[M4IF Technotes] MPEG4 delivery mechanism for a multi-os demographic?

[Kelly McNeill]

Hello all,
I am an amateur web audio developer and was advised to subscribe to 
this list to have some of my questions answered regarding MPEG4 
streaming.
I am building a web site which incorporates streaming audio. When 
finished, this web site will have visitors of varying computing 
platforms and OSes visiting it.
I am converting all my audio files to MPEG4 using QuickTime 6 
(utilizing streaming optimized for server)   then placing the MPEG4 
file on a server with Quicktime streaming server to deliver my audio.
My question deals with the delivery mechanism.
If I embed the audio file into the web page, the web browser has to 
have a plug-in to play the MPEG clip. (This begs the question: Do all 
the major alternative computing platforms (BSD, Linux, Solaris, Amiga 
etc) have plug-ins available that will be able to play the embedded 
audio?)
If not, I will need to tell the web page to launch a player, but I 
don't know of any HTML code that calls upon a generic MPEG4 player 
(Whatever player the OS has designated to play this type of audio). 
Instead, they only call upon specific players.
What is the best solution for delivering my MPEG4 streaming audio to 
this varying group of alternative computer users?
- Kelly