Shoutcast on Android...

JAROAM · 13th July 2012, 18:07

Okay, here's the skinny. Starting a "webcast-station" using Shoutcast to beam out the goodness. Here's the rub. Our stream is great with, from what we know right now, any Windows, Blackberry, or Apple device/PC. Word. But...gots notta when it comes to Android. Android not likey Shoutcast? That's a huge number of people that may try to access our site or stream via Android. So what up wit dat?! Our player is HTML5 with Flash backup. I assume BB and iOS access the HTML5 while Android falls back to Flash? Maybe that's the problem, Flash? Arrrggghhh... Thoughts? Thanks!

JAROAM · 21st July 2012, 17:29

Straight up, Shoutcast and Android don't always get along? Bonus points, why?

JAROAM · 22nd July 2012, 16:56

If someone on an Android device hits up a streaming audio player which is HTML5/Flash fallback and whose audio is being served up via Shoutcast, which way does Android go? Does it use the HTML5 or the Flash fallback?

idobi · 22nd July 2012, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAROAM

Straight up, Shoutcast and Android don't always get along? Bonus points, why?

I suppose you want an answer more useful than Android sucks?

DrO · 23rd July 2012, 00:27

i've merged all of the essentially duplicate questions into the same thread just so all of the similar questions are in one place.

as the questions don't reference the format of the stream (as that has a big effect on playback support), there is not going to be a fully definitive answer and with Android fragmentation and a complete inconsistency between all of the mobile platforms which keeps shifting, i don't want to go truly specific on my answer anyway.

in general getting anything streaming audio to work on Android is a pain due to the complete spread of audio codec support over the different Android devices - like there are loads which will do MP3 but will not do AAC+ or can be made to AAC+ but requires doing it all as software decoding instead of using hardware decoders.

clearly people have worked around those issues as there are Android apps which can playback SHOUTcast streams (like the Winamp for Android app) but as said above, it generally requires more coding to be able to cope with all types or you just limit to MP3 and then that should generally be able to work without issue (subject to app and device incompatibilities).

but overall, this is not down to SHOUTcast and is just the effect of how Android as an ecosystem is best deemed as a mess with what is / isn't provided or available.

-daz

13th July 2012, 18:07	#1
JAROAM Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 12	Compatability? Okay, here's the skinny. Starting a "webcast-station" using Shoutcast to beam out the goodness. Here's the rub. Our stream is great with, from what we know right now, any Windows, Blackberry, or Apple device/PC. Word. But...gots notta when it comes to Android. Android not likey Shoutcast? That's a huge number of people that may try to access our site or stream via Android. So what up wit dat?! Our player is HTML5 with Flash backup. I assume BB and iOS access the HTML5 while Android falls back to Flash? Maybe that's the problem, Flash? Arrrggghhh... Thoughts? Thanks!

21st July 2012, 17:29	#2
JAROAM Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 12	Shoutcast on Android... Straight up, Shoutcast and Android don't always get along? Bonus points, why?

22nd July 2012, 16:56	#3
JAROAM Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 12	Which route to take? If someone on an Android device hits up a streaming audio player which is HTML5/Flash fallback and whose audio is being served up via Shoutcast, which way does Android go? Does it use the HTML5 or the Flash fallback?

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23rd July 2012, 00:27	#5
DrO Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 27,873	i've merged all of the essentially duplicate questions into the same thread just so all of the similar questions are in one place. as the questions don't reference the format of the stream (as that has a big effect on playback support), there is not going to be a fully definitive answer and with Android fragmentation and a complete inconsistency between all of the mobile platforms which keeps shifting, i don't want to go truly specific on my answer anyway. in general getting anything streaming audio to work on Android is a pain due to the complete spread of audio codec support over the different Android devices - like there are loads which will do MP3 but will not do AAC+ or can be made to AAC+ but requires doing it all as software decoding instead of using hardware decoders. clearly people have worked around those issues as there are Android apps which can playback SHOUTcast streams (like the Winamp for Android app) but as said above, it generally requires more coding to be able to cope with all types or you just limit to MP3 and then that should generally be able to work without issue (subject to app and device incompatibilities). but overall, this is not down to SHOUTcast and is just the effect of how Android as an ecosystem is best deemed as a mess with what is / isn't provided or available. -daz