| What Is Streaming Media |
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Streaming media is multimedia that is continuously received by, and displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself. The distinction is usually applied to media that are distributed over telecommunications networks, as most other delivery systems are either inherently streaming or inherently non-streaming (like CD’s, books etc). The verb 'to stream' is also derived from this term, meaning to deliver media in this manner. These advances in computer networking combined with powerful home computers and modern operating systems made streaming media practical and affordable for ordinary consumers. In general, multimedia content is large, so media storage and transmission costs are still significant; to offset this somewhat, media are generally compressed for both storage and streaming.
A media stream can be on demand or live. On demand streams are stored on a server for a long period of time, and are available to be transmitted at a user's request. Live streams are only available at one particular time, as in a video stream of a live sporting event.