Post 100!

HA!!!

Soundcards and Shoutcast

Yesterday I received an Amazon order in the mail. It was my first ever ExpressCard device!

A few years ago, I burned out the left channel on my laptop headphone jack, so if I wanted to listen to anything with a pair of headphones at the library or something, I couldn't without putting up with just one side of the stereo mix. So last week, I went on Amazon and found a Creative (Soundblaster) ExpressCard sound card. Just yesterday, it came in the mail and I got it up and running! And I have to say it has excellent quality. 

Anyway, now I'm all into it. In the last couple weeks I've been attempting to download the Shoutcast tools from Nullsoft. And just today I finally got everything I wanted downloaded! I installed it on my big dimension, and am right now listening to a LAN stream of Christmas music. Of course, the setup at the moment is pretty pointless. My laptop is right here, and the audio server is also right here. But it WORKS! And that's what really matters. Now all I need is a broadband connection so YOU all can listen also ;).

Anyway, as of right now my setup is as follows:

• PPS-DIMENSION is the main server computer on my LAN. It does NOT have a webserver yet, although I'm working on that right now. 
• The Dimension DOES have a few audio services that I've integrated with Winamp.
• Winamp itself - My big 500GB hard drive has approximately 81.5 days of audio (music, podcasts, sermons, radio programs, etc) which I access primarily from that computer.
• A Kensington transmitter - My main audio output on the sound card is running directly into this short range FM transmitter which pipes the music to the entire house fairly effectively. I have had some EMI issues with walls and the like, but it's tolerable if I position the transmitter just so.
• BrowseAmp 3 - A simple plugin for Winamp creates a web server which allows any client on the network to control Winamp via the browser. It has a flash client which I think is really quite clean.
• Shoutcast Server - This bit of standalone software and integration plugin for Winamp dumps the actual audio output from Winamp directly onto a TCP/IP port, allowing anyone with a web-ready media player to open the proper URL and play the currently playing music on their own computer.
• I've also got the main webserver on my laptop...but it's a laptop, so it's not as nice as I'd like it to be.
• I also have a small proxy server from AnalogX on my laptop, which allows me to make very low-quality internet connections from the Dimension, which does not have a decent modem to connect itself.
• I also run Last.FM on both laptop and Dimension to update my account with what I play. Of course, this service only works when I'm connected to the internet and program they call the "Scroggler" is running. And I still don't have the service down, so I don't know exactly what any of that accomplishes, especially when I'm on a slow dialup connection. Oh, I should mention that having this new sound card WILL allow me to listen to music at the library, and therefore, Last.FM (or Pandora, which I'm planning on switching to in a couple days) will be much more worthwhile to even have.

Therefore, with all these upgrades, my own little two-computer + router is coming together quite nicely and I'm making so much work for me!

Quote the Kid

What is this kid saying?

Comment to add your own caption, and we'll put up a poll in a few weeks maybe to see which one's the best.

Youtube:Newest Ten

I've just created a "newest ten" playlist in my Youtube channel. This is because my more recent videos aren't really getting viewed all that much. I post links to them here and there, but not many people read what I have to say. Therefore, I'm going to see what I can do about promoting them here. After all, isn't that what Youtube is really for? Getting people to view your videos more than everybody else?

I was so happy when the Galactic Conflicts series got 100 hits or so each. But then I look at the REALLY popular stuff and it's like 2 million hits in a single week or something insane. It's crazy! I need to step it up.

Anyway, here we are:



Edit: I just checked....in all, the cumulative views on my Youtube stuff is:
Videos: 19792
Channel: 1467

I should seriously check my sources before I go complaining.

Jazz Hands needs to OWN the Newsboys "Way Beyond Myself Remix"

Let's get WayFM's TotalAxxess remix of Way Beyond Myself (Newsboys) on the top.

Head to: http://newsboys.heroku.com/107 and click the Vote! link. Whoever wins the Newsboys Remix contest gets to have that cut on the newest collection release (which Newsboys has way too many of), AND they get a year of some free service...I don't know what that is, but having your mix on the official CD would be awesome! Especially Wally's Jazz Hands mix.