Forum Sponsors

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-01 17:53:45

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Topic: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

When I fill up my stream (every day), it simply doesn't play, giving the impression we're not streaming.

I'd love to add more slots, but I simply don't have the money yet. I hope to change that soon.

Until then, I'd like a way for listeners to at least hear a "we're sorry, we're full... please check back later!" message.

My thought was to edit my playlists for LoudCity & make the 2nd entry an mp3 file (hosted on my own site) with the message.

Two questions:

1) Will this work with all of the players (WMP, Winamp, & iTunes)?

2) Is there a better way?

Thanks for all your help!

AJ · 2010-03-01 18:38:13

AJ
Member
Offline

From: Va
Registered: 2006-10-07
Posts: 554

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

From what I understand if your listed with itunes and edit your play list to play a mp3 it wont play it .It will try the stream if its a no go then nothing ...

k94rocks.com the station that Rocks the net.

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-01 18:52:59

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

That was my suspicion on iTunes... to tell you the truth, I'm not AS concerned with iTunes listeners knowing nothing's wrong as I am the others who discover the site through my webpage or LoudCity.

In other words, if I can update the Winamp / WMP / RealMedia links & have them hear "we're full" and the iTunes users just either get in or don't, I'm OK with that.

Thanks for the info!

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-01 23:02:26

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

OK, new challenge: isn't there a way for me to edit my playlists?

I can't seem a find a way to add a "please try again later" file to the playlists.

AJ · 2010-03-01 23:35:37

AJ
Member
Offline

From: Va
Registered: 2006-10-07
Posts: 554

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Thats do able your itunes file wont be the same as the rest you will have to make a new file for windows asx and one for real player and one for winamp..if you want you can send me the info to k94rocks1@aol.com will need your url for the we are full file and your stream links Ill fix it for you free have it for you Tues.

k94rocks.com the station that Rocks the net.

**John** · 2010-03-01 23:38:45

John
Administrator
Offline

Registered: 2005-12-07
Posts: 1,676

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

blacklightradio wrote:

2) Is there a better way?

Yes!! Definitely. I never advise turning away listeners. Better to set a listener timer and kick those who have been connected for too long.

Simple way is to set a hard value in Shoutcast like 4.5 hrs (good for start-of-work 'til lunch hour)

Hard way is to run an app that senses when you're close to full and starts kicking those who have been connected the longest

Either way, you're better off dumping a few folks who have been connected for some time than turning away people who might potentially be just now discovering your station.

/2cents

**audioprobe** · 2010-03-02 17:40:23

audioprobe
Member
Offline

From: Tennessee
Registered: 2010-01-17
Posts: 107

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

This certainly isn't a permanent fix, but... I currently have a surplus of bandwidth, so I can give you 30 slots at 96kb/s (free as in beer ) for a few weeks if you want them. Of course this assumes I don't suddenly become wildly popular (yeah right...).

-Nathan Skelton

AudioProbe.net - Playing the best music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and more...commercial free, high quality 192kb/s, and firewall friendly port 80!
[img]http://audioprobe.net/signature.png[/img]

**oldhippie** · 2010-03-02 20:00:37

oldhippie
Member
Offline

Registered: 2005-12-24
Posts: 1,161

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

I use R.I.P. and have it set to kick people after 10 hrs, whcih I can lower when I need to. It works fine.

Trip

Peace Out Radio
Peace Out Radio On Facebook
Military Service

**trprock** · 2010-03-02 22:38:32

trprock
Member
Offline

From: Midwest
Registered: 2008-10-29
Posts: 100

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

oldhippie wrote:

I use R.I.P. and have it set to kick people after 10 hrs, whcih I can lower when I need to. It works fine.
Trip

Please tell me more about R.I.P..website or something...thanks

www.trprock.com Rockin' The Internet

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-03 02:20:41

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

That's what I love about this community... so many willing to help!

(Sorry about the delayed reply; came down with a cold last night... wash your mouse after you finish reading this forum...)

