Streaming audio is dead. Long live streaming audio.

Months after the complete dismantling of our streaming audio systems, Entercom wants to start a streaming audio system. This time, however, it’s solely for the use of program directors around the company. Guess who gets to put together the prototype server?

Shortly after noon today, I put Rosey and The Fan online with one audio channel each. The machine is a Pentium-II 400MHz with about 192 MB of RAM and an M-Audio Delta-44 audio card. Sadly, I’m using the Windows Media Encoder to source the streams. For the money it’s the easiest way to serve two simultaneous audio streams from the same Windows-based platform.

Before the zealots in the audience get all fired up about my obvious failure to avoid using Microsoft products, I’d like to state that the purpose of my efforts is to create a system that any of my peers in Entercom can set up on their own. This rules out such arcana as Icecast under Linux.

Now that we have stereo input on both streams, the next step is to torture-test the rig so we can write up specific hardware requirements as well as installation procedures and get that info out to the markets that need it.

Some days I really love my job.

(No, you can’t have the address of the server. It’s only on the company network, so it wouldn’t do you any good. Sorry.)