Anybody can listen to the radio. Only a privileged few – medial moguls, newscasters, disc jockeys – get to broadcast. But a new Internet site is making it possible for anyone with a decent computer and an Internet connection to become a Netcaster, capable of broadcasting voice and music to a worldwide audience at a price that seems quite reasonable:
Free.
That's right, by following a few simple (OK, not exactly simple, but definitely doable) steps outlined at Live365.com you can create a full-fledged, Internet-based radio station that can be heard by as many as 100 computer users at a time. Live365.com hopes to become a primary provider of audio and video broadcasts on the Internet, an area that seems sure to grow as more and more people connect via high-speed cable modems and DSL telephone lines. The quality of such broadcasters over today's typical dial-up modems is so-so although, under ideal conditions, a 56-Kbps modem can deliver stereo sound approximating an FM radio broadcast. At cable-modem and DSL speeds, CD quality is possible.
The technology underlying the Live365.com offering is MP3, a compression scheme that shrinks audio files to less than one-tenth of their original size so they can be transmitted quickly over the Internet. Listeners must have an appropriate MP3 software player such as WinAmp or Sonique (Windows) or SoundJam MP (Macintosh) to decode the Live365.com site. To broadcast an audio signal from your computer to the Internet via Live365.com, you first must download and configure WinAmp's "Shoutcast" server software (sorry Mac users - this part is for IBM-compatibles only) and several additional programs, all available free through links on the Live365 site. If your connection to the Web is fast enough – and if you're a computer wiz – you can even bypass Live365.com altogether and produce the Netcast directly form your computer; instructions for that type of operation are provided on the Shoutcast site. The Live365.com instructions, though, are more concise and much clearer.
Many of the Netcasters on Live365.com today are pumping out streams meant for high-speed users although during the daytime, there are plenty of broadcasts for modem users, too – somewhat choppy, but audible. The Shoutcast site offers links to many ore broadcasts aimed at ordinary modems. Check it all out at:
http://www.live365.com/
http://www.shoutcast.com/
http://www.soundjam.com/
http://www.sonique.com/
One warning: Before you launch your online station, be sure to consider the legal ramifications. It's one thing to broadcast your own talk show or to feature your own compositions; it's quite another to use the copyright recordings of other artists. The Recording Industry Association of America offers guidance on licensing issues at: http://www.riaa.com/weblic/wl_faq.htm.
Courtesy of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.