On Aug 31, 2005, at 4:19 PM, Michael Smith wrote:> > Our primary aim is to have excellent support for free formats > (primarily, this means the xiph codecs - we'd be happy to help out > with any other freely usable formats, though). As a concession to > existing icecast users, we have basic mp3 support (basically we just > pass it through untouched), and this mechanism works for some other > codecs as well. However, we will not add explicit support for any > other formats, nor will we support usage of icecast with other formats > (i.e. if it breaks, you're entirely on your own). I don't know if WMA9 > requires explicit support or not. > > Mike >Frankly, the only reason that I'm even considering relaying WMA9 is because a large number of listeners to the streams may not be all that technically savvy and WMP comes with XP - I'd like to prevent having to ask the users to download another player if preferable. I don't have very much experience with WMP 9 or WMP 10 etc. Forgive me if this is a silly question, but can they stream from mp3 audio streams? If so then I wouldn't have to worry about steaming WMA format at all. -- Michael Hale <smiley@gift-culture.org> gift culture: http://www.gift-culture.org initstring: http://www.initstring.org artificial music machine: http://www.artificialmusicmachine.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/icecast/attachments/20050831/93f37b29/attachment.html
At 08:36 PM 8/31/2005, you wrote:>Frankly, the only reason that I'm even considering relaying WMA9 is >because a large number of listeners to the streams may not be all that >technically savvy and WMP comes with XP - I'd like to prevent having to >ask the users to download another player if preferable. I don't have very >much experience with WMP 9 or WMP 10 etc. Forgive me if this is a silly >question, but can they stream from mp3 audio streams? If so then I >wouldn't have to worry about steaming WMA format at all.This argument comes up very frequently and we do understand it, however it is also quite viral and in the long run causes inferior and restrictive technology to flourish. The Xiph organization was created specifically to address the issue of free (as in patent) media and the distribution of such media (that's where icecast comes in). I hear a lot of statements (I really do) such as "most people are stupid and won't bother to install a new player or even a new codec" but very little empirical data to back that up. That being said, I encourage you to break free from the "I gotta provide to the least common denominator" mentality. Besides, none of us really want to have to run WMP to have to listen to internet-based streams. :) oddsock
> Mike > > Frankly, the only reason that I'm even considering relaying WMA9 is because > a large number of listeners to the streams may not be all that technically > savvy and WMP comes with XP - I'd like to prevent having to ask the users to > download another player if preferable. I don't have very much experience > with WMP 9 or WMP 10 etc. Forgive me if this is a silly question, but can > they stream from mp3 audio streams? If so then I wouldn't have to worry > about steaming WMA format at all.I'd be somewhat surprised if WMP couldn't stream mp3, but I don't have any windows systems to test on. You should really provide a higher-quality, free alternative, as well - ogg vorbis. Note that WMP can happily play vorbis streams as well if you install the directshow filters (www.illiminable.com/ogg/) Mike
WMP will play a normal icecast mp3 feed. Thats one of the reasons I use MP3 because everything will play it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Smith" <msmith@xiph.org> To: "Michael Hale" <giftculture@gmail.com> Cc: <icecast@xiph.org> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 5:03 AM Subject: Re: [Icecast] a few more questions...> Mike > > Frankly, the only reason that I'm even considering relaying WMA9 is > because > a large number of listeners to the streams may not be all that technically > savvy and WMP comes with XP - I'd like to prevent having to ask the users > to > download another player if preferable. I don't have very much experience > with WMP 9 or WMP 10 etc. Forgive me if this is a silly question, but can > they stream from mp3 audio streams? If so then I wouldn't have to worry > about steaming WMA format at all.I'd be somewhat surprised if WMP couldn't stream mp3, but I don't have any windows systems to test on. You should really provide a higher-quality, free alternative, as well - ogg vorbis. Note that WMP can happily play vorbis streams as well if you install the directshow filters (www.illiminable.com/ogg/) Mike _______________________________________________ Icecast mailing list Icecast@xiph.org http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/icecast