Creating an Internet Radio Station Using Shoutcast
                               By:NeonSavior

	


	
So you want to make an internet Radio station but can't decipher the Long Broadcasting
Documents. or shoutcast instructions?. Then heres your chance. this guide will show you
how to create a Shoutcast Radio station, without the hassle of actually knowing what your
doing.

1.Installation of needed components.

Ok this is the Easy part ok. all you need to do right now is download Both the 
SHOUTCAST Plug in for windows and the SHOUTCAST DNAS SERVER*. which both can be downloaded
from www.shoutcast.com 

On the site it tells you that plug in only works for winamp 2.x but this is not really
the case because i've found out that it works great for 5.0 as well. I'm sure this
will be corrected on the site at some point. so download the plug-in and once you have it 
downloaded install it like any other piece of software. Now keep in mind that it wont 
appear in your program files because its not a regular program and has been installed in 
you winamp directory. 

If you have successfully downloaded and installed the plug-in, If you have found a server
on the net on which to host your music. cool then skip this part. but otherwise you must
Download and install the SHOUTCAST DNAS server to run on your own computer., this will turn
your machine into a server and then broadcasts your station\s to shoutcast central.
Just install this program to your computer. this will show up in your programs directory.
If you have followed the instructions so far its time to move on to part two.

2.Configuring the Plug in.

Now that you have installed all the components you must now set up the plug-in to 
Send info to your server. The first step is to Turn on your Shoutcast server., it will
display a bunch of information that is really of no use to you yet so disregard it.
Now that the server is on you must start winamp.(hopefully you have version 5.)
In the winamp menu Choose preferences and Under the plug-ins menu Choose preferences.,
now in the preferences window choose Dsp  there will be a plug-in titled Shoutcast Source 
and the version number. Choose this.

Now a window will pop-up Called shoutcast source and will have several tab menus. were going
left to right now so the first window is the main window which is nothing but a list of 
locations your output is going., and under that will be two decibel meters
none will be active unless your playing a song.

Second window will be called "output" this is the most important window. This controls 
how your station will broadcast. Be sure that unless you have a server on the web that none
of these settings get changed. the address is for the address of the server you'll be using
so if your using your computer as a server don't change it from: localhost the port is whatever
Port your server is configured for, and unless you changed in the CONFIG of your server the 
port will be: 8000, the Password doesn't need to be changed unless you changed it in the config
of your server. but incase you changed it anyway the original Password is: Changeme , For the encoder
if its not already chosen choose encoder 1. Now that that is taken Care of Choose the button 
labeled yellow pages and Fill out the information as you choose.

Now the next menu is "encoder" for encoder 1 choose Mp3 and then under that choose at the Bandwith you
wish to broadcast at.(for information about users and bandwith you should check the read me)
after that the last menu is "input" and all you need to do for the time is choose winamp if it not already 
Chosen. thats it and we're ready to broadcast.

3.Broadcasting.

Now that everything is installed and configured all we need do Now is enjoy the 
Fun of internet radio. To start broadCasting right away you need to have your server and winamp
Running at the same time. Go into the YellowPages and fill out all the info you want people to 
see when they see your station and once your done with that Just start playing a song and Click 
Connect in the Shoutcast box. thats it your in buissness once you see the connection box begin 
to send bytes of info that means that its working.

Now your Server will go nuts and display a bunch of Information Ranging everything from your connection Speed 
and all of your yellow pages information and If your Successfull it will say something like 
"Yp.shoutcast.com has added me.". after that it will just display information about your listeners and 
status on shoutcast. thats it nothing to worry about.

4.Troubleshooting.

"my server gives me an error like: Isp cache\firewall\internet..."- This 
Means that you have something between your computer and the digital world 
that is blocking your server from getting out. so you must configure your 
fire wall to let it out.(im sorry i cant help you with the other possiblitys, just try changing your 
settings.)

"im not getting any listeners."-the Server Displays listeners as an ip address and some connection
information and nothing more. perhaps you missed that or maybe your playing rap?

"My computer is too slow when i use the server!"-Get more ram. or lower your max listeners in the Config 
on the server. because each listener takes up a certain amount of ram, and bandwith.


5.Advanced.

Broadcasting Live voice: Change your input from winamp to soundcard. thats it and then just
find a progam that records voice but be warned that this will also let the listners hear 
all of your system sounds and this can be very annoying.

Playing a Cd.: You can Broadcast the contents of a cd by changing your input to souncard and playing the cd normaly.

Automation: You can automate the station by simply making a play list and then playng it 
normaly. Even though your not at the controls it will still Work.