The goal of this "How to" document is that anynewbie reading it can be up and streaming radio in less
than 30 minutes. It may help to print out this document and checkmark when you have accomplished
each task.
This document is a quick start guide on how to setup a live Internet radio station using SAM Broadcaster
and SpacialNet stream hosting services.
A: The Internet can transfer any type of data including text, video and audio. Basically Internet radio is
the transfer of audio data over the Internet to listeners spread across the world. This guide will only focus
on the audio aspects of streaming.
The audio encoder takes the source audio and encodes the audio into a continuous stream of audio data.
This single audio stream is sent to the streaming server.
The streaming server then acts like a broadcasting antenna by sending the audio data to all the listeners.
For listeners to tune-in to the audio stream, they must have some kind of player installed that is able to
receive the stream of audio data from the streaming server, and then play the audio data over the
speakers. Since compressing audio data requires large amount of computing resources, it is
recommended the computer running SAM be a dedicated server.
The audio data is usually compressed to make it easier and more cost effective to stream over the Internet.
For this purpose many audio file formats have been developed that all vary in quality, compression rates
and features. Some examples of popular audio formats: MP3, mp3PRO, Windows Media, AAC, aacPlus
and Ogg.
This document will explain how you can use SAM Broadcaster as your audio encoder, streamer and use
the stream hosting services of SpacialNet.com to start your own professional online radio station.
• Start your own professional radio station for as little as $250, of course excluding your computer,
ISP, electricity, song licensing, etc.
• Can be operated from your own home.
• Many ways to generate revenue to fund your own station.
• Reach an audience located across the world.
• Start out small and grow as your station's audience grows.
First you will need to decide which type of station you are going to run. Are you going to broadcast live
content, prerecorded content, just playing audio source files or combination? Anyway you decide to do
it; SAM Broadcaster is the program that can handle your stream.
This portion of the documentation will go over the process of planning and setup of SpacialNet stream
hosting.
4.1 Planning
Planning for your stream hosting is a key element in the planning portion of your station. Depending on
the station you will either need to start small and increase as the need arises or you will need to start large
and scale down after you have a feel for how many listeners you should really expect. If you are an
existing organization with a large contact list or a terrestrial station with means to advertise to the masses
and you plan to
announce to all of your potential listeners you will want to be able to handle the initial traffic.
SpacialNet stream hosting offers a minimum of 20 listeners to start up to 2500 listeners per server. If you
wish to have more, please contact us. Our large infrastructure is able to handle thousands of listeners, but
for accounts over 1000 listeners please contact us so we can work with you to provide you with the very
best solution.
• Go to http://www.spacialnet.com/streamhosting/
• Select 'Live Streaming'
• Specify Server type 'SHOUTcast' or 'Windows Media'
• Select the Maximum bitrate, this will determine the quality of your stream.
Note: Do not exceed your internet connection speed; also remember to allow some room for
emails and any other outgoing communications.
• Select 'Maximum Concurrent Viewers' from the drop down box
• Click 'Calculate'
• Choose the server closest to the majority of your viewers.
• Please read and then check the box to agree to the Service Level Agreement, Terms of Service &
Refund policy.
• If the total monthly cost is within your budget click 'Continue'
OR
• If you are not an existing member select 'Sign me up (FREE)'
o Enter a username
o Enter a password
o Re-type your password
o Enter a valid email address (notification of your server details and billing information will
be sent to this email address)
o Enter your First Name
o Select Your Country
o Select your State
o Read the User Agreement then check the box that indicates that you accept the User
Agreement
• Click 'Sign Up!'
• Select your preferred payment method to make a payment right now.
o You can select 'Automated Monthly Payment'; this will ensure that your payment is made
on time and that you will not have a lapse in service.
Note: Any payment made by PayPal's e-check, direct deposit, money order or check will take 4 days to
process or until we receive and verify funds. A credit card, credit card by phone or PayPal linked to your
credit card directly is the fastest method and your account will be setup almost instantaneously upon
completion of your order.
