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Boost
Your Web Sales with Streaming Audio
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by:
Steve Nichols
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What
do you do with your intranet or internet site once you’ve added words
and pictures? How about adding audio as well?
Audio is friendly, direct and ideally suited to getting complex
messages across in a short space of time.
It's now getting easier to add audio to the net, thanks to increasing
bandwidths and innovative new ways of compressing data.
The problem has been that CD-quality audio has traditionally been the
preserve of ISDN- and ADSL-equipped users. Basically, there has been
too much data to fit down the pipe.
But, borrowing on the same techniques that are used to compress digital
photographic images, it is now possible to compress sound to make it
fit down a standard dial-up 56KBps modem line.
The trick is to compress the audio in a way that doesn’t sound
offensive to the ear, but can still pass along the line at about 3
kilobytes per second, given that a dial-up modem downloads at about
4-ish kilobytes per second.
The next trick is to use streaming technology that can start to play
the audio while it is still downloading. As a long as it is downloads
fast enough you don’t get annoying stops and starts. You should also
end up with a "buffer". In many cases, the whole audio file will have
downloaded long before the user has finished listening to it.
The volume of online streaming audio grew by 118 per cent last year,
according to market researchers US-based AccuStream iMedia Research and
the top ten internet radio stations received an average of 137.5m
tuning hours in the same period, up from 63m in 2003.
Typical audio formats are Real’s Radio Player (as chosen by the BBC),
the ubiquitous MP3 (as featured on thousands of youngster’s personal
hi-fis) and Macromedia Flash.
MP3SoundStream
(http://www.mp3soundstream.com/cgi-bin/cppro/go.cgi?snichols1) uses
Flash and works well as 98% of computers already have the Flash plug-in
and the rest can easily download it. Flash takes the MP3 file, combines
it with an audio controller button and streams it for you off any
server, which means low-cost and ease of use.
So once you have the technology in place, what can you record? The
answer is anything. Adding audio to an intranet lets you record a
weekly message from the CEO or a sales message. Or why not have a
weekly news round-up?
The audio can either be recorded straight into your PC via a microphone
and soundcard, or recorded on a Minidisc recorder and then digitised
into the computer. Once there you can add music, voiceovers, cuts and
fades with a program like Adobe Audition or Sony Soundforge. Music can
be bought online for just a few pounds and you can even use free audio
editing programmes, like Audacity.
What was once the preserve of the BBC and other high-end radio studios
is now available on a desktop computer near you - but only if you have
the skills to match.
FAQs (291 words)
Q. What is streaming audio?
A. It is audio delivered to your computer that can be listened to while
it is still downloading.
Q. What’s the advantage over other audio formats?
A. You don’t get an annoying delay while the whole file downloads.
Q. What do listeners need to have on their computer?
A. A soundcard and speaker(s) or headphones, their normal browser
software and a so-called plug-in – a small piece of software that
converts the data into sound.
Q. This all sounds expensive. Is it?
A. Not really. You can get free programs to record your sound, a
computer microphone costs less than a tenner and there are free audio
editing programs available on the net. You then need to convert the
audio file to a streaming format, but there is an increasing amount of
software available to do that too. You also need to think about a
MiniDisc recorder as these have superseded cassette tape for most
applications. Royalty-free background and intro music is available on
CD and via the web for a small fee.
I recommend MP3SoundStream
(http://www.mp3soundstream.com/cgi-bin/cppro/go.cgi?snichols1). Its
great, very easy to use and only costs $39.95. Another alternative is
Sound Streamer at $34.95
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/soundstrmr).
Q. What is the quality like?
A. Judge for yourself - visit www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info10.htm and
listen to the demonstration programmes. The trick is to get the quality
as high as you can, but still make it playable on an average
modem-equipped home computer. Once everyone has broadband it will be
CD-quality for all.
Q. How do I find out more?
A. There is a great ebook available called Audio C4
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/audioc4). It only costs $29.95 and
is worth its weight in gold. There is a list of useful links at
http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info11.htm
ENDS
Q. This all sounds expensive - is it?
A. Not really. You can get free programs to record your sound, a
computer microphone costs virtually nothing and there are free audio
editing programs available on the net. You then need to convert the
audio file to a streaming format, but there is an increasing amount of
software available to do that too
I recommend MP3SoundStream
(http://www.mp3soundstream.com/cgi-bin/cppro/go.cgi?snichols1). Its
great, very easy to use and only costs $39.95. Another alternative is
Sound Streamer at $34.95
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/soundstrmr) or Audio Maker Pro
(http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/audiomkr).
You also need to think about a MiniDisc recorder as these have
superseded cassette tape for most applications. Royalty-free background
and intro music is available on CD and via the web for a small fee.
Q. How do I find out more?
A. There is a great ebook available called Audio C4. It only costs
$29.95 and is worth its weight in gold.
Q. What is the quality like?
A. Judge for yourself - visit www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info10.htm and
listen to the demonstration programmes. The trick is to get the quality
as high as you can, but still make it playable on an average
modem-equipped home computer. Once everyone has broadband it will be
CD-quality for all.
About the Author
Steve Nichols is a freelance journalist who runs
InfoTech Communications (www.infotechcomms.co.uk). A background in
radio means that Steve was ideally placed to take advantage of the
arrival of streaming audio via the web.
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