Internet streaming audio is the most prevalent form of multimedia on the Internet today according to Creative, one of the leading companies in the sound hardware field. Over the last few years, streaming audio has moved from being a curiosity to a business strategy that is adopted by many media organizations.

Streaming Audio has always been available to the big corporate sites and techies. Now every one can use simple software to produce their own streaming audio from a web site.

Marketers and business people have always known that a well-placed audio stream can increase sales and signups to their products and services. The problem has always been that the average person could not afford the high cost of special servers or programmers to be able to use this technology.

There have been a number of products around that provide streaming audio however as they have grown and developed so have the plugins required for listening to the streaming files.

With the new software available today anyone can add audio to their web sites without the need for any large plugins and complicated software. Simply add your audio file and choose a component to activate the stream and click go. These programs output all the necessary files, which you can then use to embed in your web pages with a quick copy and paste.

The web visitor can simply click and listen, even over a standard 56K modem.

So now that you're considering adding the sweet sound of audio to your site, where might you want to use it?

Depending on your website's content and theme, there are a variety of ways to incorporate your audio into it. For example:

You might place a welcome message on your front page, summarizing your site's highlights, informing visitors of what they'll find, and thanking them for stopping by.

If you have an "about us" page on your site, you might want to record a brief message to accompany your background info. This will help people feel as if they're actually meeting you.

Since testimonials are a great enhancement to any site imagine if you actually added them in your customer's own voice. If you use one of the phone recording services you could give them the number and they could easily record how they feel about your products/services.

If your site has been featured in an online interview or radio show, imagine including this audio in your site. Just think of it as your very own live press room.

Perhaps just adding some pleasant music for your visitors to listen to as they view your web pages.

There are many features that these new programs provide the user.

Produce as many files as you like.

No need for expensive programmers

Many allow you to host them on your own server - you're in control.

Greatly reduce the size of your audio file.

Streams over most modem connections

Easy to use interface

Added components for more variety


So now that you're actually thinking of recording something and adding it to your site, how do you do it? There are many different ways, some more expensive then others. Let's examine some of your choices a little more closely.

1) MP3 Sound Stream: http://mp3soundstream.com/

Creates streaming audio from MP3 or Wav files. Produces high quality output for only $39.95.

2) Audio Player Pro: http://www.audioplayerpro.com/

Starting at only $47.00. This produces a code that you can paste onto your website that will enable the viewers' default player.

3) Audio Generator: http://www.audiogenerator.com/

Streaming audio using just your browser. Easy to use, you can phone in your message or use MP3 files. Excellent sound quality. After recording your message paste some code onto your site and a button appears with your audio. $29.95 monthly.

4) Sonic Memo: http://www.sonicmemo.com/

Includes a step-by-step tutorial. You'll have to create your own MP3 files and upload them to your server. If you record WAV files, you'll have to first convert them to MP3 format. This software sells for $97.00.

5) Instant Audio: http://instantaudio.com/

Just record a message by phone and your website or e-mail is instantly audio-enabled. To check their sound quality call the phone number listed on the site, leave a message, then hit the play button on the site to listen. This service will cost you 29.95 a month.