Streaming audio is a means by which sound can be transferred from one point to another on the internet, piece by piece, or in the form of little packages called packets. It allows us to provide audio sound bytes in a way that does not involve the user having to wait a long period of time for a download. The sound will start playing shortly after you click on the link.

Because each packet has to make the journey from point A to point B and with the internet, that can mean being handled by a number of systems, and the packets are sometimes delayed due to congestion on the web. This results in a delay of the transfer and your player may pause occasionally due to the delays. The speed of the connection between you and your ISP may also be a factor. Cuts with music require more bandwidth and are more susceptible to the interruptions.

DesMoinesBroadcasting.com has attempted to obtain a balance between conserving bandwidth and providing a reasonable amount of sound quality. Raising the bandwidth would improve the quality but also make it more difficult to transfer the data under certain conditions.

If you are annoyed by these short interruptions, we would suggest that you try to play the item at another time when the web may be less congested. If you are using a dial-up connection, you may be able to improve the performance by going into preferences in the Real Player and under connections, setting the bandwidth lower. For example, if you are on a 28,800 modem, try setting bandwidth and maximum bandwidth to a 19,200 connection. This forces the player to create a larger buffer before starting the playback of the selection. This may help.