Backstories is a series of video case studies that provides you with useful information for producing and distributing audio and video with Windows Media. The creator of these videos, Bill Birney, has extensive experience using these technologies. He has worked as writer, director, and producer on numerous of film and video projects, as well as been a music composer, sound designer, and disc jockey. Bill has co-written several books for Microsoft, including the Windows Media Resource Kit, and is a regular contributor to the Knowledge Center.
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Go inside the AT&T Wireless mMode online music store to see how their customers can research, preview, and purchase music through their cell phones. After making a purchase, customers download the digital media to their PCs and if they own a portable device, such as a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC or Smartphone, they can sync the music to the device and take their music with them.
Visit Sample Digital—a Hollywood company that occupies a lucrative niche encoding specialized content for the motion picture and television industry. In this video, one of the founders, Josh Kline, describes the company's growth. When the company first started, they encoded and hosted sample reels, which are short videos or films that directors and cinematographers use to market their services.
Go inside an independent record label and an online content-management company to find out how music gets from the recording studio to an online store. We also explore the new opportunities that are opening up with online music distribution.
Learn from the very team that tests the Windows Media codecs at Microsoft shares some tips for encoding high-quality video.
Get a look in during post-production of the documentary film Dust to Glory. What makes this feature-length, theatrically released film special is that it was finished (online edit, color correction, and rendering) on computers running Microsoft Windows XP.
Explore the Windows Media Video9 Advanced Profile codec with Windows Media test lead David Workman. This new codec adds new capabilities that make it easier for you to use Windows Media Video9 compression in applications that don't involve a computer running Windows.
Take a quick look at what is happening in the high-definition video business with a focus on content creation. We will also show you a new product from Inlet Technologies that lets you capture and encode Windows Media high-definition video in real time and in one step.
Get a look at a unique implementation of streaming media—one that demonstrates that streaming media today is more about enabling great ideas than fumbling around with esoteric technologies.
Visit Akimbo, an online movie store that uses Windows Media to deliver broadcast-quality movies to televisions over the Internet. Akimbo has a large and rapidly expanding selection of movies and television shows, as well as a large variety of alternative content, like independent shorts and training videos.
Learn about CDNs from Nine Systems, a Windows Media Premiere Certified Hosting Provider. The Nine Systems CDN provides reliable and scalable hosting of streaming and download content to medium-to-large audiences, and a comprehensive set of content-management tools and services for streaming customers. As you will see, the Nine Systems infrastructure and staff can handle almost any customer need, while keeping the cost of content delivery under control.
Create streaming video for the Internet with no real budget. You can make useful, quality, even entertaining videos for a modest investment in time and production tools. With Windows Media and today's array of tools, the sky really is the limit. The following videos take you through the production process, and show you the tools involved.