RE: Audio Broadcast

What country is the broadcast from?  It makes a HUGE difference.   What
country is the server going to be in, and what country is the =
organisation
owning the site going to be in?=20

For example in the USA, there is a HORRENDOUS cost associated with =
streaming
audio, which has taken most of the US based on-line broadcasters off the =
air
for the mean time.  Even some who were getting quite large traffic.

In Australia, the bandwidth cost is gigantic, even though the royalty
payments aren't.

Unlike regular radio, you pay for each listener.  With a FM or AM radio
station, you pay for the equipment and the licence, and the more =
listeners
the better.  Online, you buy server software for x number of concurrent
listners.  More listeners means more bandwidth and more megabytes
transferred and more licensing for server software.  SO you have to make
sure you do your arithmetic pretty thoroughly before you get started.

I'm not saying 'don't do it',  I'm saying go into it carefully, and make
sure you have **IN WRITING** what your APRA or BMI or ASCAP license
obligations will be, and know what the licensing costs of server =
software
will be as your listenership grows.


Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
Webmaster, Bluegrass Australia
http://www.bluegrass.org.au
Presenter: Music From Foggy Hollow on Hawkesbury Radio 89.9FM, and =20
http://www.bluegrasscountry.org  7 days  a week.
We are a Bluegrass Unlimited reporting program



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org] =
On
Behalf Of Matt
Sent: Wednesday, 3 September 2003 1:22 AM
To: hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
Subject: Audio Broadcast


I am looking into the possibility of adding audio content to a website - =

live audio at scheduled times, pre-recorded audio at scheduled times or=20
on-demand play of archived content. The length would be 30 to 60 =
minutes.

Does anyone have knowledge of what the viable options are at this time =
and=20
any particular new, breakthrough, low-cost approaches to doing this?

If anyone has any particular technologies or service providers (hosts) =
to=20
suggest I would appreciate it.

Of course Real Audio and Windows Media come to mind. (Windows Media =
always=20
seemed to perform better with the internet connections that I had.) Does =

anyone know the pros and cons of these two? =
Hardware/software/cost/quality,=20
etc?

Then there is MP3 technology. That always seemed to work best for me=20
because it would download the whole file and play without interruption. =
It=20
would also take less server space to archive.

I know there are also different forms of internet conferencing that are=20
available and that would be one form of live audio. Does anyone have any =

leads or input on what might work from this approach?

It just occurred to me that making the content available on a =
file-sharing=20
network like gnutella would be one way for on demand acquisition and=20
listening. Does anyone have any comments on this idea? The content will =
be=20
free so I don't need a payment mechanism. Is there a way to make files =
at=20
my web host accessible to one of these networks?

As you can see I am just brainstorming my way through this subject. It =
just=20
occurred to me that anonymous FTP download from my website might be the=20
cheapest solution.  All things considered, what would be better, to =
archive=20
as .wav or MP3 and how would I go about recording or converting the =
content=20
to that format? Or is there a better format?

I know there is also the idea of broadcasting a message over internet =
radio=20
as a way of producing a scheduled broadcast. Does anyone know of a place =

where time can be purchased or where a person should start looking?

I suspect there are new, emerging, creative, competitive, economical=20
solutions to broadcast an audio message and I am trying to find =
something=20
that would work for me.

Thanks for any good ideas or input,

Matt

HWG hwg-techniques mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA