lots of images and are using up the current bandwidth quota. The second account would double the bandwidth quota. My question is - does PowWeb have a way to balance ones load over two accounts, or would the balancing have to be done by hand moving half the files to the new space physically? And then how would linking be done - or what would the path look like to this second account package. Powweb does NOT like you doing this. You have 12, 000Mb of space here.. 12Gb. And 10Gb/day of bandwidth. You can rotate your bandwidth accross 3 users. If that is not enough you need to find another hosting solution.

[Jami]

You can rotate your bandwidth accross 3 users. If that is not enough you need to find another hosting solution.

Accross 3 users - you mean 3 different domains/accounts? How strange - can you tell me why PowWeb would want to just sell you another account out right?

[IanS]

No, not 3 different domains/accounts.

Using a CMS package and MySQL 3 usernames are allocated to access the Database and this spreads the load.

[Croc Hunter]

It's more for those who are using more than 72 000 queries/hr Powweb currently limits users to 72,000 SELECT queries, per hour, per user. Once you have used up your quota, you will begin to receive "max_questions" errors until the end of the hour, and your quota is reset. Please note, this limit only applies to SELECT queries, and not INSERT queries. There has been no official word on whether UPDATE queries are affected.Original thread here: http://forum.powweb.com/showthread.php?t=23735 What you want is more than 10Gb/day bandwidth. Powweb does not condone you spreading files across two packages to acheive that.

[muijefr]

Re: PowWeb does not support streaming servers.

Stevel, with all due respect, I streamed using PowWeb for several years without any problems. PowWeb never intervened and my offerings were of music I had purchased and shared on the internet as 'acceptable use' using conventional html/asx/wma. Never a peep from the copyright police and had there been I would have just discontinued featuring the complaining artist.:D

[tbonekkt]

I streamed using PowWeb for several years without any problems.Just to clarify - we don't offer streaming servers, ie Real Media, Quicktime, Windows Media, etc. HTTP streaming is definitely possible - I do it on a few packages.