Recording Music on Location, 2nd Edition

7Web Audio and Streaming

Suppose you’ve recorded a live concert and you want to distribute it on the Web. Or suppose you want to stream a live concert in real time on the Web. This chapter tells how.

Streaming versus Downloading

There are two basic ways to transmit music on the Internet: streaming files and downloading files. A streaming file plays as soon as you click on its title. A downloaded file doesn’t play until you copy the entire file to your hard disk. Streaming audio can be interrupted by net congestion or a slow Internet connection; a downloaded file plays without interruption.

You can stream audio from a recording (such as an MP3 file). Or you can stream audio live in real time from an audio interface fed by mics or a mixer.