SHOUTcast vs. Icecast
 

Hey Everyone,

SHOUTcast has been good to me, but because of web-devel needs, I am considering moving my streams to Icecast, and I wanted to get your ideas on it:

What are Icecast's strengths? weaknesses?
What does SHOUTcast do better?
What does Icecast do better?
Which is better supported? Which has a bigger community?

What would be the drawbacks to moving to Icecast?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks so much,
rg.

First one I could throw into this would be that Icecast is still being developed whereas from what I have been told Shoutcast's development is either stalled or dead.

Although since Icecast is open source there is a community out there but it's not connected through it's website like Shoutcast is.

A drawback to Icecast would likely be there just aren't anywhere near as many listeners to their directory nor stations - at current there are less than 700 in their directory.

To me Icecast is just an alternative and another directory to be listed in (I am) but Shoutcast and WMA are dominant for my listeners at the time.

If you want to move to anything head for AAC+. I've been messing with it for some time but just recently implemented it (had to wait for Shoutcast directory support). The audio is amazing at 24k and higher bitrates only improve upon it (see link below..you'll see what I mean). Shoutcast and Icecast both support it as well as Winamp, Real (with registration) and I'm sure more to follow).

The main reason for the move to Icecast would be to constuct a universal ("moron proof" as someone put it earlier) Flash player for the stream (SHOUTcast/Flash/IE seem to be near impossible to implement).

* Any idea if AAC+ works with Flash and all browsers?
* What is needed to broadcast AAC+ (ie, what takes the place of the SHOUTcast DSP and DNAS)?
* Does (or when will) SAM support AAC+? (or does Orban have something better themselves?)
* Any idea how AAC+ streaming will affect iTunes listing?

Can you direct me to somewhere to read more about AAC+ (suggestions more specific than just "check out orban.com" would be greatly appreciated)?

To All: Also, please continue your comments on Icecast as well.

Thank you much,
rg.

could always try out ultravox. anyone up and running that yet?

well if you could point us in the direction of a download, i'm sure we would try it ? I was under the impression it wasnt released into the wild ?

BW

I think Ultravox is not a software server such as shoutcast, it is 'firmware' which is installed on hardware devices.

Don't think its public either :(

I for one really like what the icecast community stands for, but I think it may be a while before they can stand up to other media servers, the platform is definately a good start but they ommitted many other features that I think would make a server more beneficial, such as udp support for stats. I am currently working on a simple protocal for this but it could be a while before you see new directory structures based off it and other stand alone clients as well as hardware device support for it.

Jay, does Steamcast work with Flash and IE?

Thanks,
rg.

I plan on adding a mechnism to steamcast to allow clients who puke on ICY responses a way in. For now steamcast uses the codec to determine the correct response.

well, i wasnt sure if it was public when i posted what i did earlier, so i didnt pass out the url (well, i did, but then removed it straight away).

Anyway, its out there now, so check out http://ultravox.aol.com/

well that got my attention ... cheers :D

BW

ps. the source code compiles lovely tooo ... cor ... its gonna be a long night ....

i have it working ... which was a challenge ... and to get winamp to play it was an even bigger challenge .... and it seems to work quite well ;) ( duh! )

now all i have to figure out ... how to use all the rest of the functionality ...

i'll be moving my stuff to it ... ASAP :D

BW

bored_womble: What exactly are you doing? What are the advantages?

Thanks,
rg.

well according to the release notes it is 3 versions above Shoutcast (at least), so has loads more features ... but for the general Shoutcaster wont make tooo much difference, ...

BW

it acts as the DNAS?

rg.

yep, effectively .. an extract from the docs

Protocol Development
• Shoutcast: Justin Frankel & Tom Pepper
• Ultravox1: Tom Pepper, Stephen Loomis, David Biderman
• Ultravox2: Stephen Loomis & David Biderman, Tom Pepper, Lance Richardson
• Ultravox3: David Pare, Art Howarth, Stephen Loomis

BW