Live Vorbis Streams Over 802.11b From SXSW.com

chupacabra writes "SXSW.com in Austin, Texas has a group of computers in various music venues around town. The ices/icecast stream is sent over 802.11 to a main server at SXSW. There are 6 venues running as of this moment. Thanks to the folks at Vorbis and their CVS we are rocking. See sxsw.com/music/livestreams."

Comments

Whats the point?

[unterderbrucke]

I have to have a 802.11b receiver to listen, why not use an FM transciver?

I know it's cool and everything, but there's a fine line between being cool and useless (see flushing toilets vs. Thomas Jefferson's two documents at once copier)

Re:This will never take off

[mcrbids]

Ultimately, it doesn't come down to the medium used, it doesn't come down to the neat technology, or the gentoo Linux. it all boils down simply and only to this:

Does it provide something people will pay enough for?

Yes, it's neat. I get to hear musicians play music that's not well mixed (it never is "live" unless you spend serious dough) and has alot of background music. (Plates clattering, etc)

But live music is best served... live! Right in front of you!

Live music is when you can experience the sights and smells. It's the sparkle in the eye of your wife (or hopefully, at least girlfriend) as you eat a delicious plate of Italian food, whilst a musician plays to your left.

It's the look of giddy happiness on my lovely 11 y.o. daughter, dancing at a "Concert in the Park" held downtown on a hot summer eve.

It's seeing the attempts by the musician to truly communicate with the audience. It's an interactive, feedback-driven experience.

Recorded music is canned, and attempts to compensate with impeccable mixing and special effects.

One of the most memorable renditions of music I've seen recently was a bum on the street. He appeared to be mildly intoxicated, but had an old catgut guitar. He asked for alms, we agreed but demanded a tune.

I then heard one of the most intense renditions of "Candle in the Wind" I've ever heard. It was unpolished, rough, and a few of the chords were simply wrong. But he played with heart and soul, and gave it all he had.

He earned a few bucks from me, but you could never capture soul and feeling like that if you played it through speakers.

-Ben

What makes this exciting...

[anubi]

From the Ogg Vorbis page, I quote:

"What is Ogg Vorbis?

Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source."

To me, any time we start developing a technology which can be freely used by all without worry of the letter in the mail, its cause for celebration.

They are testing it, and the better the tools we have in the box, the better we can do a job. And thats the end result isn't it? Getting from here to there with a minimum of effort.

I use the efforts of others daily, and it is my hope that before I leave this planet, I can leave something for others.