Is it possible to add HTTP Basic Authentication support when browsing online media?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication)

This is a quote from the article

Here is a typical transaction between an HTTP client and an HTTP server running on the local machine (localhost). It comprises the following steps.

• The client asks for a page that requires authentication but does not provide a user name and password. Typically this is because the user simply entered the address or followed a link to the page.
• The server responds with the 401 response code and provides the authentication realm. This is done sending an HTTP header

  WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Secure Area"

• At this point, the client will present the authentication realm (typically a description of the computer or system being accessed) to the user and prompt for a user name and password. The user may decide to cancel at this point.
• Once a user name and password have been supplied, the client adds an authentication header (with value base64encode(username+”:”+password)) to the original request and re-sends it.
• In this example, the server accepts the authentication and the page is returned. If the user name is invalid or the password incorrect, the server might return the 401 response code and the client would prompt the user again.

Note: A client may pre-emptively send the authentication header in its first request, with no user interaction required.

In standard web browser, users can add http credential in a url request in this way:

http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOSTNAME/PATH