Introduction About Beatnik and the RMF File Format |

Beatnik makes the Beatnik Platform software that works with Web browsers and other programs and devices to make interactive music and sound possible. We also make software tools for preparing RMF music and sound content for the Beatnik Platform, and for making it easy for Web page creators and other developers to control Beatnik playback.
Interactive audio means music, sound effects, and speech that can trigger instantly, or change instantly, in response to actions that the user takes while browsing and interacting with your production. For example, an audio logo that plays whenever the mouse moves over your logo graphic - or a piece of music that changes mood when the user goes to a different page in your Web site.
Beatnik Interactive audio is fundamentally different from the other two basic types of Web audio:
Streaming audio is like listening to a live radio program over the Internet, using your computer as the radio. The program is pre-produced and you can only listen, not change it as it proceeds - no interactivity. The audio quality is sometimes poor or not suitable for music. MP3 audio is like collecting CDs, using your computer's hard drive as your record shelf. Audio quality is good to excellent, but you have to deliberately select what to listen to, and when.
With Beatnik Interactive Audio and the RMF format, by contrast, content designers and musicians automatically furnish the listener with whatever soundtrack they want to provide, in high fidelity, by weaving the music and other sounds directly into the Web pages - with rich control over how the user's audio experience unfolds as the site is explored.
Only Beatnik offers this powerful combination of instant response, high quality, and flexible control - plus, Beatnik technology keeps the audio file sizes and download times quite reasonable.
These features are available under JavaScript control in Web browsers, under Lingo control in Shockwave, and in Flash. Beatnik's Music Object interface enables all our advanced features. To ease the programming burden, exceptional tool support is available in the form of plug-ins and ActionSets for major Web site authoring packages including Macromedia Director, Macromedia DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive, and NetObjects Fusion, and several tools generate custom cut-and- paste HTML and JavaScript code.
RMF Playback Platforms
Beatnik Interactive Audio playback is also available to multimedia developers using Director, and to software developers using JavaSound, the BeOS, and the Beatnik Audio Engine. Beatnik's RMF format is used in the Beatnik Player, Beatnik Xtra, and Beatnik Audio Engine, JavaSound, the Be OS, and set-top boxes including Liberate and WebTV.
All these systems use Beatnik's unique RMF music and sound file format, Rich Music Format, which guarantees identical playback on all players - bridging all differences between computers, processors, and operating systems.

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