Tuesday, July 23, 2002
RealNetworks to stream WMA files?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 09:00 AM
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/07/22/020722hnhelixupdate.xml
It looks like WMA is a file format that is expanding beyond being a proprietary Microsoft format. "RealNetworks Monday unveiled new software that can distribute streamed audio and video in a range of formats, including rival Microsoft's Windows Media format, and announced a shared source code initiative that is backed by a slew of industry players."
I prefer WMA over MP3 at lower bitrates, which I use on my Pocket PC to cram as many songs on my CF and SD cards as possible. I thought it was interesting that Real, Inc. was now supporting Microsoft's WMA streaming format. Anyone know if the server will dynamically stream RealAudio and WMA depending on the client? I am not a big fan of Real software and have been reluctant to install their client on my Pocket PC. If their Helix server detects that I can decode WMAs, perhaps I won't need to.
It looks like WMA is a file format that is expanding beyond being a proprietary Microsoft format. "RealNetworks Monday unveiled new software that can distribute streamed audio and video in a range of formats, including rival Microsoft's Windows Media format, and announced a shared source code initiative that is backed by a slew of industry players."
I prefer WMA over MP3 at lower bitrates, which I use on my Pocket PC to cram as many songs on my CF and SD cards as possible. I thought it was interesting that Real, Inc. was now supporting Microsoft's WMA streaming format. Anyone know if the server will dynamically stream RealAudio and WMA depending on the client? I am not a big fan of Real software and have been reluctant to install their client on my Pocket PC. If their Helix server detects that I can decode WMAs, perhaps I won't need to.
