So, streaming audio… to more than a few people… I managed to put together something that has been pretty much rock solid for over a year using nothing but what we had laying around. SUCCESS!
Encoder Setup
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&displaylang=en
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series SDK
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=000a16f5-d62b-4303-bb22-f0c0861be25b&displaylang=en
SRVSTART (Runs a command as a service)
http://www.nick.rozanski.org.uk/software#srvstart
A very old version of Centurion Guard (http://www.centuriontech.com/)
Windows XP Pro
To make things simpler, I moved wmcmd.vbs from the default installation location (C:WMSDKWMEncSDK9samplesvbwmcmdWmcmd.vbs) to something easier to remember (C:wmeWmcmd.vbs)
Hint: This is what I used for my srvstart.ini
[encode]
startup=C:WINDOWSsystem32cscript.exe "C:wmewmcmd.vbs" -adevice 1 -broadcast 8080 -silent -profile a32 -duration 604800 -title "Radio Station Name"
auto_restart=y
restart_interval=2
I set the audio levels of the integrated audio and danced a jig because the audio device started before logon, so running as a service is great success!
Then I set the hostname to something descriptive and locked the computer with the Centurion Guard.
Server Setup
We already had a Windows Media Services server running, so this isn’t too incredibly difficult… I just added a mountpoint for the streaming audio, set the source as http://hostname:8080, set limits (we currently allow 7mbit/s which is around 210 listeners with some overhead spared for fast start)
Windows Media Services Ports (If it isn’t already configured, allow these through your firewall)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/serve/firewall.aspx#Unicast
Display / Presentation
There are many options for publishing… We decided it would best to embed it within a webpage for displaying promotional materials
Embed code for WMA that seems to work on all platforms (assuming codecs are available)
mms://external-hostname.tld/mountpoint
Another option that works really well is to just host an ASX file on your webserver. (ASX files are nothing but playlist files that point to the media)
<asx version="3.0">
<entry>
<title>Radio Station Name</title>
<ref href="mms://external-hostname.tld/mountpoint" />
<copyright>©20-whatever Radio Station Name</copyright>
</entry>
</asx>
