subject: Hosting Streamed Media [print this page] Hosting Streamed Media Hosting Streamed Media
Streamed media has become increasingly popular amongst web-surfers in the last few years, as has sites that stream podcasts, videos, and even media based profiles. The thirst that the surfers have is never quenched and the demand has risen for high quality, quickly buffered media. If you plan on streaming media on your website, be warned that the standards are high. With that in mind it is important to consider that few users would stick around a website waiting for a buffer or download, so it is important for the sake of your site's growth to satisfy these requirements. In order to do so it would benefit everyone if your site was published via a hosting company that had media in mind.
Some things to look for in potential hosting companies would be high or unlimited bandwidth and disk space as media packages tend to be large files. With low bandwidth you can bet that it will take ages for the media to buffer, and with low disk space you can be sure the amount of media that can be published to your site will be extremely minimal. Fortunately many options exist, many of which are easily affordable. Generally a shared host will more than satisfy though if you were to reach the popularity of Youtube, then it would be wise to consider dedicated hosting or even the purchase of a collocated server, or the building of your own server (which I highly advice against unless you are a merciless god of IT). It wouldn't hurt to get in contact with potential hosting companies and request information on why they would be best for your media needs. Properly researching your options, and requirements would be in your best interest, and don't worry about "wasting time" as if you make a poorly educated decision you could find yourself wasting a lot more than just time.
