Just a quick note on streaming audio audio/video servers, since this topic was
touched upon recently on the list. (And I should probably provide the ADVTSG in
the subject field as well!)
A streaming audio/video server like the one in MacOSX when installed on a G3 or
one of the new G4 machine from Apple costs less than $2000 (I.e., the machine,
the software, and the monitor). The internal hard drive (20 gig is sufficient
for most of the audio needs of a mid-sized institution.
(Add a SCSI2 card and two 18 gig drives for about $1,400 and you have excellent
streaming video capability except for MPEG that does not run on the streaming
server inside MacOSX. But if MPEG video files are served as files, the setup
will support at least 13 clients accessing the same file - that's how far we
tested. A higher number of clients is probably possible. )
Note that this server also provides Appleshare and Windows File Services.
We are running it. It is stable. It provides access to all former audio tapes in
the language lab. It serves via a web page to PCs as well as Macs. It serves
well across the internet - but we have domain restricted it for the time being.
Otmar