Anyone who’s read this site for any amount of time should know that I’m a huge fan of music, namely electronica.  I literally listen to music all day, every day.  So something I’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks is getting a streaming music server up and running so that you, the loyal JaysonKnight.com readers can tune in and listen to whatever I’m listening to in real time.  Why would I waste donate valuable bandwidth on my already taxed out connection?  Simple…I love music.  I like to share.  Ok…group hug :-).

There has to be a smidge of selfishness involved right?  Well yeah…there is.  Within the next couple of months I plan on getting some work done on music of my own (a lifelong dream, but instead of choosing to starve to death as a musician, I chose computers).  So that means eventually I’ll be able to stream my own stuff and get discovered one day.  The internet is a beautiful place.

So where’s the bloody URL to drop in and have a listen? 

http://jaysonknight.com:8000/listen.pls

For now I will announce streams a couple days in advance with a date and time, but (hopefully) sooner than later I will get around to building a control for my site that displays what I’m currently listening to, along with a link to drop in and have a listen.  I will be limiting it to 10 concurrent connections during the beta stages.  As of now it is up and running though…have a click at it!  I plan on building a new stream-centric site (based on CS of course) at some point where everything will be automatically logged yada yada yada (TBD), but for now just leave feedback on this site.

Now for the boring technical details.

• I am using ShoutCast plus WinAmp to broadcast the stream.
• I am currently broadcasting in AAC+ format at 24kbs (which should sound the same as a 192kbs MP3 file).  This is subject to change…but so far I am very impressed with AAC+ quality.
• My upstream is only 320kbs, hence why it’s throttled at 10 connections (poo poo on roadrunner…they give me 5mbs down and really skimp on the up).  I’m thinking about getting a dedicated DSL line for the media server at some point, but we’ll see.
• As it’s an AAC+ stream, you’ll have to download a codec if you’re a WMP user…take your pick, there are plenty out there.  Most other media players support AAC+ (iTunes, WinAmp, etc).

Enjoy!

Sidenote:  Doing a quick scan on my machine yielded 6100 mp3’s @40.6 gigs.  Bring it on RIAA!

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