I'm about to post to my website, my LATEST song (vocals & keyboard) performed on the Technics KN5000. I want to make it available to everyone as a LIVE 'streaming audio' file. LIVE streaming audio is currently supported by the following media players:

Microsoft: Windows Media Player 7.1 http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/wm7/playit.asp

Real Networks: Real Player 8
http://www.real.com/player/index.html?

These are also the two MOST POPULAR media players in use (available FREE download for both PC & Mac). Real Player has been the most popular media player but Windows Media has been quickly gaining ground over the last year. My website currently uses Real Player streaming audio, but after making some comparison tests, I found that music encoded on Windows Media Player 7.1 sounds FAR SUPERIOR to Real Player 8 files encoded with the SAME bit rate. Interesting. Anyone else notice this?

Here is my dilemma: I realize that Real Player 8 is still the most popular player out there (though Windows Media 7.1 is catching up FAST). Considering that Windows Media Player audio files sound MUCH BETTER, should I switch to encoding streaming audio files to the Windows Media Player 7.1 format? Windows Media Player 7.1 is available for FREE download and supports both PC & Mac platforms. I'm curious to hear WHICH media player (which supports streaming audio) is the preferred choice of others on this forum? For those of you who currently use Real Player, would you (if you knew the sound quality of Windows Media Player encoded audio files sounded better) download and try Windows Media Player? Please help me make a decision. Thanks in advance for feedback and opinions on this.
- Scott
http://scottyee.com

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 08-06-2001).]