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Simplest Ogg Streaming Clients for non-Unix Users?
Dr. Smeegee asks: "I recently set up an .ogg stream for beta testing, on a website chronicling my hometown's music scene in the 80's. I stream nothing but independent bands from the Evansville area. I chose IceCast using Ogg Vorbis for obvious reasons. The only problem is, I've been using ogg123 on BSD for so long, I didn't realize that streaming Ogg support is sketchy at best on the Windows and Mac platforms. Can anyone suggest good players? Or am I going to have to downgrade my sound and stream in .mp3?"
"I have provided my potential users links to these applications that claim to play .ogg streams:
Zinf
VLC for Windows
OggDS plugin for Windows Media Player
Winamp 2.81
Whamb
MacAmp Lite, and the
Quicktime Plug-In
However, am still getting complaints of flaky behaviour not linked to the stream itself. One Mac OS X user in particular, using MacAmp, could play the stream, but the system kept a download dialog up the whole time! Most, however, complain that the applications flat won't play streams."
Zinf
VLC for Windows
OggDS plugin for Windows Media Player
Winamp 2.81
Whamb
MacAmp Lite, and the
Quicktime Plug-In
However, am still getting complaints of flaky behaviour not linked to the stream itself. One Mac OS X user in particular, using MacAmp, could play the stream, but the system kept a download dialog up the whole time! Most, however, complain that the applications flat won't play streams."
Winamp 5.05 plays ogg streams just fine..
My email addy? should be easy enough.
I use WinAmp 2.81 to play OGG streams.
The important thing with this one is to ensure you get the full version, not the lite one. The lite one doesn't have the necessary features.
You could try porting noXMMS, a console port of XMMS with no links to X. I don't know how tricky that would be though. I'm pretty sure it supports OGG streams though.
Otherwise Winamp is the obvious choice.
I'm a little peeved that xine doesn't play ogg streams properly. it stops playing after a song change or so. annoying.
Try JOrbis, the pure java Ogg Vorbis decoder as an applet.
If you MUST be different, try AAC, its lossless unlike ogg and gives better than cd quality by eliminating jitter.
Not only that, my good man! It is well known that AAC decodes to pointier ones and rounder zeros than OGG, for a richer, smoother and creamier digital playback experience. True audiophiles use nothing less.
try AAC, its lossless unlike ogg
Ogg can be lossless. You are mistaking Ogg for Vorbis.
If you MUST be different, try AAC, its lossless unlike ogg and gives better than cd quality by eliminating jitter.
Ah, nice, so I can finally get rid of that crappy quality of my CDs. Thanks man, gotta try that out!
:w!q
For instances like this where Linux has a good app, but Windows does not, could a WINE-like product be useful? I have a favourite Windows ad-filtering proxy that I've taken with me on my slow move to Linux. Perhaps a way to run Linux binaries on a Windows PC would be helpful to bridge a gap and even an aid to migration.
At Diamondway Teachings we use a simple Java client (don't remember which one) for the purpose. We're streaming Ogg, as it sounds LOTS better than MP3 at very low bitrates.
I'm in a Unix state of mind.
Streaming wirh vlc is really easy. Just follow the streaming howto pdf on their website. http://www.videolan.org
there are even clients available for almost all platforms and you may also stream videos!
If you're doing it to advocate Ogg Vorbis then rock on. If you're doing it because you want people to listen to your stuff, then maybe you should consider that the audience is used to mp3 streaming and already has the tools to do that, and offer them an mp3 feed in addition.
http://foobar2000.org
Simple. Works.
The author is the original author of the Winamp Vorbis support...
Why not ask both the people who listen to your stream what format they'd like the music in?
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I support spreading santorum
AAC has a lossless mode, but the default is NOT lossless. I'm good friends with a Dolby engineer that worked for the company while they developed AAC. One internal thing that they didn't want to let out is that AAC is better in every way than Dolby Digital AC3.
Besides, for good lossless, we have Ogg FLAC.
