If these two events were a fight for the future of streaming, you couldn?t have picked two more opposing contestants. We were ringside at both and bring you coverage blow by blow.In the blue corner was net.congestion, the ?International Festival of Streaming Media? in Amsterdam, between October 6 ? 8. The festival was a result of a collaboration of a broad coalition of Dutch and international cultural organisations, artists and media tacticians, the festival is devoted to new forms of broadcasting and live programming that have emerged from the Internet i.e. the pioneers.In the red corner was Streaming Media Europe, the ?absolute must attend Convention for Internet content providers, webcasters, service providers, and broadcasters wanting to harness the power of streaming video, audio and multimedia on the Web. This is the industry-meeting place.? i.e. the suits.Net.congestion provided all the action in the first round covering the use of streaming media as an artistic and tactical medium. The festival was located in Paradiso, De Balie and Melkweg buildings in the heart of Amsterdam, the felt very relaxed and provided a platform from some of the more interesting organisations, projects and events.The highlight had to be the mock court case debating the copyright/copyleft arguments. Whilst being highly entertaining, it proved to be exceptionally informative thanks in part to the very well informed council, real life judge and excellent expert witnesses, including: a respected IP lawyer, a copyright specialist and a free speech activist. As well as some great parties, people and performances, there were good presentations from all of the regular net.media massive, with some nice surprises in the form of the ?walk-in? Internet/cable TV station, Big Brother Germany?s 360 degree webcams and a very cute Mindstorm streaming robot.Round two was back in London for Streaming Media World. Now, I actually got banned from speaking at this year?s event due to ?misbehaving? after my speech at last year [how was I to know some spunkmonkey.com had sponsored the first coffee break when we completely blitzed the place with Protein propaganda?] so my opinion might be slightly tainted. The early big hitters came in the from of Real Networks supremo Rob Glaser to preach the pleasure principles of why you should buy his products as well as raft of other gold, silver and bronze sponsored schmooze sessions, all of which proved to regurgitate press releases and not provide any decent food for thought.It was incredible to see the growth of interest from 15 temporary stalls in the hallway of the RAI centre in 1999 to over 500 marketing palaces in Earl Court a year later. However, once you got over the glitter and dazzle, you began to smell the stench of fear seep through the conference centre and exhibition hall from 101 ?streaming solution providers? all pitching their products into the ether, knowing full well that only 10% of them are going to be profitable.To be honest, it?s unfair to put these two festivals in the same ring as it would be like putting the Kylie of contemporary culture against the Mike Tyson of marketing hype, so all I can suggest is that of you want to get a complete picture of what is really happening in the world of streaming media next year, attend both events.net.congestion.org/

www.streamingmedia.com/europe/