Streaming live audio involves using bitrates. What are bitrates? Bitrate is the bandwidth used to send a stream to the listener. If you are going to broadcast via the internet you must choose a bitrate to send the content to the listener. When choosing bitrate you must take into consideration your target audience. Will my listeners be using a broadband connection such as dsl or cable, or will they be using a dial up connection. Streaming at a bitrate higher than the listener can download results in buffering. This basically means the stream is stopped while the listeners player downloads enough of the stream to resume playing. Obviously the listener will not want to continue listening to the stream if he has to wait 30 seconds or so in the middle of a song.

Generally a dial up listener can listen to a stream that broadcasts between 8kbs and 32kbs without experiencing buffering depending on the individual listeners connection. Dial up modems can accomodate a maximum band width of 56k although the actual bitrate can vary from 21k to around 52k dependant on the phone line. Broadband listeners can listen to audio streams at a much higher bitrate. The highest bitrate recommended to stream music to broadband listeners is 128kbs. Why? Music cd’s are recorded at 128kbs. Any streaming above this bitrate is just a waste of your bandwidth. Of course you can choose any rate between 8kbs and 128kbs to stream to broadband. Rule of thumb is the higher the bitrate the better the quality of the stream although there are several other factors to consider which I will address in my next article.

Whats the alternative if you wish to include multiple bitrates? The alternative is to get stream hosting that allows you to broadcast at multiple bitrates. Many stream hosts offer packages that include several different bitrates to effectively let you stream to a larger audience. You send the stream from your computer to said stream server and it sends the stream to your listeners at the multiple bitrates. You can also send your stream to multiple stream servers if you choose in the event that one stream server fails, your stream will still be up and running.

In the competitive world of today, one of the most hardest things for small and middle sized businesses is to keep up with the competition. For very big companies or corporations, there is not a problem, as they will have the full resources of the media to promote their products and services. However, for smaller companies, the budgeting constraints will often restrict their use of the media for their products and services. This can be a problem for establishing a good baseline for their companies.

However, with the advancements in the Internet world, it is now possible to get your company known by using Internet TV Broadcasting. This is one of the most ingenious ways in which a company can promote its products and services. Beforehand, you had to rely on the services of other websites, advertisement agencies, or even PR companies to help you in your task to get known. But now, by creating your own virtual TV station; you can easily construct a platform for which you can advertise your products and build credibility at the same time.

Of course, this may sound difficult but it is actually easier than it appears. Nowadays, with the available technology; you can easily create your own virtual TV with minimum budget and effort. All you need is a medium sized room with ample lighting to use as a studio; a handy cam with medium resolution, a Pentium 4 PC to act as a server with a TV Card and a subscription to any Internet Broadcasting service. Then you can have your own private virtual TV station on the Internet. You can easily tape a couple of interviews and prepare couple of programs that you can broadcast on your TV station. You can also rig it so that the same programs are repeated for one week. In addition, you can even broadcast many programs and interviews live this way. It will be quite easy for you to find sponsors for this project; as other companies in your sector will jump in to have their programs aired also.

With the changing of the times, the trend is moving toward more technology. Thus, you can use these trends and create your own Broadcast content on the Internet. By creating your own Internet TV or even your own Internet Radio, you can easily create a platform for your company or products. The future will always have a preference for those companies who are able to move with the trend. Of course, having your own TV or Radio on the Internet can be a full time job, but for the most part, the benefits will be greater in the end.