Streaming Audio Tutorial Page 5 — Broadcasting Do you feel like a secret agent in Mission: Impossible III yet? Wipe the sweat off your brow and let's keep on our mission. We notice, thankfully, the defaults are set correctly in this pop-up and, lucky for us, we only need to change the server password. Click on the "Edit" button next to the "Server: localhost:8000" text if you wish to enter some descriptive text for your broadcast. If you aren't ready to announce your stream to the world, uncheck the "List on Shoutcast.com" box. Click "OK" when you've finished. If the "Format" displayed is not "MP3 @ 24kbps 22kHz" (or you wish to broadcast at a different bitrate), click on the "Edit" button next to it and set it accordingly. Now, let's set up the MP3 files you wish to broadcast in Winamp by selecting them and then dragging and dropping them into the playlist window. Next, click "Connect" on that previous pop-up window to make it start streaming into your server. If you see an increasing number next to the "Disconnect" button ("NNN bytes sent"), everything is working properly. If not, you should verify your server information (especially the password) and try again. If you didn't disable the option to be listed on Shoutcast.com, you can do a search and find your broadcast listed. Information about linking your broadcast to your website will be covered a few paragraphs below. To view statistics on your broadcast, Shoutcast lets you open your Web browser to "http://servername:port/" where "servername" is the name (or IP address) of your server and "port" is the port you told it to use (probably 8000). The Shoutcast server also provides a few other options from that URL, including an administration area where you can log in (using the password you set for the server) and edit restrictions on who can listen, view log messages, etc. For the purposes of this article, we're going to save ourselves (and maybe you) a brain hemorrhage and stop here. If you're interested in more advanced topics (such as using a live mic input instead of pre-encoded MP3 files), there is some good documentation in the README that comes with both the server and the Winamp plug-ins, and also at the Shoutcast home page. Letting the World Know About It: Once you are successfully broadcasting, you may wish to make a link to your broadcast from your website. Shoutcast has taken this into consideration and provides a simple URL you can give people which will generate a playlist file that (provided your listener has a compatible MP3 player) will immediately start up the audio stream. For our previous example, we'd use: <"http://my.computer.com:8000/listen.pls">. For example: "Hey Sue, check out my live radio show by loading <"http://my.computer.com:8000/listen.pls"> in your Web browser." It Still Needs to Be Said Dept.: Be polite in your emails and never send an e-mail announcing your streaming show to anyone who has not already asked to know. Sending unsolicited emails is called spamming and is frowned upon by Ms. Manners, The FezGuys and nice people everywhere. A more genteel way to let the world know about your streaming server is that link from your website. To last page of Streaming Audio To next page of Streaming Audio Back to the HTML Home Page