ICEcast Streaming

Offering Icecast servers as well as Shoutcast Servers for you to host your radio station. There is not much difference between Shoutcast and Icecast the two apart from when you want to embed a Flash Player. Icecast servers make this process easier. Another difference is that Icecast Servers support the Ogg Vorbis streaming format. Broadcast Live and effortlessly using a ICEcast Server. You can quickly and easily stream your station all over the world whilst keeping track of who is listening and where they’re from. Icecast has mountpoints which means it automatically transferes listeners from the Auto DJ to the Live streaming and back again without having to manually turn anything on or off. So you connect and all the listeners are transfered from the autodj to the live streaming and then back again when you are finished. This, unlike WHM Sonic works with MP3 streams so it works with any media player (ie. Windows Media, Real Player, I-Tunes, Win-Amp, even flash players!) ICEcast Server is similar to Shoutcast in many ways, however it’s unique ability to detect when a live source has connected and automatically switch from auto dj to the live broadcast puts it in a class of it’s own! All Icecast Hosting Packages will include Free Auto DJ. Our autodj system will allow you to upload your mp3′s to the system and to be able select multiply playlists and stream 24/7 without having your computer on all the time.

Starter

$8/mo

Up to 32 kbps
Up to 100 Listeners
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Traffic

Basic

$12/mo

Up to 48 kbps
Up to 100 Listeners
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Traffic

Pro

$16/mo

Up to 64 kbps
Up to 100 Listeners
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Traffic

Custom Plan

$/mo

Custom kbps
Custom Listeners
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Traffic

What is ICEcast?

CEcast is a streaming server which allows radio stations to effectively broadcast audio online (this is known as webcasting). It is powerful and stable, meaning you can throw all of your internet radio traffic at it without having crashes or other problems. Audio listeners can access the stream through any live MP3 supported media player. ICEcast has mountpoints meaning and automatically transferes listeners from the Auto DJ to the Live stream and back again without needing to manually turn anything on or offThere are 3 stages to the broadcasting process. You don’t need any complicated or expensive software or hardware at your end either, a simple desktop PC and broadband connection will work fine.

Is ICEcast a professional grade solution?

Very much so. ICEcast is an industry standard platform used by thousands and thousands of radio stations all over the world. Its wide compatibility means people can listen with most players and operating systems.

Listeners will be able to connect to your MP3 stream from all over the world, with all the popular media players including Windows Media Player, iTunes, Winamp, Realplayer, XMMS, and many more media players besides.

Although incredibly simple, it can cope with even the heaviest demands and will not break under pressure. Its simplicity works to the broadcaster and listeners favor.

How easy is it to use ICEcast?

ICEcast is actually very simple to use. You can use free software like Winamp to broadcast, which can be installed on any internet connected Windows computer. There are also solutions available for Apple and Linux users. You can also consider using tools such as Simplecast and SAM Broadcaster, these are more professional and 100% shoutcast compatible tools.

What is the difference between Shoutcast and Icecast?

There are two main options for running a radio server with us and these are using an Icecast server or a Shoutcast server. This FAQ will explain the pro’s and con’s of each.

Firstly its worth mentioning that both server types are very similar in what they do but there are some subtle differences you might want to be aware of when choosing your server type.

Shoutcast Servers

Pro’s :

* Your station is listed on Free Internet Radio – SHOUTcast Radio – Thousands of Free Online Radio Stations and syndicated out to many other radio directories. This gives you excellent exposure and will likely lead to getting more listeners than you would do on an icecast server.

Con’s :

* If you plan on running an Auto DJ on your radio server then when you want to play live you will have to turn off the Auto DJ server and then on again when you have finished.

Icecast Servers

Pro’s :

* Icecast has mountpoints meaning and automatically transferes listeners from the Auto DJ to the Live stream and back again without needing to manually turn anything on or off. So you connect and all the listeners are transfered from the autodj to the live stream and then back again when you are finished.

Con’s :

* You are listed on Streaming directory — streams & radios instead of shoutcast.com which gets fewer listeners tuning in than a shoutcast server would.

Conclusion : If you plan on running an Auto DJ and doing live streams then the ability to auto-transfer listeners is very useful and worth considering an Icecast server to do. If you only plan on live streaming with no Auto DJ then the extra listeners you get from shoutcast.com it would be worth using a shoutcast server.

We plan on updating this FAQ as we think of more pro’s and con’s for each server. If anyone has anything they would like to add please make a post below and we will add it above if its relevant.