[Interopcast-general][icecast-dev] MP3 support

[Arnaud Ebalard]

>http://www.spacialaudio.com/products/winamp/
>That can stream to Icecast2 in Ogg  and MP3 format
>(Actually make sure to grab the yet-to-be-released version here:
>http://www.spacialaudio.com/beta/dsp_sam_encoders.exe )
>  
>
OK, it can be a solution, but as far as i know, winamp run on windows,
so for people who use Icecast under Linux/UNIX, it is a pledge to have
to have another machine under windows only for streaming MP3 with
a winamp plugin.

>>(but MP3 was not developped to be  streamed, as you know...)
>>    
>>
>Actually it was. Thats why each frame contains all the needed information to
>decode that frame. The mp3 format simply lacks a lot of the stuff we
>currently expect from streaming audio and is pretty hard to extend without
>"hacking" the formal specs...
>  
>
I meant it didn't include all the features that are in vorbis, for example,
for metadata. In MP3 shoutcast streams, the time between metadata is
chosen at the beginning of the stream. So every icy-metadata-interval,
you must send something : if you don't want to update metadata and
save bandwith, you send a "0"...
The way Ogg works is (I find it) better : you start a new logical stream
every time you have to end metadata. Typically, every time you start a
new song ...
Another advantage is for the server : it is a pledge to insert a client in a
shoutcast MP3 stream. Because you have already sent metadata at the
beginning of the stream and you are now sending "0" every icy-metadata
interval because other clients already received the metadata. But the
new client should be sent the metadata. Because you can't wait till next
update of metadata, you have to act in a particular way for that client
and reconstruct specifically a stream for that client...

>The work you sounds very interesting though. Would love to see better
>support for MP3 in IceCast2 though...
>  
>
Thank you! I think also we can't neglect MP3 support, but the shoutcast
way used by winamp seems quite simplistic and produces an overload
(not a dramatic overload, but ...) a streaming server that Ogg encapsulated
streams don't produce.

<p>Cordially,

Arnaud Ebalard.

<p>--- >8 ----
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