Original brief explanation

Transcription

1 Original brief explanation I installed the Shoutcast server onto a desktop and made some minor configuration changes, such as setting the passwords and the maximum number of listeners. This was quite easy to do, and just involved editing a text file by clicking a button from within the server software. A quick read of the accompanying help file was enough to explain the options, and I found most of the default settings to be fine for our test. The second desktop was configured to broadcast an audio stream to the server. This required the Shoutcast plugin to be added to Winamp. In terms of configuration, this only required the IP address and port number, plus the broadcast password I had set on the server earlier. The streaming quality can be set according to the amount of bandwidth available. The third desktop was used to listen to the broadcast. This machine only needed Winamp, and connects to the server via its IP address and port number. The server then relays the broadcast to the listener at the quality specified by the broadcast machine. To conserve memory and bandwidth I have currently set the maximum number of listeners to three. Why? There's four people in our group and one of us will be doing the broadcasting... Detailed technical information First of all, go to It is highly recommended that you read the documentation on their site it is very clear and concise! All of our downloads are from this website. We have run all the software purely on PCs, although Mac and Linux versions are also available. The functionality may differ in these versions - we haven t tested them! You will need: 1. A computer to act as a server. To host your own server you will need a spare computer with a reasonably fast network connection, such as on a school/company network or broadband a modem is not good enough! Ask your administrator if you need more information about this. 2. A computer to act as a broadcaster. The requirements for this are lower but it is still useful for this computer to have a good connection to the server. Alternatively, if you can get direct access to the server yourself, you can install the broadcast plug-in software on the same machine as the server software this will save you having to use another computer. 3. Your listeners will need PCs too! The only software required is a Winamp player. Server install Shoutcast server (download, install and configuration)

2 This should be done from the machine that will become the server: 1. Click on the downloads page: ( 2. Click on the Be a Server link: ( 3. Read the documentation here first. 4. Click on either the download icon, or the link to the license agreement page. 5. If you are happy with the license agreement, click on the link to proceed to the download ( 6. The version for PC is at the top of the page and is called the SHOUTcast WIN32 Console/GUI server v (the version number is correct at the time of writing). Click on the link to download the file you should get a window prompting you to open or save the file, as shown below: 7. Choose Save this program to disk, and pick a location that you will remember, such as on your desktop. The filename, at the time of writing, was shoutcast windows.exe 8. When the download is complete you should find the file in the location you saved it to. Close down any open applications before beginning the install:

3 9. Double click on the application to begin the installation you should read and accept the terms of the license agreement. When you have done so click on the button marked I agree, as shown below:

4 9. Follow the instructions. You will be prompted for a location to install the software. It is best left at the default (C:\Program Files\Shoutcast) unless you know it should go somewhere else: 10. You will be prompted to specify the type of server install you wish to perform. Unless you know you want to change it, choose the default setting, the GUI (graphical user interface) install:

5 11. Double click the server application to launch it as with any server, the computer and the software needs to be kept running in order for it to work correctly:

6 12. There is a small amount of configuration to be done to get the basic functionality working. Depending on your circumstances you may need to adjust things further. Click on the Edit config button at the top right of the application to edit the settings. This is just a text file so changes can be made to the text values, and then the file can be closed NB changes only take effect when the server is restarted.

7 13. The three main settings MUST be configured for the server to work properly. They are: (a) MaxUser we set this value to three for our demonstration, as we know that only a maximum of three users were required to connect. The smaller the value, the better the bandwidth usage. Full instructions are in the text file. (b) Password this is one item of information that is required to allow the broadcaster to send an audio stream to the server. The server s IP address and port number are also required. (c) PortBase this value sets the port number that the server will run on, and as mentioned earlier the broadcast PC needs to know this value to connect to the server. The default is 8000 and it is best left at this value unless you are confident you want to change it. NB It is worth noting that there is an alternate option for playing music from the server, which may be easier to begin with. By copying MP3 files to the C:\Program Files\Shoutcast\content folder (the default) on the server you can play back these files on demand and provide links to them on the website. You should now have the broadcast password and the port number required for broadcasting, but you also need the server s IP address (a unique number that identifies a computer on the Internet). To obtain this, you must bring up the command or DOS prompt (in Windows 98 and ME, choose Start->Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt, or under 2000 and XP choose Start->Run, and then type cmd.exe ).

8 Then type ipconfig at the prompt. This will return an IP address which will appear as x.x.x.x eg ignore the other numbers. Make a note of this value as you will need it when configuring the broadcast machine. Broadcast install Winamp and Shoutcast plug-in (download, install and configuration) 1. The broadcast installation is at first similar to the server install. You will first need to have the Winamp 2.x player installed (Winamp 3 does NOT support Shoutcast at this time) go to or you can get it from the download section on Shoutcast ( This installation will add a Shoutcast plugin to Winamp so that you can broadcast to the server. 2. Go to the Shoutcast downloads page and click on the Be a DJ link. 3. You can download Winamp from here if you need it by clicking on the icon, but otherwise you just need the broadcast plug-in. Find the section titled, Download the SHOUTcast DSP plug-in for Winamp 2.x, and click on the link. 4. As with the server, you will be prompted to choose a download location, such as your desktop. Remember where you have saved the file! 5. Once you have downloaded the file, double click the file to begin the installation. You will be prompted for the location of your existing Winamp installation - the default location is C:\Program Files\Winamp:

9 6. Choose the default installation options when prompted:

10 7. When the installation is complete you will be prompted to read the accompanying text file. It is recommended that you read this: 8. Launch Winamp. When you do so, you should find a SHOUTcast Source plug-in also loads. There are four configuration tabs. Click on the tab marked Output, and then highlight Output Now you will need to enter the server information that was gathered earlier this information is goes under the Output Configuration tab. Under Address, enter the IP address of the server that you made a note of. The default port value is 8000, so only change this if you deliberately set a different value on the server. Finally, type the password you entered in the server s configuration option. NB This will work easily when the both the server and the broadcaster PCs are on the same network. If they are not, you may need to ask your administrator for assistance:

11 10. Click on the Encoder tab. This option allows you to choose the audio quality of the stream that your listeners will here. This is very much dependent on the bandwidth available to your server and the approximate number of listeners you expect to have! We have chosen 128kbps, 44khz, stereo as our demo consists of only four users within our network a full explanation is in the help file that comes with the plug-in:

12 11. Finally, click on the Output tab again, and click on the Connect button. If the connection is successful you will notice the Status window on both the Output and Main tabs show the number of bytes that have been sent. The Main tab also shows the playback levels too high a level and the sound will become distorted. 12. Create a playlist of MP3 files in Winamp. This will send an audio stream to the server, which will then send the stream on to the listeners. Congratulations, you are broadcasting! Listener guidelines (connection information) To listen, you will need Winamp or a suitable player that will connect to an internet radio server. Download Winamp from or There are only two details required: the IP address of the server, and the port number (usually 8000). If the server is running you should be able to connect, receive a playlist if one is available, and listen to the music! This usually takes the form of x.x.x.x:00, where the x.x.x.x represents the server s IP address, and the 00 is the server s port number. For example, using :8000 would make your player connect to a server with an IP address of and a port number of 8000.