Streaming as a Tool for Radio
by GMV Network
The purpose of this article is to provide radio mangers with
insights and knowledge about today’s streaming technology.
Our company, the GMV
Network, provides standards-based software technology
for streaming media. When we make a presentation to radio broadcasters
about how to stream, the following is what we present.
New prospects
Last year, when MP3 was adopted as a technical standard for
streaming audio content, radio broadcasters benefited, although
many were unaware of their new opportunity.
With MP3 as a standard, individual radio stations and networks
have the opportunity of not only saving money vs. older non-MP3
based systems, but also actually using streaming as a system to
provide nontraditional revenues.
Live streaming involves the distribution of multimedia information
for playback by one or more users in real time. Three processes
are involved when conducting live streaming: encoding, serving
(often called splitting when streaming live) and decoding/playback
(see Figure 1).
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Figure 1
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For live streaming to be successful, all processes must occur
in real-time.
Encoding involves turning the live broadcast signal
into compressed digital data suitable for streaming.
Serving (or splitting) involves launching the
live stream to users who wish to receive it.
Decoding is the process of decompressing the encoded
stream so that it can be heard and/or seen by an end user. The
decoding and playback process typically is handled by player software
like RealNetworks RealPlayer or Microsoft’s Windows Media
Player.
The problem, the choice
Imagine a world where a Ford car could only be driven using
Mobil gasoline or where a Sony television could only view shows
produced by NBC.
This is the world of multimedia streaming today. None of the
major software players have streams that are compatible with each
other. In other words, a proprietary RealNetworks-encoded audio
stream can only be served by a RealNetworks server and played
with the RealNetworks RealPlayer. The same is true for Microsoft
(see Figure 2).
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Figure 2
* Denotes operating system license cost
** Denotes per stream licenses |
Because many Internet radio listeners are unlikely to have installed
all media players, the broadcaster is forced to make a choice:
either choose one of the proprietary streaming formats that some
listeners won’t be able to hear, or simultaneously encode
and stream in all proprietary formats.
Because most broadcasters want to stream to a large audience,
these broadcasters incur the costs and headaches of supporting
multiple encoding platforms and multiple serving platforms.
Additionally, files archived during the streaming process will
be in a proprietary format, subjecting the broadcaster to the
negative effects of technological lock-in.
MPEG
The Moving Picture Experts Group is the world’s leading
standards body for digital multimedia encoding and compression.
The group’s first international standard, MPEG-1, was designed
to compress video so that it could easily fit on CD-ROMs. Audio
can also be compressed under the standard as Layer 1, Layer 2
or Layer 3 audio.
MPEG-1, Layer 3 audio can compress CD-quality audio to more
than one-tenth its original size. Audio files created under this
standard are commonly known as MP3 files.
The wide-scale adoption of the MP3 format, however, is a result
of more than just great compression. Because MPEG is an open international
standard, anyone is allowed to create products that encode and
play MP3 files.
In other words, no single vendor (e.g. RealNetworks, Microsoft)
holds the key to the MP3 format. Therefore, more compressed digital
audio content is stored in the MP3 format than any other format
available today, proprietary or otherwise.
Such a large wave of support for a standards-based approach
is difficult to ignore. Due to the overwhelming popularity of
the MP3 format, RealNetworks and Microsoft have each added support
for their players to receive and playback standard MP3 audio streams.
RealNetworks and Microsoft servers, however, do not have the
capability to deliver fully standards-based MP3 streams.
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Figure 3
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Standards-based servers, like GMV Network’s AudioEdge and
Nullsoft’s ShoutCast, deliver MP3 streams for playback by
all popular players (see Figure 3). As an added bonus –
consumer devices, portable players and Internet radios that connect
to the home stereo and soon, car radios – all support the
MP3 format.
Deployment
There are three principal ways for radio stations to transmit
their content via Internet (see Figures 4 through 6). Each
has advantages and disadvantages.
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Figure 4
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Figure 4 shows the once "free" streaming systems
that have been offered to the radio industry for several years.
In these systems the radio stations are given encoders that are
then pointed to servers at the stream hosting company.
In return for streaming services, the radio station surrenders
portions of its advertising inventory or even Web site real estate
to the hosting company.
The hosting company then sells this advertising space to offset
their costs and hopefully turn a profit.
This method has definite cost and ease-of-use benefits for the
broadcaster. The main disadvantage is that broadcasters lose control
of their streaming system and the potential revenues that can
be derived from it.
Alternatively, a broadcaster can choose to host their entire
streaming system in-house. The main advantage to this method is
the degree of control over the process.
The main disadvantages include the hassle of managing the large
amounts of bandwidth that must be brought on-site to support the
streaming listener base.
Co-location is the third method available to broadcasters for
deploying streaming. Co-location involves placing one or more
streaming servers at a site designed to provide dedicated Internet
connectivity.
The main advantages to this approach are simplicity and scalability.
The disadvantage of this method is cost; it shows return on investment
(ROI) only with hundreds of listeners at a given time.
The cost of co-location will vary for carrier to carrier as
well as location in the country.
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