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 www.shoutcast.com. 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.
This should be done from the machine that will become the server:
1. Click on the downloads page: (http://www.shoutcast.com/download/) 2. Click on the “Be a Server” link:
(http://www.shoutcast.com/download/serve.phtml) 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 (http://www.shoutcast.com/download/files.phtml)
6. The version for PC is at the top of the page and is called the SHOUTcast WIN32 Console/GUI server v.1.9.2 (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-1-9-2-windows.exe’
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:
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).
Then type ‘ipconfig’ at the prompt. This will return an IP address which will appear as x.x.x.x eg 127.0.0.1 - 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 www.winamp.com or you can get it from the download section on Shoutcast (http://www.shoutcast.com/download/). 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!
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 1’.
9. Now you will need to enter the server information that was gathered earlier – this information is goes under the ‘Output Configuration’ tab. Under
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 www.winamp.com or
www.shoutcast.com/download.
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
