Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Any alternatives to Nicecast?
- Thread starter stevietheb
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
daveL
macrumors 68020
Can you do this with Quicktime Broadcaster? It's free:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/broadcaster/
I haven't used it, myself.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/broadcaster/
I haven't used it, myself.
The nice thing about NiceCast is that it hijacks the audio from a specific application. For example, you tell it to listen to iTunes or Quicktime and then stream it to location x.
I do not see a way to do this in QT Broadcaster. The only source I see is the internal mic.
I do not see a way to do this in QT Broadcaster. The only source I see is the internal mic.
daveL
macrumors 68020
Broadcaster is a real-time encoder. It will encode any file you have. I should have read your post more closely. Obviously the stuff you are streaming is already encoded. There's the Darwin streaming server, which is free. On the other hand, why can't you just use the iTunes sharing feature. That's what I do at home. If you need to stream outside your local subnet, then the Darwin streaming server may be what you want.
I've got two objectives here...
First: I'm trying to find a way to send the SAME music to AirTunes as is playing out of my iTunes speakers (I understand issues with lag and stuff, but what I'd want is the same music playing in different rooms...so that's not a huge isse). Currently I am able to play music on both by opening iTunes in a different account, setting one to my computer speakers, and the other to my stereo speakers...but they aren't playing the SAME track. SO, with Nicecast I could (I think) set iTunes to send music to AirTunes, set Nicecast to listen to iTunes, then I could use realplayer or something else to listen to the stream on the computer speakers--all from the same account. If not from the same account, at the very least I could do it with iTunes in two different accounts.
Second: It would be nice to access (later on down the road) my music from elsewhere (such as the office)...but this is secondary and not my primary objective at this point.
Objective 1 is to get a stream going FROM iTunes...
Thanks for the assistance!
First: I'm trying to find a way to send the SAME music to AirTunes as is playing out of my iTunes speakers (I understand issues with lag and stuff, but what I'd want is the same music playing in different rooms...so that's not a huge isse). Currently I am able to play music on both by opening iTunes in a different account, setting one to my computer speakers, and the other to my stereo speakers...but they aren't playing the SAME track. SO, with Nicecast I could (I think) set iTunes to send music to AirTunes, set Nicecast to listen to iTunes, then I could use realplayer or something else to listen to the stream on the computer speakers--all from the same account. If not from the same account, at the very least I could do it with iTunes in two different accounts.
Second: It would be nice to access (later on down the road) my music from elsewhere (such as the office)...but this is secondary and not my primary objective at this point.
Objective 1 is to get a stream going FROM iTunes...
Thanks for the assistance!
daveL
macrumors 68020
I don't have an Airport Express. I didn't realize that, if iTunes was streaming to Airport Express (AirTunes), you couldn't also listen to it on the Mac that iTunes is running on. Seems like an odd limitation, really.
How about freecast? www.freecast.org. It's a Java p2p streaming app.
How about freecast? www.freecast.org. It's a Java p2p streaming app.
Westside guy
macrumors 604
Westside guy
macrumors 604
daveL said:
Uh... so how exactly is SlimServer, which is the free product I linked to, the same as NiceCast?
So yeah I did read the title of this thread. 😀
daveL
macrumors 68020
Sorry. I saw the Mac reference in the side panel and read the nicecast bit. You are correct that SlimServer is open source. It says it does AAC, but I have a feeling it can't deal with stuff bought from iTunes, which has fairplay DRM wrapped around it. Anyway, it certainly looks interesting. I'm now curious why the site even references nicecast. Sorry again for not reading closely enough.Westside guy said:
jeremy.king
macrumors 603
You can try icecast, which can be installed using Fink Commander.
I got the "server" running - I think, but was naver able to connect to the "server" using iTunes - my effort was very half a$$ed though, so maybe you might have better luck.
I got the "server" running - I think, but was naver able to connect to the "server" using iTunes - my effort was very half a$$ed though, so maybe you might have better luck.
Westside guy
macrumors 604
daveL said:
I bet you're right. For me this wouldn't be a big deal since the majority of my music is from CDs I've ripped to AAC, but that might be a deal-breaker for others.
Actually I just took a look at the FAQ - you are definitely right
kingjr3 said:
It looks like icecast only supports MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. Is there a way to add AAC support?
jeremy.king
macrumors 603
Westside guy said:
Thats the stream format, not whats playing. IIRC, it will convert whatever is playing either into MP3 or Ogg. As far as playing AAC, I don't remember it hooking up with iTunes, I was trying to configure it with MacAmp - which I can't remember if it can play AAC (especially DRMed files). Either way, I say plunk down the 40 big ones and enjoy the simplicity of Nicecast.