MP3 Cafe

Icecast is intended to be a free software way of setting up a Internet or lan radio station. Anyone can set up an Icecast server and begin streaming songs or audio files.
There are a variety of things you can do with it. Many Internet-based radio stations offer real-time streaming audio in Ogg Vorbis format. However, home users may also be happy streaming a static playlist of MP3 files from a server’s hard drive. Networked machines can connect to the server and listen to the current song or audio file. The latest version even streams additional information regarding the name and performer of the current song.
But why just as a big broadcast station?

Another nice use of Icecast is inside an intranet, which itself supports a much more efficient transport of the files. Maybe you have a server with many mp3 files placed in the cellar and want to stream music into your local network. Just one person has to create a playlist and all users can choose their favorite songs just like using a Jukebox.
And because some technical details are needed, here are the most important things you should know. According to the Icecast website, most any UNIX-based system such as Linux, Solaris or FreeBSD can run Icecast. There are binary versions available for use on Windows-based platforms as well. It supports streaming audio in Mp3 and Ogg Vorbis formats. The most recent version 2.2.0 supports streaming Ogg Theora format. It is really easy to setup. Few steps for compiling, few steps for the configuration and you will be streaming for people around the world.
Click here to download the software and additional documentation.
What can I say? Very nice piece of software. Share your music and have fun!!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 12:10 am and is filed under utilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.