School of Engineering (ENG)

Most modern instant messaging software has multimedia capabilities such as white boards and even support for live video and voice conversations. However, they still seem to be lacking streaming audio, not in terms of voice but in terms of music. If users could listen to the same music as each other while they talk, they would have a sense of being in a similar environment and this would result in a more efficient method of communication.

When using today's modern instant messaging software, users often share music by manually sending files to each other. This project involves the development and implementation of a system where users will be able to effortlessly stream music to their contacts.

This system would remove the delays of having to wait for a music file to be sent over the network. Instead, it can be listened to in realtime as it is broadcasted. For example, background music could be used to emphasise the mood of a conversation, resulting in a more personal and creative method of communication.

The Java Media Framework and the RTP protocol was utilised in order to implement this project. The name of the instant messaging system is Strim, which is an abbreviation of Streaming Instant Messenger.