Running a ShoutCast server

Pre-requisites:

1. Windows XP Professional installed
2. Connected to the internet via high-speed internet connection
3. Find out your IP address and see if you can ping it from another computer outside of your network, if so, you're live to the web!

Shoutcast Installation and Setup:

1. Go to the http://www.shoutcast.com/download/serve.phtml and download the SHOUTcast WIN32 Console/GUI server Vx.x.xx.
2. Open the installation file and install it.
3. Next, download the Shoutcast DJ DSP tool http://www.shoutcast.com/downloads/shoutca...-2b-windows.exe and install it.
4. Next, we need to edit the shoutcast server configuration.
Go to your Start Menu > Programs > Shoutcast DNAS > Edit Shoutcast DNAS Settings
A text file will open, this the config file for the server.

Main things to worry about:

MaxUsers=XX - Maximum number of users
Password=XX -MUST BE SET! we will need this for the Winamp Shoutcast Console
PortBase=8000 (port that shoutcast stream will use, default is 8000, i leave it at that)

The other options are optional.

Once you set your options, save the file.

5. Now open Winamp.
Go to Preferences
Then go to the Plugins : DSP/Effect
Click the Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP plugin.

Once you do, you'll get a new SHOUTcast Source box.
Go to the Output Tab.
Make sure the Password is the same as the one we set in the server configuration in step 4. Also the port is the same too!.

If you have more than one pc running a server, put in the local IP address of the computer in Address, otherwise leave it as is.

Next, go to the Encoder Tab, choose the type you want, (MP3 Encoder), and the settings. I recommend 128kbps, 44,100kHz, Stereo

Running your SHOUTcast station
1. Start the SHOUTcast server
Start Menu > Programs > ShoutCase DNAS > Shoutcast DNAS (GUI)
A command box with status and info will show up now.

2, Open up winamp, and if the Shoutcast Source box does not open with winamp, go into winamps Preferences > Plugins : DSP/Effects and make sure the SHoutcast DSP plugin is highlighted.

3. Load up some songs and play them. To listen to your station from a different location, just open up a web browser and put in your ip address and :8080
(ie. www.mywebserver:8000 or 102.332.4.2:8000 )
Once you do, you'll be brought to the your shoutcast page and can listen to your station or see what is playing and so on.

Is it necessary to be using XP professional? Would regular old garden variety XP do the trick?

I've used Shoutcast with no issues on XP home SP2. Havent tried with SP3 yet though. You can easily get this kind of info from the official website or the forums at shoutcast.

It doesn't work on Windows Vista.