Is SHOUTcast a Unicasting system?

[ClearCaster]

I'm trying to setup a server here and the first thing I noticed is the MaxUser parameter.

Does the server send a stream to every single user? It sure seems that way.

I did see a post where the poster said SHOUSTcast is a Unicasting system. Is this true? If so, that seems very wasteful, doesn't it?

What does it take to Multicast a stream to many users? What am I missing here?

I'm not trying to setup music-on-demand. All I want is to broadcast the same stream to many users.

Realisticly, if I have a cable modem and a fast Pentium PC, how many users can I support by setting up a SHOUTcast server on my own PC?

I will appreciate any information you might have.

[Sawg]

Shoutcast is Unicast. Very few routers on the open Internet support Multicast.

- CasterClub's Bandwidth Calculator (http://www.casterclub.com/bwcal.php)
- CasterClub's Listener Calculator (http://www.casterclub.com/lscal.php)

[ClearCaster]

Thanks for your reply. I'm trying to setup a SHOUTcast server to stream a single radio station at the high quality 128k stereo bitrate.
Can this be done with a cable modem and a Pentium PC? How many users can I realistically support?

[Sawg]

Yah. Try the calculators above

[leo_c]

Have a look at this -

http://www.live.com/liveCaster/

It's a multicasting MP3 streaming gizmo.
Shame about the cost - and the effort in making it work!!

Leo