title: Streaming audio to a browser
body: <p>I have a large amount of audio stored on my web server in a very custom format that can't be replayed by anything other than my own application.  That application is a Win32 app that can connect to my web server and stream and replay that audio.  </p>
  
  <p>I'd really like to be able to do the streaming and replaying from within a browser, but don't know where to start.  Ideally I'd like the technology to be cross-platform (unlike my current Win32 app) and cross-browser (IE 6 and above and Firefox).</p>
  
  <p>My current thoughts are to look at things like:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Flash, but doesn't that only replay mp3 audio?</li>
  <li>Java, are VMs freely available still?</li>
  <li>Converting the audio to a WAV file on the web server and then using someone else's plugin to replay that file.  I'd rather keep the conversion off the web server for performance reasons, but is still an option.</li>
  <li>Writing my own custom plugin to do the complete stream and replay operation.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Any guidance would be most useful.</p>
  
  <p>Please note that the audio is not music and that simply converting to another audio format is not trivial.  The audio that is stored also changes frequently (every minute) would need constant conversion.</p>