title: Streaming files over the network with random access - java
body: <p>So ive got a need to play music files from a server on the network, in a java client app. 
  I was thinking Sockets - have the server open a music file as a stream, and have the client connect to that and read &amp; play it as an InputStream. Which would work - except AFAICS users wont be able to seek into the file(which they can currently for local Files), because I cant see how the Sockets stream can support that. </p>
  
  <p>Any better ideas? Or a way to use the Sockets to seek?</p>
  
  <p>JNI? I dont know enough about it to know if it would help.</p>
  
  <p>The (totally lame) last resort is to use mapped network drives. </p>