Icecast Streaming Media Server

[Anonymous]

Hello,
I have SAM4, Icecast2, a dedicated PC running Windows XP and a streaming server package through Networkwork Solutions, with whom I registered my domain name for my radio station. I have read through dozens of pages of manuals and "how-tos", but there are some basic points I just don't understand. Perhaps someone out there can point me in the right direction.

1) Where should the SAM4 software be installed? It's currently installed on the dedicated PC - is this correct?

2) Where should the Icecast2 software be installed? It's also currently installed on the dedicated PC - is this correct?

3) Where should the mp3 files live?

4) Do I need a "Click Here to Listen Live" type link on my website?

5) Finally, I only want a small station at this point, 100 listeners or so average, and don't have to be 24 hour if I need to conserve bandwidth usage - my web hosting package provides 400 GB of data transfer per month - will that be enough to get me up and running?

I appreciate any direction someone can provide - I have been trying for 2 weeks to get up a broadcast that manuals mockingly boast can be gotten online in 30 minutes, so I feel pretty stupid at this point. Thanks again for your help!

Mike

[karlH]

1. As sam4 is a windows application, it can be installed on any win32 system you have as long as it has a network link (even via localhost) to icecast.

2. Icecast2 should be one the server that your listeners can get to with enough bandwidth to handle all those streams.

3. Your mp3 files can be anyway that the source client (sam4) requires them. Typically the source client is fairly flexible on locations just as long as it can open and read them.

4. You can do. The status page have m3u playlist links that are automatically generated but it can also have them on your website and you can have for playlist formats as well.

5. We can't say as the stream bitrate and duration is unknown. The general formula is listeners (100) * bitrate * duration converted to bytes will give you an idea on the consumption.

karl.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. However, I'm still unclear on one point - I am using Network Solutions to host my domain and website. Does icecast need to be installed on THEIR equipment or my computer that I have SAM4 installed on? It would seem that they may be reluctant to actually install any third-party software on their servers. Forgive my lack of experience with this, and I really appreciate your patience and guidance.

[karlH]

I cannot comment on the agreement you have with the provider but as many listeners will be connecting to icecast, you need to have enough bandwidth to the icecast machine. That typically means you run icecast on their server and sam is run on yours.

karl.