You will now be taken to the appropriate site to complete your payment and setup a subscription for
monthly payment
Note:If you do not currently have a PayPal account click on the 'click here' link next to the line that reads
'If you do not currently have a PayPal account'
You have just made a payment, now click 'continue' near the bottom of this page or you may exit this
website at anytime by click 'log out' at the top of the page.
If you paid with a Credit Card or a PayPal account linked to your credit card, you should now be able
access your stream hosting server by clicking
http://www.spacialnet.com/broadcasters/streamhost.list.html.
When at your station's server page, click 'Edit' to obtain your encoder configuration information. Leave
this window open, you will need it in a few minutes.
Open up a new window and enter in the SpacialNet 'My Stations' page URL:
http://www.spacialnet.com/broadcasters/station.html
Note:You can always change your station settings for here by going back to
http://www.spacialnet.com/broadcasters/station.html.
For this tutorial, download the Firebird version. It is the quickest to setup. If you are interested in having
your station's website driven by PHP, then you may want to choose MySQL at a later time.
Note: If you already own SAM3 Broadcaster please login to our Secure Client section at:
http://www.spacialaudio.com/clients/
Note: If you have an existing MySQL server on your dedicated system you may need to change the
username and password for MySQL, otherwise leave as the defaults; username: root, password: (blank
entry password). At this point you should cancel the installation and download the MySQL version of
SAM Broadcaster.
Once the installation has completed, you will be prompted with a few options:
• View SAM Readme File
• Run SAM Program
• Visit AudioRealm stream hosting
Since we have visited SpacialNet already, you can uncheck the Visit AudioRealm checkbox. When
finished with this Quick Setup Guide, you can read through the Readme.
• Click 'Finish'
If you selected 'Run SAM Program' then SAM should start running immediately. If not, or you pressed on
the [X], you can load it manually by going to: Start / Run / Programs / SAM Broadcaster / SAM
Broadcaster.
If you want, you don't have to select to add SoundFX and demo files if you don't wish.
• Click 'Continue'.
• Choose the directory that your music files are in and click on 'OK'.
At this point SAM Broadcaster will add those songs to the media library. After it sorts through your
music, SAM Broadcaster should now be running.
Now that you have SAM up and running, let's quickly set up your system settings so you can start
sending music to your server.
For you to be listed on AudioRealm, our station listing site, you need to add a few configurations in SAM
Broadcaster.
Note:If you do not have a SHOUTcast server on SpacialNet, skip this section and go to the Windows
Media portion.
You have set up a streaming server the next step is to create an encoder that can supply the streaming
server with a source stream.
• If you wish to stream in mp3PRO mode, please select the 'MP3 and mp3PRO' Circle and click
'OK'.
o Alternatively, you can select MP3 (Normal) [If Available].
Note:Using the mp3PRO encoder for normal MP3 streaming is not recommended.
• On the Converter tab
o Set Quality to Medium
o Under Format select the format that matches what you purchased at SpacialNet.com for
stream hosting. See the SpacialNet.com stream hosting account panel for bitrate.
o Check 'Auto Start encoder after 5 seconds'
Note: You may type in more than one genre comma separated.
Type in your Website URL
Enter AIM ID (optional)
Enter ICQ # (optional)
Enter IRC Channel (optional)
Check 'List on public station listing (recommended)
Your Encoder should now say 'encoded (#) and streamed (#)'.
The final step is to create a Statistics Relay for the streaming server.
A statistic relay simply grabs the current status and viewer count from each server, reporting the details to
SAM. Without a statistic relay, SAM will not know where listeners can connect to listen to your music
and it will also not accurately report the count of listeners connected to your stream.
Additionally, without valid statistic relays your station will not show up on AudioRealm.com. This means
you will not get any extra exposure and you will miss extra listeners coming from the AudioRealm portal
and partner sites.
Note:If you do not have a Windows Media server on SpacialNet, skip this section.
