Windows Media is a relatively new proprietary streaming format developed by Microsoft. It can be used to stream audio or video from a website to an individual user's computer.

There are many streaming formats out there. The main reason we use Windows Media is because of our audience. Most of you are listening from the Ojai Valley. Since this area currently has no access to cable or DSL Internet connections, we are all forced to connect to the Internet over phone lines that are, quite frankly, not up to the task. A typical 56k modem user in the Ojai Valley is often connected at speeds of 33k or less.

Of all existing formats, Windows Media has the clearest signal at low bit-rates. The files we stream to our audience are encoded at 22 kps, which should work fairly well over a 28.8k connection after accounting for overhead.

The Windows Media Player is a free product and can be downloaded form Microsoft by clicking here.