INTERNET RADIO - a bit of shameless self-promotion

Check out my Internet radio station! KCB-SF direct streaming links http://s8.voscast.com:9660 -or- http://74.50.122.103:9660 I torify the stream using xmms on my desktop computer. For smartphones, I recommend VLC (which also works well over Tor). I also want to create an onion link, if possible, because, you know, some people might not want the Man scrutinizing what music has got them so totally hypnotized. (I am also looking for users' testimonies about what media players work best on Windoze and the Rotten Apple, since my listeners are mostly not Linux geeks.) My evil twin, Dr Mojo Contendo, is the DJ, station manager, technical expert, janitor, and so on. Please give it a try, if you are so inclined. Our playlist is VERY BIG, and extremely diverse. If you don't like what you hear, keep checking back, as we play *almost* any kind of music imaginable. I have at last got it to the point where I have uploaded enough music to the server to make the music varied enough to sustain attention, and my audience is slowly growing. We are still running on AutoDJ, which is described as "imperfect"; though I believe that is far too generous a term for how it sort of half-works. I hope to start live streaming from my own playlists within the next few weeks; but I need some help. ********** Well, so, actually, it's not quite just self-promotion; I'm also looking for some help and suggestions. This is not really specific to TDE; however, I am interested in using Trinity software if available. Since it probably is too far off-topic for this list, I will be glad if anybody wants to email me privately, or if they can recommend resources that are better than what I have. I've been studying all these online manuals about live streaming Internet radio, but as it turns out, there are a gazillion different ways to do it, and they seem to contradict one another at times. Having read pretty much all the guides & how2s that are out there, my problem, if anything, is that I am overwhelmed with too much information. So, 3 steps, from what I can tell: 1. I *want* is to use ezstream from command-line to do my live streaming, because then I can just point it to a playlist. Then I only have to edit my playlist, rather than physically copying or moving files. 2. For live broadcast (which is probably down the road even farther), I was intending to use darkice or darksnow. 3. For the server itself, I already have icecast. We have already taken the trouble to license the music for playing on the radio; so I only really need help with the technical stuff. Getting them to work together is a bit confusing. Also, I am worried about streaming at too high a bit rate and incurring charges. They seem to imply that files must be converted beforehand to the right bit rate; but I never would convert files to 64 kbps for myself! I only deal in lossless quality for myself and my own music on my own system. But this is how it works, so I have to deal with it. If I stream at a higher bit rate, ezstream can convert to the proper bit rate, but it stresses out the CPU (or so I read); the way to do it, they say, is to convert them first. Also, I would like to play an ogg stream, not mp3, but we need to get a different server first. Right now we are using Voscast; which I hate for more reasons than even all the time in the world will permit me to describe. Let's just say, it does everything that I don't want; and the only thing that it can do is sometimes to play the music that I specify. In fact, it plays only about 5% (just guessing) of all the music I've uploaded; and some artists get played over much, considering I've only uploaded 15 songs from that album; whereas I uploaded whole catalogues of music by some jazz and soul artists, and they haven't played ever, not even once. I believe that maybe Voscast filters uploads (maybe due to all this new stuff that's going on, with trying to stop piracy, etc.?); but there is no rhyme or reason, if that's the case. They filter some things but not others, and it makes no sense, and I can find no common denominator; except, maybe, the artists or record companies want to push some material, and the other stuff gets rejected because it doesn't sell. Anyway, it's very annoying; I waste endless hours uploading music that doesn't get played, and I have no idea why, or if it's filtered or rejected or suppressed or whatever. If anybody knows of a better service for streaming music, that would also be a great help; at present, cost is a factor, and until we get more listeners to justify spending more money, we seem to be stuck with Voscast. At present, it costs about $17 a month for 64 kbps, which is the lowest quality stream that plays in stereo. I would like to bump it up at least to 128 kbps, maybe even 192 or more, as I see other streams out there now that are much higher quality. But all in good time; that will cost a lot more. (I say "we" because I have a business partner, who handles the ugly stuff like paying bills and talking to the Suits; whereas I, the celebrity DJ, just manage the music and only ever talk to other musicians.) Thanks for any help or suggestions. Bill