Ok So I finally got the sound card to work for me and have started a rather scrambled up playlist which has no real direction to it other than just testing the streaming capabilities of the Icecast2 server and mp3 payer, in this case VLC player.
I chose VLC just to test the streaming server, later I will work on installing Zararadio and Windows media player, hopefully.
Could i get members to try to tune into the stream? You can find it on http://thefreeproject.no-ip.org:8000 or just leave off the :8000 of that url and click on the button that is labled Radio and it will take you to the Icecast2 page, find the m3u link on the top right of the page. That should open your favorite player.
Let me know how it works for you.
Thanks
Barry of the World Service of Blue Bucket Radio
First Look
Good Morning Barry, Kentucky, and World.
I have been checking out some of your Icecast setup…. I used the “Radio” button to see the Icecast Server Page.
I pasted the full addrress including the port # (8000) into VLC, but all it would do is stutter. I think Icecast requires an added extension after the port, like “.mp3” or other brief tag.
I avoided clicking on the full stream address directly because of the risk of overriding my own streaming system which is a chain including Zara and Winamp. Some stream choices literally remove and replace the Winamp Playlist with a new playlist and my stream gets killed, so I need to be careful.
If your stream tests are still in effect when I stop broadcasting later in the day I will give it full attention.
Excellent work there in Kentucky.
Spiff-y AAC+
Hi Carl,
Yeah let’s not kill the KDX Stream until your broadcast day is completed lol
Clicking the link in my first post just takes you to the Icecast2 server page, up in the right hand corner is two image links, one says M3U the other XSPF.
Using the M3U file usually opens just fine in most players, the stream is in AAC+ at 48 kbps to save some bandwidth but it still manages to sound pretty good.
Thanks
All working well there Barry.
All working well there Barry.
Good to hear the well known Carl Blare on the radio there, you must be making some good money to have him at your station. :), I hear he drinks a lot of coffee.
My Offer To Carl
Johny C.
I offered to pay Carl in Vodka but he wanted wine, about the only wine i can offer is the whine from my youngest kids.
When i offered that he left the studio, i can’t imagine why. lol
Thanks for the report , now where’s that bottle?
Barry of Blue Bucket Radio
Fussing Over Drinks
Coffee? Why yeas, please, thank you very much.
Vodka? Well, I think Vodka tastes so terrible that you’ve got to drink Vodka to forget how bad it tastes.
Whine? Yes I did rush away because the whine of children is a private family conversation and I was being polite.
Stream testing? Coming up about 7 PM CDT when I’ll close KDX for routine maintenance and check on Blue Bucket Radio.
Uncertain Test Results
Barry, the first thing I tried (7 PM CDT) was clicking directly on the link address shown in your first post above…
I was taken directly to your Icecast Server Page, where I clcked on the M3U Player choice.
This opened my VLC Web Plugin (within Firefox) but there was no indication that anything was playing.
However, my NetStat Window which shows network activity showed that something was downloading, even though neither of my sound cards was outputting any sound.
Sound card # 1 outputs at 89.9 MHz & Sound card #2 outputs on 89.5 MHz. Both were silent.
I noticed in the Icecast window your Mountpoint is shown as “/live”, so I added this extension to the address and opened in the VLC Program which began counting off what normally would be a streamed signal, but there was no audio.
Maybe you are streaming with no audio?
MORE TEST RESULTS
I connected again using the address given above… noted that 0 listeners were connected. So I selected M3U Player and the Icecast Server showed one listener connected, which I assume is me.
I turned the volume control wide open and hear voices way in the noise… sure sounds like Bob Felmly talking to somebody!
I think maybe the stream is working correctly except you may not be feeding the audio to the right place.
Low Volume
Ok so i guess while i was moving somethings around i may have accidently turned the volume down at some point this evening.
It should be good now. Thanks
Listening Now!
Your stream is arriving here very clearly… Barry is talking to Stephanie and a little voice has a few things to add. The subject is “How the world’s trouble makers should re-arrange their business so that everything gets better….” darn, I did a bad job describing it… but Barry has some ideas how things could be improved off in the trouble spots and I think we should try his ideas.
Is this a live show? It sounds very live.
The tiny voice wants a toy car for her birthday so she can drive to a pet shop. Now they’re talking cake.
Part 15 cakes a very small.
Horrible News
Barry just said he had to return to Windows following an otherwise triumphant excusion into Linux, all because his automation software need Windows.
The microphone quality coming over the stream is comparable to very well engineered FM quality… I note that it’s set for 48 kbps AAC.
Old Show
The Little Things Radio Show from November 16 2015
Software Updates
Software Updates are important, but if you are like me you probably hold your breath, cross your fingers, throw salt over your shoulder and recite an ancient galeic prayer hoping your computer starts back up and all is well.
Today is one of those days, softare updates on Linux aren’t as stressful as they are with Windows systems but, yeah but, they still carry a slight risk of not working. Thankfully though, today is not one of those dark days where updates slaughter your hard drive, time to bring the servers back online.
Note on our stream: I chose 48 kbps AAC because it doesn’t affect the sound quality and most mobile devices can connect to the stream much easier than straight up mp3 streams.
I could go lower in bit rate but i don’t want to risk losing the frequency response at lower bit rates.
Barry of Blue Bucket Radio
Necessary Evil
With so many failed attempts to get Zararadio to work under Wine/Ubuntu, i installed Virtual Box and installing Windows XP.
I’ll explain more later.
IMAGE LINK