342 Chapter 19 – Audio on the WebStreaming Audio
Web Design in a Nutshell, eMatter Editiontour dates). The player works with the Liquid MusicServer (which is easily tied into
SQL databases) to enable individual tracks or entire CDs to be purchased online.
For more information, see the LiquidAudio web site athttp://www.liquidaudio.com/.Streamworks (Xing Technologies)Xing Technologies was another early player in the streaming audio arena. Their
Streamworks technology, which offers audio and video delivery, is aimed at high-
speed networks (although it can be encoded to serve 28.8 bps modem
connections).
Streamworks’ claim to fame is that it is the only format based entirely on the
industry-standard MPEG specification, offering MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, Layer-3
audio. This is especially powerful for distributing video, however, it can also be
used for audio only.
The high data rate required to deliver CD-quality audio and TV-quality video
makes Streamworks most appropriate to intranet and extranet applications, such as
training or distance learning. For more information on this product, visit the Xing
Technologies web site athttp://www.xingtech.com/.Shockwave Audio (Macromedia)Macromedia originally developed its Shockwave technology to deliver interactive
Director movies to the Web, however, many web developers are using the tech-
nology for its audio capabilities alone. Shockwave is discussed in more depth in
Chapter 21,Interactivity.
Shockwave Audio is attractive because it offers highly compressed, high-quality
streaming audio without requiring special server software (desirable if you have a
limited budget). The drawback is that it lacks the advanced controls and usage
tracking that the commercial server products offer.
You can convert an existing audio file to Shockwave format using the Shockwave
Audio Xtras in Director or SoundEdit 16, Version 2. The file is then saved in
Shockwave format (with the suffix.swa).
Shockwave audio is played using the standard Shockwave plug-in for Netscape
Navigator or Internet Explorer on the Windows 3.1/95/NT and Mac platforms.
For more information on using Shockwave for audio, see Macromedia’s web site at
http://www.macromedia.com/support/director/how/shock.QuickTime Audio (Apple)Although QuickTime is best known as a video technology, it is also possible to
create audio-only QuickTime Movies (.mov). QuickTime audio supports 8- to 16-
bit format and variable sampling rates and comes highly recommended by audio
experts as a reliable audio format for web purposes.
Although the QuickTime system extension is needed to play a.movfile, it is
widely distributed and available for both Windows and Macintosh. In addition,