Audio streaming on the internet presently functions according to the simple transmitter - receiver principle. This is comparable with a radio or television transmission. The interaction of the receiver is limited to PLAY and STOP. This procedure simply streams pre-produced audio files from the server to the user computer in a monotonous fashion.
We call this Silly Streaming.

The three major providers of the traditional streaming formats are: Apple (Quicktime), Microsoft (Windows Media Player) and Real Networks (Real Player). In order to carry out audio streaming with these applications the user is required to download multi-megabyte plugins that need to be regularly updated.

Now - Interactive streaming with iMedia from Audiantis