|
PlanetChristmas Radio
The PlanetChristmas radio station is down for
maintenance. Please check back later for PlanetChristmas Radio 2.0!
In the mood to hear some Christmas music anytime day or night all year
long?
PlanetChristmas radio is on the air and can be heard
anywhere in the world as long as you're on the Internet and have a
speedy connection! Pick a player below and start listening!
PlanetChristmas radio is currently: A special note: with many of the
listening links below, your operating system might pop a warning message
telling you about downloading external content. Don't panic. This is a
small file to direct your media playing program where the audio stream
is originating.
Thinking about doing your own Internet radio station? It's not
as hard as you think. Here's one of many ways:
PlanetChristmas currently uses the AutoDJ feature of SHOUTcast.
What does that mean in English? All the PC Christmas music is
uploaded to a big server in the sky where it is local to the radio
stream fed directly to your computer. AutoDJ uses rules to
determine what is played when. You'll notice a PlanetChristmas
commercial is played after every other song... that's an AutoDJ rule.
You can get very clever on have specific hours of the day for particular
types of song or just about anything you can think of. Just do an
Internet search on "Shoutcast AutoDJ" for plenty of hosts willing to
help.
PlanetChristmas has also used
OTSDJ software to be the real-time disk jockey. This program
typically routes audio through your computer sound card and out the
speakers for everyone to hear. OTSDJ
can also stream the digital audio data over the Internet to a SHOUTcast
server for rebroadcasting to anyone with a player like above. This
works fine if you have the available upstream bandwidth to constantly
stream the audio to the SHOUTcast server in the sky.
Do an
Internet search for "SHOUTcast hosts" and you'll find a very long list.
Typically the host will charge by the maximum number of audio streams
you'll need and the fidelity you desire. The higher the fidelity,
the more data must be streamed and the higher the price charged.
PlanetChristmas streams at 56Kbps which produces a very acceptable
stereo output. Pricing can range anywhere from $0.25 to $1.50 per
stream per month.
Setting up OTSDJ to stream to the SHOUTcast
provider is easy. Enter the target information and password
provided by your SHOUTcast host, set the fidelity and connect.
Your host will also provide information where listeners can find your
audio stream/radio station.
If you have a broadband connection at home, you can run your radio
station from there. Keep in mind broadband connections transfer
very fast downstream (coming to your house) but our much slower going
the other way (upstream). Your radio station will be broadcasting
constantly upstream and use some of your capacity. Typically, your
upstream bandwidth is 128Kbps TO 512Kbps. Audio streaming can be
anywhere from 24Kbps to 196Kbps. A good-enough radio stream is
48Kbps to 56Kbps. Bottom line: once you're up and
transmitting at home you'll probably notice a slight slowdown in your
normal Internet service... but it's worth it to broadcast around the
world!
Finally, don't forget about paying the artists for the
content you broadcast (ASCAP, BMI, etc.) The easiest was is use
LoudCity. They take care of
just about everything and will even host your station.
When you
get your Internet radio station working,
let us know at PlanetChristmas and we'll post a link to it for you.
| 
