Icecast Streaming Media Server

[milesdf]

hello I am currently running shoutcast and real at my school's radio station. soon I plan to dump real as it is pretty unused and just a pain in general. I am wondering what the differences are between shoutcast and icecast, and maybe if I should switch to icecast. it is running on a windows xp box and there will be the real xp box added soon. analog signal is sent to both boxes through a soundcard.

most clients use WMP or winamp. I would like to implement multiple stream rates (128kbs and 24kbs) from both boxes, so four streams two from each box. we currently have a static title running. is all this possible from icecast, and how would it be better than shoutcast?

soon i would like to implement title streaming from my SAM3 automation. in shoutcast, this is not possible because I am getting audio from an analog source. I would need to get data from a network source for the titles and audio from an analog source. is this kind of setup possible in icecast?

thanks for the help.

[karlH]

icecast handles multiple formats and multiple streams at the same time so a single icecast server sounds like all you need. winamp and wmp do work with both mp3 and vorbis (winamp full and wmp with plugins). The title handling will depend on exactly what you want from the format and the source client.

karl.

[milesdf]

hmmm. thanks for the answers. if I stream mp3 will it work with WMP right out of the box?

does anyone know of a source client that will allow me to bind streaming titles to a soundcard input?

also, how highly recomended does linux come over windows xp? whats the best distrobution for icecast? I would prefer something with a GUI and easy to use.

[karlH]

mp3 should work with wmp although stick to CBR, the wmp developers have screwed up VBR handling. Strickly speaking you don't bind metadata to soundcard input, but you can often provide metadata to a source client or to icecast when required.

karl.

[milesdf]

all the source clients I have expirienced have an input for a static title, any recomendation for one that can utilize the dynamic titles provided by SAM3?

thanks.

[milesdf]

alright, I have downloaded the standalone version of oddcastV3, and it seems to support getting metadata from an external source when I configure it in its .cfg file for individual streams.

i think my new plan is to buy a quality soundcard for the automation computer in the studio. I will use the outputs of the soundcard for SAM3 into the console and the inputs for the console into oddcast. oddcast will receive metadata from SAM3 locally. Oddcast will stream a 128kbs and 24Kbs stream to the main and backup icecast server, which may or may not run linux. the backup icecast server will definitley run linux and will double as the webserver and mysql server for SAM3. Both servers will have analog input from the consoles for the mountpoints to fall back on incase automation machine crashes. Listeners will run a .asx or .pls file with a playlist made of the main server and then backup server.

Comments on my plan? thanks.