I like to use my days off to work on projects that I just don't have time to get to otherwise. This morning I set up an audio server for the TWiT Live show that's compatible with the iPhone and other portable devices. This is something many of you have been asking for, even Dane! It's up now if you'd like to give it a try.
This URL will work in iTunes, WinAmp, and other Shoutcast/Icecast compatible players.
I've been listening on the iPhone using
NullRiver's $5.99
Tuner Internet Radio (which is quite good for other streams, too, by the way).
According to Randal Schwartz, the free
FStream works, too, but I haven't been able to figure it out myself. (UPDATE: I was adding .m3u to the URL - that confused Fstream, just use http://twit.am/listen.)
The stream works great, even on 3G while driving around. I'm sending a 64kbps stream, so it might not work as well on Edge (UPDATE: worked fine as a drove around Petaluma even with Edge!). I'd love to get some listening reports.
For folks who want the technical details, I've set up a dedicated server at Softlayer with a gigabit connection and icecast2. 4TB a month will cost me about $400. That's enough for 4000 listeners at 64kbps 24x7. If we need more I'll get more.
Listeners will connect to this server, but the content will be sent to the server from our studios using a
Barix Instreamer hardware encoder. The encoder takes the output of my mixer, turns it into MP3 audio, then uses the T1 to send it to the server.
This should be a pretty reliable setup. I'll send live audio when we're on the air, and TWiT podcasts when we're not. We're in beta right now - at least until the Barix arrives and the twit.am URL propogates, but I would like your feedback, pro and con.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 9:57PM 