Whitecrest said:
They had better checkout their info. They say: Streaming live content
like net-radio requires a "streaming media server", This is completely
untrue. If the user can download it faster than they need to view it.
Then it is streaming. Everything is client side.
Well, that all depends on your definition of "streaming". A lot of people
would use a definition where there is *never* any file downloaded to the
user's computer except perhaps a codec or two, and maybe the media player
itself, but not the media file.
The media file is stored only on the server. The server sends parts of the
file, piece-by-piece to the client. The client plays and then discards
each piece.[1]
As the file is never saved to the user's disk it can prevent some less
engineering users from "pirating" the file. Of course without proper
encryption (which some streaming media servers do support, but seems to be
rarely used) this is hardly foolproof.
It is also useful if the media file is long (infinite? Think live
broadcasts!) so couldn't possibly be downloaded the user's hard-drive.
[1]This is how streaming works if you buy the proper media suites from
Real Networks, Microsoft, Apple, etc.