How to stream music???

[drummerdude666]

Hey,

Up until now my previous bands have used purevolume.com etc to stream our music online.

But after just mixing the new material I'm sick of the poor quaility these services provide.

Is there anyway i can stream music straight from my site. I'm hosting the site myself, at the moment all the music is on there as .mp3s for free downloads, I'd rather lose money on cd sales then stream bad quality music.

But I'd like to not lose money on CD sales, Is there anyway i can stream music directly from my site so the average user can't download all the tracks.

(It's possible to download any streamed media, but most people dont know this, or don't know how)

I need some help guys!

[noisedude]

I may be wrong but if you set up an MP3 playlist file with a link in it to the MP3 of your choice, it'll stream into your media player. I think it's a .m3u file, dead easy to type quickly in notepad - have a squint around.

All you do then is make the website link to the .m3u file, which should stream the mp3 file automatically.

[noisedude]

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/m3u.cfm
http://hublog.hubmed.org/archives/001139.html
http://www.saltstorm.net/depo/m3uhere/?pod=js

[Fieva]

Yeah most people either don't know it can be done or don't know how....but in that case I wouldn't make your whole CD available online...or if so..I would only allow a sample of each song, especially if you go the m3u file route.

[drummerdude666]

http://strangedays.leachim.info/

finished

We want the songs online, as we want people to enjoy the music, and know the words and songs so where their at gigs they can enjoy themseves.

Anyone found any problems with the .m3u stuff etc?

[drummerdude666]

Btw noisedude, the songs on there are all the songs from my band, the one you've wanted to hear more of.

Well now you can

[noisedude]

I guessed! Mate, I'm loving this band. Seriously. Make me a CD, I'll sell it in my guitar shop for a fiver. Do it! I love this band. Is this the three-piece, piano, guitar and you on skins?

Could you stick me the exact code you used for an m3u file up here? It'd be very cool if you'd be willing to share the knowledge!!!

[drummerdude666]

Originally Posted by noisedude

I guessed! Mate, I'm loving this band. Seriously. Make me a CD, I'll sell it in my guitar shop for a fiver. Do it! I love this band. Is this the three-piece, piano, guitar and you on skins?

Could you stick me the exact code you used for an m3u file up here? It'd be very cool if you'd be willing to share the knowledge!!!

Yep it's that one.

All i did was create a new file in wordpad that just contained the link to the mp3 that was hosted online.

NOT <a href=""> etc etc.

Just the link.

I then saved it as "fillinthisblank.m3u".

On the page i wanted the stream to appear i created a link to the "fillinthisblank.m3u" file so it looked like this

<a href="../m3u/itsallgoingtocatchupwithyou.m3u">Fill In this Blank</a>

And away i went. I hope i've explained that properlly for everyone to understand. If not then just ask me

[noisedude]

Brilliant - that's what I guessed it would be, but I've never done it myself. Good work.



I freaking LOVE this band, Eric. Would you mind sorting me some discs out? I'll buy em off you if they're at a price I can afford to sell them on at!

[drummerdude666]

Originally Posted by noisedude

Brilliant - that's what I guessed it would be, but I've never done it myself. Good work.



I freaking LOVE this band, Eric. Would you mind sorting me some discs out? I'll buy em off you if they're at a price I can afford to sell them on at!

Sure, We're not happy with the final mixes at the moment

Both the pianist and I both have home studios so we are constantly improving the mixes etc. But I'll speak to them tomorrow, I'm sure there will be no problem with it.

How many would you want?

[Fieva]

I learned by downloading an m3u and opening it in wordpad. Then I copied the text and rearranged it so that it directed it to my file and not theirs anymore. After that I just renamed the m3u file to what my song was.

[noisedude]

Depends how much you're charging. I want a couple for myself and if I can sell em for a fiver, every teenager who comes into the shop will be forced to buy one instead of another bunch of 'shit happens' pin badges for the guitar straps!!!

[drummerdude666]

Originally Posted by noisedude

Depends how much you're charging. I want a couple for myself and if I can sell em for a fiver, every teenager who comes into the shop will be forced to buy one instead of another bunch of 'shit happens' pin badges for the guitar straps!!!

Hahahaha!

How about £3 each and we pay for the shipping to you? How many would you want at that cost?

[noisedude]

I'll have ten to start with? Let me PM you my email/mobile number so we can sort something out!

My housemates are absolutely loving the tunes - but one has said he knows a band in Manchester called The Strange Days ... dunno if that's a problem?

[Gary B]

I use an easy streaming program for my website, http://www.dovepeace.com . It compresses the waves or mp3s in a special way that they don't sound too bad but stream easy, even for dial-ups. It's about $40. and you pay it just one time and use it forever. It helps with the buttons, too, and is easy to use.

They also have programs and jukeboxes for streaming high quality music on the same page. Yes, I am an affiliate for these programs, I will get a cut. I decided to do so after I kept getting inquirers as to how did it.

http://gbat123.msincome.hop.clickbank.net/

[grn]

free flash player: http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=Flash+Mp3+Player

[gullfo]

Originally Posted by drummerdude666

(It's possible to download any streamed media, but most people dont know this, or don't know how)

in WMP its as simple as File -> Save... :-) most people swiping music already know this one or already have the tools... this is why people like to use WMA and licensing on the stream to prevent copies... MP3 stream can also be protected as well but your service provider would need to have the facilities to do it... or use a third parties...

http://www.zappersoftware.com/mp3guard.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/01/12/drm/

even so, your best bet is to create short versions (~1 minute) of your songs with links to buy your CD.

[David Hooper]

www.krwebaudio.com will do what you need and it's free.