Help....dying to have my own radio...

Is there anyone on here that knows a lot about this, who won't mind answering a lot of my questions? (the biggest one is how do I find free hosting?) I'm even willing to pay $L...Or at least point me in the right direction...there are so many manuals on Shoutcast, but it confuses me. My goal is not to be a Secondlife DJ or anything like that, just to have my own stream. Thank you!!

Streaming audio is not a difficult process, but it does have some requirements.

First of all, you need to run or have access to a good server. The number of listeners will be relative to the bandwidth needed. The average cable or dsl connection will only support a handful of listeners, so if you want to run a decent program with good quality to several listeners, you will probably need to buy some space.

Once you have a server, the rest is quite simple. You need WinAmp and the necessary output plugin, which is available at www.winamp.com at no cost. You should probably get a decent microphone and use a compressor to avoid sounding like you are broadcasting from an oil barrel.

I hope this is helpful.

Thanks...I understand everything...but...how necessary is it to use a mike as well?

Also...how do I find out what my bandwidth is?

A mike is only necessary if you wish to speak.

As far as bandwidth goes, most domestic high speed connections are between 128 and 512K.

Radio quality audio is 96/22, CD audio is 128/44 (like most mp3s). So, even if you have a good connection, it's unlikely you will be able to support more then 4 or 5 users. You can downgrade quality as user numbers increase, but the sound starts to wash out rapidly below 96k.

Most decent streaming audio servers have gigs and gigs of bandwidth......and that's not cheap.


It really depends on your needs and financial output. To give it some perspective, I work in a small market radio station, yet cannot find enough viability to support streaming audio.

Also, bear in mind that most cable service contracts do NOT allow you to run a server over your connection.