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Apache As An MP3 Server
From the list of odd things you can do with your Apache web server, how about an Apache module to turn your Apache webserver into your basic RIAA hating, but every college student loving, MP3 streaming server? Supports Icecast/Shoutcast protocols. It's an early beta, but it does work.
How hard would it be for a several multi-billion dollar record companies to sue apache out of existance?
Well, first they'd have to prove the Apache Group had anything, whatsoever, to do with the development of mod_mp3.
They didn't write it.
If the RIAA is going to go after somebody, they'll go after the guy that did write it.
To go after the Apache Group for mod_mp3 is very much the same idea as going after Microsoft because Napster uses the Win32 API.
You can stream MP3s forever over a totally standard web server. All you need is client software like w3juke.
At least I was doing this back in 1997.....
/. never likes to give companies like myplay any credit for innovation.
Myplay.com , mp3.com and a load of other sites use apache clusters to serve streaming audio, it's not exactly difficult..
Then again...
So far it's pretty slick.. A lot nicer then using Icecast. And for adding more streams.. apache's .htaccess file make it REAL easy no need to create a port 8000 virtual host just allowoveride in a directory and put this in there.
.htaccess file
.htaccess BEGIN --
/home/ftp/pub/mp3
.htaccess END --
here is my
--
<Files all>
SetHandler mp3
MP3CastName "My Mp3s"
MP3Genre "Various"
MP3
MP3Random On
</files>
--
then just access it like
http://myhost/streamdir/all
I maintain a large media server for some internal usage, and I've been looking for a system somewhat like this. I've been tinkering with the apache::mp3 module for a while, and while it works nicely it's not really what I've been looking for. I'd love to see a system with MySQL support, rather than something that just creates hash tables on the fly, etc.
:)
What I'm really trying to find is something that will resample mp3 files on the fly, and/or save the resampled tunes in a temporary database that will do some sort of intelligent size maintenance. (kind of like squid; "here's your 18GB of space, manage yourself.")
anyone have some ideas for that? I just grabbed this mod_mp3 and it works well- one nifty thing about it (which impresses me, anyway) is that I can define a ton of virtual servers and have it feed different streams simultaneously. the system usage seems very reasonable too. this product definitely has room for growth, and I'm looking forward to messing with it and adding horrible, codebloating features to it
EOM
I use Edna. Written in python, needs no apache, no mysql. Installs on anything that runs python, as far as I can tell (runs on NT, redhat, *bsd, debian). Sexy, template-based interface.
We serve up over 90 gig of MP3's to 110 users in the workplace with edna. Why don't you?
one word: MAES. yes, it's a shameless self-plug, but it works. Multiple users, apache authentication integration, searching, browsing, multiple database support, id3v1/2 viewer/editor, playlist creation and storage, windows support as a server in the pipe (working on a couple of odbc issues)...I use it all the time, as do quite a few other people. It's worth trying, and I always answer any questions that arise.
Well that *started out* as a joke post, but now I'm not so sure...
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
Man is it just me or these people made thier site design for 320x 240 pixel 10 inch screens?
Or perhaps for 320x240 pixel 4-inch screens of palmtop devices with MP3 support. (Actually, the page looks optimized for 640x480.)
But you don't have to surf with your Mozilla/Galeon/K-Meleon/IE browser window maximized. For example, I normally have four 720x540-pixel browser windows open on my 1024x768-pixel 17" monitor; keeping multiple windows open lets me read one page while loading another, making browsing on dial-up more efficient.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Its an Apache -module-, not part of Apache. Modules can be created by a 3rd party for whatever reason. I'm sure the Apache Group is working on more important things than streaming mp3 support, but this is cool.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
There's also a very good Apache Perl module called Apache::MP3 that you can download from CPAN which provides something similar, though I don't think it necessarily supports shoutcast/icecast yet.
I have the ability to search the database for a particular tune, save playlists, save favorites, recommend titles to others, etc. It's pretty stable, so if you're interested, pop me an email here: dcarnage at spookyworld.dnsalias.com.
