getting XML song info into shoutcast

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wkps
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getting XML song info into shoutcast

Post by wkps »

hi all,

i use winamp, the winamp dsp, and shoutcast to put my FM station on the internet.

i pull the signal in off the FM, via the soundcard input.

it sounds great, BUT i can't get the song info there.

the automation program we use is called oplog, and the soundboard is called imediapix.

they publish out XML info about whats currently playing.

how do i get winamp/shoutcast to take in this XML info, and use it to tell web listeners whats being played, and so on?

also, will it be off, due to lag? i notice whats on the net is about 40secs behind whats on the FM.

thx, -mdw
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Jay
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Post by Jay »

you would need a program to translate the xml sheet to a url and post it to the shoutcast server. You can read up in the Articles section about how the SHOUTcast protocol basically works and how you might be able to script or program a very simple tool to do this. Oddcast v3 might be able to do for you as well: http://www.oddsock.org/tools/oddcastv3/
- Jay
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wkps
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Post by wkps »

thx Jay,

i looked at your articles, and i didn't see anything that applied. the XML article seemed to be about other things.

also, is oddsock something to use instead of winamp apps? i don't want to switch, i'm sure oddsock, icecast, streamcast, etc... all have nice bells and whistles, but the original has been very stable and reliable, and is afterall, the original. so for now, i just want to get it to work.

i found this thread at the shoutcast forums:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php ... ost1855847

and i wonder if this applies?

can i get the xml my automation publishes to fit a form that shoutcast will read successfully? is that what this guy is saying?

i'm sorry i can't put it all togehter, i'm no master of the obvious. thx for the help, -mdw
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Jay
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Post by Jay »

oddcast is a drop in replacement for the SHOUTcast DSP and will work just as good as it does. No one is talking about your switching servers. There is just no way to apply that data without a middle man. The article I was referring to was the SHOUTcast Streaming Standard Article. Give it a good read it has the method of current song updating in it. As far as a purely shoutcast only solution you will have to find an app or script. I am not aware of any such script to do this off hand.

The thread you linked is talking about how to use a URL to update the SHOUTcast now playing stat, which is what I talk about in my article. Beyond that there really isn't anything that applies to your exact situation.
- Jay
hitech1
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XML is my bag - Maybe I can Help

Post by hitech1 »

imediapix seems to ring a bell, If I am correct it is a mini automation system?

Does it output all the xml data?

Does it update for each song?

Maybe there is a demo of the program you can send me over and I will design you a small plugin to display the current song. If it shows more data then with PHP I could send this up to a webpage for you.

XML...HTML.....PHP.....Hitech1 does it all.
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wkps
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Post by wkps »

first, THX, you rock.

second, let me explain in more detail...

the software is by OMT, seen here:

http://www.omt.net/

they make different software, we use two kinds on air, one is called "oplog" and is the heart of everything we do, and it also serves as our 24/7/365 automation which we run all the time for whenever a DJ is not present in the studio. this software outputs XML, see it here:

http://www.imediatouch.com/products_imediatouch.html

the other is called "imediapix," it interfaces with our automation software and can be used by a DJ as a "live assist" machine to play music or produced spots or whatever... unfortunately, it doesn't yet output XML, but i am pressuring them to do so. see it here:

http://www.imediatouch.com/products_ime ... iapix.html

so, what i want to do, is the following:

i want some kind of system that takes the output of the XML and inserts it directly into the DNAS, b/c my understanding is there is no good way to insert it into the winamp DSP.

i want this way to be smart enough to know that if imediapix is being used, it should take precedence... obviously, this is hard to do presently as imediapix isn't putting out XML yet.

and i am concerned about lag... there are two types...

first, the FM is on a 7 second delay. hopefully, i can delay the xml output in oplog 7 seconds, but i don't know if i can... i am embarrassingly ignorant on many aspects of what i am asking after...

second, there is a delay in getting the audio based on net xfer time, BUT i don't think this matters, since the DNAS should encode and send the audio and XML data together.

so, thats the basic jist of it.

one more thing, the machine that outputs the XML does not yet have internet connectivity, however, it can probably be LAN connected to the machine that webcasts the signal.

thx for your kind offer! -mdw
hitech1
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Good explanation - lets take a look

Post by hitech1 »

Great explanation thanks. I would also assume that both programs also have some form of text file output also.

To look any deeper I would need to install the programs here and take a look at them working in real time.

The site only has a demo on it that does not work with all the features and hence is no good for us to try to do the plugins / scripts.

You will need to send me over a copy of both of the programs (I am guessing that they will work in a time limited mode or something) so that we can take a deeper look.

By the way - Nice Home Page
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wkps
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Post by wkps »

as far as i know, the demo has all the features the real thing has, it simply expires after 60 days.

http://www.imediatouch.com/products_ime ... _demo.html

the station home page btw needs a lot of work, but thx. hopefully i can improve it this summer. -mdw
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Jay
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Post by Jay »

I am not sure what is in your xml sheet but you would probably need to poll it for changes unless it shows the time left for the song. An application can poll then submit the changes by url to the server. I am not aware of any application that does this though. As it is a fairly trivial process programmatically if you have never written an application it can be daunting to start. Post your xml sheet and I or someone else might have something more for you.
- Jay
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