Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Design and Content : To stream or not to stream?

[fantom]

Ok, now here is the question I've got for you guys... since I am thinking of adding some livesets and recordings from a few gigs every week to one of my websites, I am not sure what would be the best way to offer them to visitors - as a streaming radio station (always on) or on demand listening?

I'm thinking of streaming 128kbps MP3s, since I wanna keep the quality high, but I'm not sure what would the advantages/disadvantages of each approach be? And what is the difference between regular hosting server, server with shoutcast, icecast, mod_mp3, or whatever else is available out there?

There are going to be only a few hours of music available online to begin with, but we'll be adding 2-3 hours of music each week, so after a few months it could grow to be quite an archive. And I'm not anticipating more than 100 users at a time for at least another 6 months or so.

Some suggestions would be helpful on the type of server and bandwidth involved too... thanks!

[matt2kjones]

well with live streaming it will be like tuning into a station, u will tune in and whats currently playing u gotta listen to.

with on demand, the user can just select what they wanna listen to and go.

[jonat8]

I think if you're looking into building up an archive then "on-demand" would be the way to go. Perhaps if you want to get into live streaming too you could have scheduled live "theme" broadcasts on occasion, using the pool of your archived material.

Regular HTTP streaming does not support live, only on-demand. And your users can also download your files, most specialised Streaming servers prevent this.

In terms of server - Shoutcast is good because you don't have to convert your music if it's in MP3 format already. It can handle on-demand and live (but it's more a live streaming system IMO.)

The other major ones - Real (Helix Universal) and Windows Media you would need to convert your media into their propreitary format first which is a pain if you have a lot to do. But they support more advanced features like bitrate switching, - one file contains both a 32kbps and a 128kbps stream for example. The user's client can switch between the two streams if network conditions deteriorate/improve.

Helix Universal is expensive (their free server only handles 10 users max) and Windows Media is free but only runs on Windows server software (so you're paying for the streaming system with the Windows license price).

[HecticMedia]

I'm waiting for someone to mention Live365.Com ... Don't go with them, I've been with them now for almost a year and they keep changing their packages. Now I can only have 10 people listening at one time, because they're trying to get everyone to buy "Preferred Membership".

Live365 are going down the pan, so don't do it

[fantom]

I wasn't even thinking of Live365.com, or Real streaming...

My main intention is to stream MP3 audio from my own server, and I'm just trying to find out what's the best solution...

[jonat8]

Then go with Shoutcast if you want to stream MP3s... it's as simple as downloading a small DSP plug-in for WinAmp 2.xx, configuring a few server settings (only has to be done once), queuing up your tracks in the playlist and hitting Play.

You need access to a Shoutcast server, you can run it on your home PC if you have the bandwidth but I don't recommend it. Instead what I do is have a dedicated server running the Shoutcast free server app. In the DSP plug-in I connect and stream to that server, the clients then connect to the server and play the stream.

The above is assuming a live stream. To stream on-demand you simply upload your MP3s into the Shoutcast server's content directory and the links to the files will be something like http://shoutcast-server:port/content/afile.pls WinAmp is the suggested player of course but WMP, RealOne and MMJB will also play the streams.

For more info visit http://www.shoutcast.com/ or the discussion forums at http://forums.winamp.com/

[blutek]

I host 20+ 128kbps mp3 mixes on my site, all on demand. Shoutcast is not be the best solution for your case becasue your visitors won't be able to pick what they want to listen to. It's meant more for live broadcasting. Make a .pls file for each mp3 and have your visitor click on that file to connect to the mix. .pls files are the most supported extension for streaming audio. Just about every audio player will stream it. If you want to offer both high and low bitrates then you can always upload 2 mp3's of each set. One high version and one low version then make a .pls file for each version. Here is a sample .pls file.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[playlist]
numberofentries=1
File1=http://www.yourdomain.com/music/high/livesetpart1.mp3
Length1=-1
Version=2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[fantom]

So .pls list is a better choice than .m3u list?

And why is the Length1=-1? When I make a PLS list from a local file it shows the actual length. Or it doesn't matter...?

[blutek]

i think .pls and .m3u are basically the same thing. I just use .pls and have never had any problems. I got that code from the winamp forums a while back. not sure why Length1=-1. Check out this page: (scroll almost to to the very bottom)

http://ubertechnique.com/seth/oyez/doc/Oyez.html