Nobody on this one?

Time to give up before I've started?

I'm afraid I have to state the obvious: have you done a search? A WebmasterWorld post is a poor place to start your research.

Search on "audio streaming server". Then, come back here with your questions about what you don't understand, if you are unclear about which of several options is best, etc.

Have done plenty of searches, part of my research includes using this forum as it is usually a good source of finding people that have already done it and can offer advice other than "Try Google".

If you've already done a Google search, and followed-up on the search results, you should now know what it involves, both technologically and financially. You should have the names of free and commercial server packages, how much the commercial ones cost to license, etc. You should also know that there are companies that will handle the hosting for you without having to install your own server, and you should know their fee schedules.

Wikipedia is also a good starting point for this sort of research, as you will generally find some good pro-and-con about each product.

Let me try again: what part didn't you understand? If you'd be more specific, we can help you.

I think that in the UK the costs of a streaming server aren't that high - shoutcast is an option!

It's the license fee's that would have crippled any idea's i had before i got them running!

What you need is your own server (linux) and you should be able to install the software as it's free.

The bandwidth it uses can be quite high.

Shoutcast looks like it'll do what I want, to start with anyway.

Thanks for the help!

you need a web development team for this kind of project or idea

you need a web development team for this kind of project or idea

Not really. This is pretty simple.

Sorry if I was harsh earlier, but I see too many posts here from people who want somebody else to do their research for them. It's hard to answer a "I don't know where to begin" question, as well, because you have no idea what the background of the person asking is, and just what information they are lacking.

I concur with the choice that was made.

If you'd do a simple search, and/or are an end-user of streaming audio stations, the solution is staring you right in the face.

Nulsoft (the maker of Winamp) provides a free streaming server - Shoutcast - and free encoder for encoding and sending the stream to your server. It's probably used by 90% of the Internet radio stations out there today.

There's nothing to do to the actual website except to add a simple link to the streaming server. No need for a web developer, let alone a web development team. You need a couple of hours of a system admin's time to install the streaming server and encoder.

Install the streaming server and/or contract with a service provider. Install the encoder on a workstation, and hook the workstation's audio card into the audio feed.

You're done.

Playback is handled by an external player. All popular players support the format used by Shoutcast.

There are other issues, but they are outside of the scope of this post. Make sure you have a good, clean audio card. I'd suggest something better than a Soundblaster. But then, there's probably somebody hanging around a radio station who can make some suggestions.

There could be content licensing issues. BMI and ASCAP now include streaming with the same license that a radio station would already have. SESAC doesn't. And none of these cover MP3s of songs or recorded shows that you might want to put-up on your website, nor podcasts - they only cover a streaming simulcast of your broadcast feed.

For that actually streaming server, you can use an open source program such as icecast. For the actual client source, there are open source programs, but you probably prefer to go with something proprietary for Mac or PC, as they would have a better GUI.