If you have a limited monthly download allowance, how much is this effected by listening to "streamed" audio.

I know if I download music it is typically around 1MB for each minute of the song - depending on sound quality etc?

How does this compare with listening to live radio from the BBC for example?

In fact, what exactly is streaming? Do I need to understand that?

Streaming media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC - Webwise - Ask Bruce - What does streaming mean?

You ever heard of Google :P

To check on how much you are downloading you'll need some sort of Net meter Google for Freeware bandwidth meters

e.g.

Codebox Software - BitMeter II

BandwidthMeter.co.uk - Bandwidth Meter

Edited 27 January, 200917 yr by anonymouse

Just switch to an unlimited service Andy

A streamed track is often smaller than a downloaded track, quality will be slightly less, it all counts towards your download limit.

You will hardly be able to tell the difference with audio TBH, I've found it comparable to listening to broadcast radio.

Thanks everyone - the question was on behalf of a friend as I'm on unlimited aleady - but I think the quick answer is not to use streaming or dwnloading too much on a capped tariff.