September 19th, 2004
How I get my music
It is interesting to consider how the music I listen to gets to my ears:
It starts on a computer several thousand miles away, where CD’s are compressed into MP3 files, which are then encoded for streaming and sent over the Internet. The stream passes through about 18 different routing points, as it is sent by T1 line, optical signal, (sometimes) satellite, optical fiber, coaxial, and finally ethernet cable, as it reaches my wireless router. From there, it is transmitted over a 54Mbps 802.11g wireless connection to my laptop, which decodes the mp3 stream, and sends it to an FM radio transmitter. Finally, the radio signal is picked up by my desktop pc, and plays on my speaker system.