There are two ways to view or listen to one or more files from the internet. By streaming or downloading. Let's see what the trends are, what will be worn effectsand what suits you.
1. What is streaming and what is downloading?
When you download a file from the internet, you are actually copying it to your local device. From there, you can play as many times as you want without having to be connected online.
When you do streaming a file, you do not have it in physical form on your computer. The file is somewhere on a server, and you receive it in segments (ie data streams). The flow is something like when you listen to a radio or watch TV. Just watch the part of the file you are downloading at the moment and once the hearing is over, you do not have it on your computer.
2. Streaming vs Downloading. Which method to use.
2.a If you plan to play the file many times, download it
There really isn't a better or worse way to download a file. You can't say that streaming is better than downloading or vice versa. As you can see below, they have different advantages and disadvantages. This means that it depends on your particular circumstances and so while in one case streaming is the wisest choice, in another case it is not.
Basically, if you want to play the file many times, it's best to download it. You can download it once and watch it as many times as you like. And you do not need an Internet connection to play. This is a huge difference if you are thinking of going to an island in the summer or somewhere else where you will not have Internet at all or will not be fast.
With streaming you have to transfer the data (almost) every time you play it. We almost say, because if you stream a file and it goes to your browser cache, and if you do not close the browser between replays and it is not replaced in the cache by other data, then it may be able to play again without a second download. However, from a technical point of view in this case you are not streaming directly - you are just repeating a download.
Also, if a file is collectible for you, it's best to download it and keep it safe on your computer. In this case, you will not be covered by streaming because at any time you may not find it on the internet.
2.b If the file is of inferior quality, then streaming
If the file you intend to watch / listen to is not very important, and it does not make sense to download it locally and keep it, streaming is the best option. During the playback if you see that you don't like it you can stop it at any time. In this case you don't need to download the whole file to see what it is and if you like it. You can only play the first ones seconds or minutes. This is how you protect your bandwidth, which although in home connections is usually unlimited, you do not block someone else who is surfing the internet from the same line and at the same time you do not download things you do not need.
Another advantage of streaming in terms of bandwidth consumption is that most sites usually have low resolution and small size files when streaming but do not offer the same for downloads. Surely, the quality of the low resolution is smaller, but if you care about the downloadable kb, such as using mobile telephony and you're fine with smaller / blurrier videos, streaming is your best choice.
Some compressions, such as H.264, also help reduce file size, not necessarily at the expense of quality. Compression removes excess data and leads to a significant reduction in file size.
Streaming requires a quick connection. If it's not fast enough, then prepare for a chopped video / audio up to a huge holiday between the scenes. However, on your own with a simple 24 link, even if it's locked in 12.000 kbps, you can watch a movie comfortably without the slightest interruption.
3. What will be worn this year.
In the beginning there was Downloading. The time when the users αντάλλαζαν links για downloading σε servers όπως το rapidshare ή το megaupload έχει περάσει ανεπιστρεπτί. Πλέον το streaming έχει καταλάβει το χώρο που δικαιωματικά του ανήκει καθώς sites όπως το youtube, ή διάφορα clouds they offer the user variety and a fast interface.
The trend, however, shows that streaming continues to grow and its share grows as the market is flooded with TVBox (streaming through kodi) or even with smart internet-connected TVs.
After all, the kodi program itself, head of streaming, recently released the stable 17 version, which means there is demand.
On the other hand, as far as the legal download is concerned, it will never die because it covers the needs of all the above mentioned reasons. As for illegal downloading, the history of torrent sites has shown that they are not meant to give up and downloading is a process that always finds ways and methods to meet the demand for demanding users.
