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| Get our free newsletter for the latest releases Contents Music Software Quick Reference Resources Online Ordering Software Authors Company Info | Shareware Music Machine News Are you ready for the bedroom broadcasters? Date posted: January 13 1999 Remember Christian Slater as a young pirate radio DJ in 'Pump Up The Volume'? Well, thanks to Nullsoft you can now live stream MP3 files from your computer onto the Internet and effectively run your own mini radio station. By downloading Winamp, the Live Input Plug-in for Winamp 2.05 and the SHOUTcast WIN32 server you can get on the Internet and effectively broadcast your thoughts, words and music to the world. If you head to the Shoutcast site, you can check out the numerous virtual 'radio stations' operating online. At the time of writing there were 209 stations operating, broadcasting everything from techno to spoken word to heavy metal. Of course, the DJs aren't too professional and their taste in music often leaves something to be desired - but that's all part of the fun. On the other hand there are some commercial radio stations on Shoutcast, such as Radio WRQX in Washington DC. What makes Shoutcast so good is that you can stream many different kinds of soundfiles so that you don't necessarily have to do multiple file conversions. While some Shoutcasts do admittedly skip or pause due to factors such as bandwidth, the overall quality overall is impressive for a service still in its infancy. With technical development aside, as well as the demand for artists' information and encoded URLs, getting a mass audience from the privacy and comfort of your own PC is still a dream. However, Shoutcast is an encouraging start for people who want to become broadcasters. Record companies and the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A) are sure to take note of the Shoutcast broadcasters as the bulk of the material heard so far includes what one would assume are illegal broadcasts of artists such as Metallica and Bruce Springsteen. As always, developing original content is time-consuming and expensive. Is it any wonder people broadcast straight off their CD-ROMs using the CDDA plug-in? So how does Shoutcast work? Your audio can be transferred to the SHOUTcast server through Winamp or the Live Input plug-in. You choose what to stream via the Winamp interface. The audio is then transferred to the SHOUTcast DSP-Plug-in, which re-encodes the audio at a desired transmission bitrate and transmits the audio to the SHOUTcast server. The server then relays the audio stream to the listener over TCP/IP. You can also let the SHOUTcast directory know about the transmission. SHOUTcast is free for general non-profit use. For commerical use of SHOUTcast, licenses are $299 per server per machine. These licenses include free upgrades to all SHOUTcast 1.x servers, as well as the upcoming SHOUTcast 1.0 advanced server. So what do you think? Are you a SHOUTcast user and do you think this software will cause a revolution in bedroom broadcasting? From this writer's perspective, this is only the beginning of a wave that will see online broadcasters face problems of generating original content as well as dealing with issues that pertain to legally broadcasting music recorded, published, released and sold by third parties. While current SHOUTcast audiences are still small - I didn't see more than 35 people listening in on any broadcast during my exploration - the potential is clearly there for gaining a following and eventually a larger audience as technical limitations are gradually overcome. As it is, you can already relay your audio stream to multiple servers and potentially boost your audience. But for every Howard Stern, there will be hundred of unknowns who break all the rules and rarely make for interesting listening. But, hey, as long as they enjoy themselves, who really cares? Would you like to use this story free of charge on your site? Find out how to use our content. Back to news index Want to write for Shareware Music Machine? | GuitarSite.com A huge resource site for Guitarists with over 1000 Great Guitar Sites, 2000 Guitars Database, Tutorials, Tablature, Amplifiers, Chords, Theory, Electric, Acoustic, Classical, Flamenco, Interviews, Artists and heaps and heaps more. Want to buy sheet music, songbooks or guitar tabs? Sheet Music Plus has over a quarter million titles to choose from, and you can order online. Check out the Musicians' Resource Center Musicians Web Center contains over 2000 music software downloads, more than 2000 musician discussion forums, 2000 guitars database, 1000 great guitar site reviews and links, tuition, guides, synths, sheet music, tablature, a Real Audio server, book reviews and more for musicians! |
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