Whats the difference between “download-and-play” versus “real-time” streaming?
A. Experiencing Internet media via the download-and-play method means exactly that-your computer downloads a compressed media file, such as MP3, from the Internet to your hard drive. Once that file has downloaded completely, the media starts to play. With real-time streaming, on the other hand, the media is broadcast directly to your computer from a server and played back as the information is received from the server. HTTP Streaming (download-and-play) Also known as progressive streaming, this method takes a compressed media file and downloads it to your computer’s hard drive before playback using any Web server such as Apache, Roxen, Microsoft Internet Information Server or Netscape. Real Time Streaming Real-time streaming is broadcast to your computer directly from a server and played back as the information is received from the server, without waiting for the file to download. Real-time servers include the RealSystem Server and QuickTime’s Darwin streaming server.
