## Step 2 - Reading

Streaming services

You are going to read a text about how streaming services like Netflix and Spotify work.

- Work together with three or four classmates and do exercise 1.
- Read the text and do exercise 2.

##### Exercise 1

Discuss the following questions in your group in English:

- Do you use streaming services? Which ones?
- Which streaming service do you like best? Why?
- In what way is watching Live TV different from watching streaming services?

How streaming services work Differences Between Downloads and Streaming Multimedia travels over the internet in two fundamental ways - you can either download the file fully and play it or start the audio/video reproduction while the file is downloading. The latter is what’s considered streaming. But it’s a bit more convoluted than that. You see, when you’re streaming a video, a song, or even a video game, you don’t get to interact with a file directly, like with regular downloads. Instead, whatever player or service you use will decode that file in real-time and reproduce it. Ultimately, streaming will not leave any files on your device, which is one of the reasons people prefer it these days - you don’t have to worry about storage space, as whatever data is downloaded while streaming gets deleted in real-time when it’s not needed anymore. Intro to Streaming Services What are streaming services, then? Those would be online platforms that provide multimedia content - TV shows, movies, music, or audiobooks. Additionally, the content must be streamed to the end user without them having to download any files or tools to play the requested piece of media. Everything should be done through the app or the website. Think of it as TV or radio. The age-old platforms provide a similar service of playing certain types of content without the user having to wait for the whole thing to “download” before watching a TV show or listening to a song. But, the most significant difference is that you don’t choose what you’re going to watch or listen to on either TV or radio. Someone else has already decided, and your only option is to switch to a different channel. A streaming media service offers on-demand access to its library. Instead of sitting in front of the screen, waiting for the next episode of the TV show to start, you can just press play and continue watching. That convenience is what truly separates streaming services from live television, especially since you don’t have to suffer through the never-ending commercial blocks. How do streaming services work, then? The platforms hold all the necessary files on their servers. Once a user requests a piece of media, the service sends out a copy of the requested media by splitting it into packets and delivering it through the app. The app then decodes the packets and reproduces the content in real-time. This is called encoding and is measured in bits per second (bps). https://kommandotech.com/guides/what-is-a-streaming-service/