Realy confusing overall

[Donald]

There are three or four audio streaming programs out there.
I have installed and tested them all. Each one seems to
have problems with one thing or another. If using live365
you are covered with the liabilities, but end up with a ton
of advertisements when your clients are logged on to you
station. The new winamp/shoutcast has great sound but lacks
stability. Destiny has great sound, easy setup, but will
only support its own client browser.
So I have decided to stick with winamp/shoutcast and work
out some of the problems I have found with it.
First problem.

No liabilities support that I can find.

Questions concerning the creation of the MP3 files
Do the files need to be created at the same bit rate
as your transmission speed.

My server is a dual 500 mhz system, running on one
fixed IP address, my web page is on another system
with a different IP address not on the same Lan.
If I create a play list from winamp, and then I create
a link on my web page, where should the play list
reside, on the first computer or on the computer
with the web pages.
--------------------------------------
Also winamp is not creating the play list the same for
each song in the directory, see example below.

NORMAL LIST

File2=David Arkenstone - Prelude- Tallis the Messenger.mp3
Title2=David Arkenstone - Prelude- Tallis the Messenger
Length2=377

THE LAST FEW ENTRIES ARE LIKE THIS

File6=John Huling - Natural Bridges.mp3
File7=Mickey Hart - Bones.mp3
------------------------------------------------

I could really use some one's experience with this
I know that most have had the same trial and error's
that I am facing, but I need some help, Please, Thanks.

[raingod42]

ok, first thing, no you don't have to rip them at the same bitrate as your broudcasting.

if you want to link to files on another machine you have to specify the IP, the port and the song name - with the .pls at the end - and shoutcast is supposed to create a .pls automaticlly (never tried this - but this is what all the docs say), so your link should be something like this:
a href="123.123.123.123:800/song_name_here.pls". in fact, don't create the .pls file - let shoutcast do it for you. sounds weird but it should work. make sure you have no spaces in there - or put the spaces in the link (space = %20, so "music file name.mp3" would be "music%20file%20name.mp3")

not sure i understand your last problem - but hopefully what i stated on the top will solve that one too.
remember, linking to a file will only work if you have content on demand turned on, and will only play the file your linking to. also, NO subdirs are supported (nullsoft, when can you take of this bug?). they say it's becuase user security...

good luck!