As far as the frame jitter issue goes, any decent CD player that has a 16-frame buffer (a whole whopping 256 bytes -- could be cache on the D/A chip) could effectively eliminate jitter. Period. In modern CD-players, it's not an issue, regardless of what your friendly neighborhood audio store will say. Same with "greening" cd's. It's psuedoscience that sounds feasible, but in reality is a load of crap.
Lex orandi, lex credendi.
You could try Foobar 2000 for Windows. ;)
I haven't tried any Ogg/Vorbis streaming with it, but please post
some links if you're not afraid of the hordes
FreedomAudio http://www.freedomaudio.com/ - uses the q public liscense, java, and runs inside the web browser. a few bigger internet radios use it 3WK Underground Radio Even if you are streaming just local bands you may be subject to RIAA intervention.
Quintessential player is my new favorite http://www.quinnware.com/ Win32 only..
Providing a pre-recorded stream in more than one lossy format would require twice as much storage on the server. Providing a live stream in more than one lossy format would require twice as much computing power. Some people can't afford to rent that.
Any /. reader could figure out how to get their computer to play any streaming format ever made, but that doesn't do anything for folks not as "enlightened" / "have more of a life" than us. While OGG is certainly a very nice format, if the basic premise of the streaming is to provide a service of interest to mainly non-technical folks -- like those *primarily* into 80's music -- then you might have to consider the possibility of not using the *coolest* format and opt instead for the most *available* format.
any decent CD player that has a 16-frame buffer (a whole whopping 256 bytes -- could be cache on the D/A chip) could effectively eliminate jitter.
"Could" doesn't necessarily mean "does". To get a product sold at Wal-Mart, the manufacturer has to cut costs each year, and sometimes that means using half-ass parts.
You are mistaking Ogg for Vorbis.
It's an easy mistake, as .ogg is the common file name suffix for files containing Vorbis audio, and most pocket-size players that can handle Ogg Vorbis can't handle Ogg FLAC. Besides, at current levels of residential bandwidth, lossless audio formats aren't suitable for streaming music.
"JustOgg 1.0.1 is a ogg vorbis decoder for PPC macs." JustOgg 1.0.1
That's why I said "decent". I'm talking mid-range or better -- component units from Denon, Sony, Pioneer, Yamaha, etc.
Basically, I use a fairly high-end pre-amp/processor with excellent DACs and SPDIF inputs. Thus, the only thing that matters to me in the CD player is build quality and SPDIF out. I have an inexpensive (was about $150 5 years back) 5-disc Yamaha CD player that's built like a tank.
Lex orandi, lex credendi.
Although it does require unix, and perl, and sox, and curl..... but it does allow you to set up live Ogg/Mp3 streaming from a standard web hosting account which allows you to run CGI scripts.
http://www.djsnm.com/cgicast/
The whole application is under 10kbytes and actually works surprisingly well once you figure out how to encode your audio of choice at the command line.
I have found wxMusic to be a nice player.
The only problem I have is that it needs some kind of runtime sound compression or auto-level.
it seems that most all players that now support mp3 support ogg (not hardware players) with the exception of windows media player which you need to manually install the codec for...
Get your torrents...
If you're trying to set up OGG streaming, use jetCast or something for Winamp-- it works with Winamp5 just fine.
Winamp5 will also play OGG streams just fine-- but I personally use FooBar2000.
For the record, I cannot believe how good OGG vorbis sounds at just 64kbps VBR. Beats the pants off of 128kbps CBR MP3 for streaming.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
i use coolplayer; it has native Ogg Vorbis support, and is open source. it's a standalone executable; no dlls or anything to mess with. download it, unzip it, hit "L", and you're ready to go.
i am a loser geek, crazy with an evil streak, yes i do believe there is a violent thing inside of me.
Be sure to donwnload the special installer, for the most ease-of-use.
I'll create an amusing sig when I have something meaningful to post.
Three comments to make. a) Real Player sucks and should be avoided. Anyone who'd play oggs in Real is missing the point. b) AAC is in no way lossless and is of lower quality IMHO than Ogg. c) AAC is not even close to CD quality.And I'd be willing to bet you don't know what jitter is.
http://www.illiminable.com/ogg
Graham