Windows Media works in Push (recommended) or PULL mode. To push is that the encoder connects to
the server. To pull this means the Windows Media Server will actually connect to your encoder plugin.
In order to pull, the server must know where to find you. Keep that in mind when setting up your stream.
The quickest way to set up your stream would be with Push Distribution. To make setup as
painless as possible, use this option if possible. From your Windows Media Stream host account:
Note: This type of setup takes more time and effort. If you choose to have a Push Distribution,
please skip this option.
To find out your current IP, click on the 'Detect IP' link on the side of the page or visit
http://www.spacialnet.com/broadcasters/tools.ip.html. Click update to push changes to server.
Note: If your IP address changes often, get a static DNS name from http://www.no-ip.com or
http://www.dyndns.com.
You might also need to open the Port in your firewall, or "port forward" the port in your router.
Once your encoder is running go and visit our port tester at
http://www.spacialnet.com/broadcasters/tools.port.html. From there you can check to see if port
3690 is available.
If our test shows this port as closed then you are most likely behind a firewall/router/nat and it
will need to be configured with a port forward for TCP on port 3690 to your internal IP address of
the encoder.
This will allow for your Windows Media to gather the streaming data.
Your Encoder should now say 'encoded (#) and streamed (#)'.
The final step is to create a Statistics relay for the streaming server.
A statistic relay simply grabs the current status and viewer count from each server, reporting the details to
SAM. Without a statistic relay SpacialNet.com will not know where listeners can connect to listen to your
music and it will also not accurately report the count of listeners connected to your stream.
Additionally, without valid statistic relays your station will not show up on AudioRealm.com. This means
you will not get any extra exposure and you will miss extra listeners coming from the AudioRealm portal
and partner sites.
Here is a quick overview on how to add files to SAM, load them into the queue, and then play them.
Go to the playlist window located on 'Desktop A' at the far left half way down and select the category into
which you want to add files in. Categories are used to split files into manageable groups or lists.
Now right-click on the QuickTracks category and from the popup menu:
• Select 'Add'
• Click 'Add Directory'
The Choose directory dialog will display. Browse to the directory containing the music you want added to
the category.
• Click 'OK'
A status window will display the progress of the files being added to the media library. Once completed,
you should be able to see the list of tracks added to the category in the Tracks in selected category
window.
Inside the QuickTracks playlist window, double-click on a song and it will be added to the Queue. Repeat
this process until you have a few songs in the Queue.
First make sure you have the Virtual DJ set to Auto DJ mode, this option is set by default. You can select
the Virtual DJ mode by selecting the drop down arrow just left of the Desktop A button in the toolbar. By
doing so, the Virtual DJ will automatically load the next song from the queue when required and
crossfade to the next track.
Note: Make sure both Deck A and Deck B are visible. You may reset the layout of the screen by selecting
'layout' from the menu bar, your resolution (i.e.; 800x600 or 1024x768) and choose 'Default'.
Click on the Play button in the toolbar just below file in the menu bar to start audio playback in the next
available deck.
Note: The Virtual DJ cues up the next track as soon as the currently playing track reaches the end and
then starts playback of the newly queued track (while crossfading).
• You can quickly locate a song by clicking inside either the Queue or Playlist window and typing
the name of the song you wish to find. This will instantly bring up a search window with matching
results. Just double-click on the song to add it to the queue. Alternatively, you can click on the
spyglass in that window to bring up a search window.
• Drag & Drop! In SAM you can drag track(s) from anywhere to almost anywhere. For example,
you can drag a track from the search window onto the playlist, queue, or even directly onto the
player decks. You can also drag from the search onto a category inside the Playlist window. You
can even drag & drop directly from Windows File Explorer!
• Learn the Shortcut keys - Like zippers, they make life so much easier... If a song is playing in a
Deck, hold down the [Shift] key while left-clicking on the Play, Pause, Stop or Next button. This
will do a nice fade of the music to the specified state.