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Rent a streaming server

If you have your own streaming server you can skip this step. Normally it’s not very expensive to rent a server for streaming in to Second Life streaming, just make sure it can host the number of listeners you expect to have. Normally you should count about 60-100 listeners per SIM you will be streaming on.

Mouse Mouse have good streaming servers with very affordable payment options for Second Life streamers. The needs in Second Life differs from webradiostations wich often stream around the clock. Why pay for 24 hours every day when you probably only use a couple of them?
http://www.mouse-mouse.co.uk/

Set up your computer for streaming

These instruction are for a computer running Windows OS. If you have a Mac you can find instructions on the ShoutCast homepage (see 2.)

1. First you need to download the music program Winamp. This is the program that will help you stream sound from your computer to the internet. (Download the full free version)
   http://www.winamp.com/player/free.php
2. Now you need to download and install a plugin called ShoutCast Broadcasting tools for Winamp wich will enable the streaming feature in Winamp.
   http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml
3. Run Winamp and go to Preferences and then Plugins
4. Select DSP/Effect and then Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP.
5. A new window will pop-up called SHOUTcast Source.This is where the streaming server connection is setup and where you control the
   broadcast. (Note: You can click “Close” on the winamp Preferences window and the SHOUTcast Source window will stay open.)
6. Click the Output tab. You will need to type in the Address, Port,
   and Password to the streaming server you want to send from.
7. Click the Encoder tab. Select MP3 Encoder and 64kbps 22.050kHz stereo. The stream often handles up to 128kbps stereo, but for all SecondLifers to get a good listen, 64 is recommended. If you think that all your listeners have a highspeed connection you can experiment with a higher setting. If people complain the sound is choppy you can lower it again.
8. If you are planning on using a microphone, there’s just one more thing to set up. Click on the Input tab. Change your Input Device to Soundcard Input and Input Settings to 22050Hz, Stereo. The rest can pretty much be left alone, but you can play with them later. This sets you up so that whatever your computer plays through its soundcard (including your turntables) will be broadcast to your guests. Whenever you want to use your microphone, click the Push to Talk button on this tab.
9. Now, edit the land music URL. (Explained in the next topic)
10. When you are ready to begin broadcasting, you open Winamp, Load in your music The Shoutcast Source box will pop up that you did the setup stuff in. You simply click connect on the Input tab and you are up and running.

Setting up your land to stream

1. Open up your About Land by clicking on the land name on the top of your screen.
2. Click the Media Tab.
3. Change the music url to
   http://thestreamserver.com:portnumber (the actual url and port you get from your stream service provider) This step requires that you have the appropriate rights to change it. If you don’t have that you should ask the land owner.
4. Start streaming.

Other programs

How you set up other programs then Winamp with ShoutCast is not covered here but once you are familiar with what settings you need to change you should be able to figure out how to do it. More detailed instructions can be found on their respective homepages.

Simplecast

Another good streaming program is Simplecast wich streams all the sound from your computer. The free version works for an hour, then you need to restart the stream.
http://www.spacialaudio.com/products/simplecast/

Sam Broadcaster

For the more advanced DJs Sam Broadcaster offers a full list of features you might want. It’s not cheap but you can try it for free for a couple of weeks.
http://www.spacialaudio.com/products/sambroadcaster/

Traktor 3

If you want even more advanced features Traktor 3 is the way to go. This program demands that your server can handle IceCast instead of ShoutCast. (or that you stream to another computer with simplecast wich then streams to the shoutcast server)
http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=traktor3_us

Tags: broadcast, icecast, nullsoft, Second Life, shoutcast, SIM, simplecast, SL, stream, traktor 3, winamp

Filed under: Second Life