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
There is a Perl module that does the same sort of thing written by Lincoln Stein on CPAN: Apache::MP3.
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
No Ogg Vorbis support?
But Yogi, the RIAA won't like that.
/.'er.
Hey Booboo! Whatcha got in that pic-a-nic server?!
I'm smarter than the average 1337
I was under the impression that the RIAA has nothing to do with the DVD region locking insanity.
I thought it was the MPAA, CCA, and co-conspirators.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
You've heard of classical music, right? Oh, you don't like classical music? Well that's just too bad. I guess you *will* have to wait a little then before you are allowed to copy the latest Britney Spears album...
I can construct a playlist for my own webserver, and simply "stream" the songs that way. I do this all the time at work b/c the radio reception in my lab sucks.
With the archos device I have a 6Gb hard drive that is slightly smaller than a walkman and connects to a PC via USB. To the PC it looks just like a hard drive (I often use it to swap large files between office and home, it is much faster than burning a CDROM and bigger capacity).
Unlike the crappy SDMI influenced systems the archos device allows tracks to be copied to or from the drive.
With napster or any net based system it would take weeks to snarf a thousand tracks. With the archos device the CD collection becomes the unit of exchange. I have 120CDs on mine, I could copy them onto someone else's machine in about 10 minutes and then replace them by 120 from their collection.
Interestingly enough this probably passes for 'fair use' as currently understood
I am not currently disposed to do this, I believe that artists have a right to an income. However the RIAA is making it harder and harder for folk like myself to be influential. Ultimately the only means by which laws are observed is if there is a general consensus that they should. The RIAA made it very difficult for me to sympathize with their position after their legislative grab for the 'returned rights' that previously belonged to their artists. Meanwhile the DVD 'zone control' system is designed to maintain differential pricing across markets - Europe will pay most, Asia least.
The RIAA need to understand that buying congressmen and legislation will be counterproductive.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
According to someone I know who absolutely refuses to post (silly lurkers), webplay by sourceforge is a much more streamlined streaming mp3 werver than the apache one. He says "an entire vhost per playlist is too much overhead".
;)
Don't ask me about it, though-- I'm no computer engineer.
Most Classical music is still copyrighted and very expensively so.
Because it's played from sheet music there are several copyright issues to deal with: the actual music or the original text the composer wrote, which although it may no longer be copyrighted, it nevertheless remains the physical property of some estate. This music is periodically edited, often to account for changes in instrumentation/music hall sizes.
Most people, when they hear Beethoven's symphonies, are not hearing the original version: Mahler edited the text to exploit the larger music halls which came into fashion. He added instruments and "beefed up" the sound.
Also, there is a copyright on the actual typesetting of the notes as they appear on the paper (yes this is very lame). All of these are copyrighted for the life of the author plus some ungodly length of time (I think it's 50 years, actually, instead of 120, but the law may have changed)
So the bottom line is that if you wish to play a classical music piece you will have to pay up the wazzoo for the music.
Case in point:
My mother plays in a semi-professional local orchestra. There's a core group of musicians who get a couple hundred dollars per performance, surrounded by a larger group of volunteers. The licensing fees for the sheet music amounts to, on average, $5000 per perfomance. That's for each piece of music played. Since they have about five concerts a year, each performed twice, and each containing about 5 musical selections, that amounts to about $250,000 a year in copyright fees that this community orchestra must pay. This is by far the biggest artificial hurdle that local symphonies face in trying to stay afloat, since the difference between red and black is often much smaller. Why non-profit organizations must pay these fees is beyond me. Also, the debate over government funding of the arts is really silly in comparison to the huge sums sent to the estates of dead composers, who often control the above copyrights. I would much rather if the government just got out of the way and refused to enforce these monopolies instead of requiring community symphonies to pay outrageous amounts, and then throwing them a few bucks in NEA grants with loads of strings attached.
When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.