Currently, a site I developed plays mp3 files directly in JW Player using the file attribute and public URLs to the mp3 file. This is now an issue with the client for legal reasons, and they now need to stream the audio files so that the users can’t open up their cache and nab the files directly after downloading.
The JW player site has a bunch of examples for streaming video, but nothing for audio. Is it possible to stream audio files with JW player, and do we have to pay a lot of money for a streaming provider? Is it possible to do on the local php server?
I think you are going to have difficulty streaming media without some risk of capture. Have you tried the tutorial at http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/HTTP-Video-Streaming? It say that it can handle audio at http://www.longtailvideo.com/players/jw-flv-player/ (AAC, MP3 are audio files).
My understanding is that you need to look at streaming providers and special streaming servers, perhaps with DRM, if you want greater levels of protection. Even Windows Media Server streams can be captured.