Audioprobe, that's an amazing & generous offer... how could I say no? (How can you afford to do that?) Could you e-mail me at postmaster at blacklightradio dot com with details?

John, in fact my provider recommended the same thing, although they recommended 10 hours. If I'm able to hook up with Audioprobe, maybe I won't need to shorten listening times... if I fill THAT up (or when he wants his bandwidth back) I make go to that 4.5 hr limit you're talking about.

What I didn't like was that it started to connect... then stopped. It looked like we weren't on the air at all. Why come back to a dead station? At least, "please try again" gives them reason to believe they can hear it later. Not ideal, I know, but I'm finding it challenging adjusting to this sudden burst in popularity.

AJ, thank you SO much for your offer of help. Once I get things squared away with Audioprobe, I'll e-mail you the info. I appreciate it so much!

(BTW, I feel like I could CREATE the playlists just fine, I just can't figure out how to get them to LoudCity... do I upload the playlists to my website, then put in the address to the playlist as the address of my server here at LoudCity? I'm obviously a little confused...)

Thank you again, everyone!!!

**audioprobe** · 2010-03-03 10:45:49

audioprobe
Member
Offline

From: Tennessee
Registered: 2010-01-17
Posts: 107

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

blacklightradio wrote:

That's what I love about this community... so many willing to help!
(Sorry about the delayed reply; came down with a cold last night... wash your mouse after you finish reading this forum...)
Audioprobe, that's an amazing & generous offer... how could I say no? (How can you afford to do that?) Could you e-mail me at postmaster at blacklightradio dot com with details?
John, in fact my provider recommended the same thing, although they recommended 10 hours. If I'm able to hook up with Audioprobe, maybe I won't need to shorten listening times... if I fill THAT up (or when he wants his bandwidth back) I make go to that 4.5 hr limit you're talking about.
What I didn't like was that it started to connect... then stopped. It looked like we weren't on the air at all. Why come back to a dead station? At least, "please try again" gives them reason to believe they can hear it later. Not ideal, I know, but I'm finding it challenging adjusting to this sudden burst in popularity. :)
AJ, thank you SO much for your offer of help. Once I get things squared away with Audioprobe, I'll e-mail you the info. I appreciate it so much!
(BTW, I feel like I could CREATE the playlists just fine, I just can't figure out how to get them to LoudCity... do I upload the playlists to my website, then put in the address to the playlist as the address of my server here at LoudCity? I'm obviously a little confused...)
Thank you again, everyone!!!

How can I do this? I've come upon sort of a time shortage and really haven't had the chance to do much with any of my projects. I already have the capability and I'm not using it for much of anything at this point, so I might as well let my extra resources be used for something good.

If I understand what you're asking, you're wanting to modify the files users call to tune into your station? If so, adding the files works the same way as uploading your tune-in page. If you're interested in making custom files, you can look at the files from other stations, like mine for instance and go from there (or the ones that are already generated for you on the Loudcity station tune in page):

http://loudcity.com/stations/audioprobe-net/files/show/audioprobe.pls

Here are the guts:

[playlist]
numberofentries=2

File1=http://listen.audioprobe.net:80/
Title1=AudioProbe.net (192kb/s MP3 High Quality Port 80)
Length1=-1

File2=http://listen.audioprobe.net:82/
Title2=AudioProbe.net (32kb/s AAC Low Bandwidth Friendly)
Length2=-1

Version=2

You can look at any of them simply by opening them up in notepad or wordpad (and edit them this way as well). I suppose you could also put them on your main website depending on how you interpret the rules.

I'm working on composing an email, so you should receive that shortly.

-Nathan Skelton

AudioProbe.net - Playing the best music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and more...commercial free, high quality 192kb/s, and firewall friendly port 80!
[img]http://audioprobe.net/signature.png[/img]

**oldhippie** · 2010-03-03 11:31:24

oldhippie
Member
Offline

Registered: 2005-12-24
Posts: 1,161

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

trprock wrote:

oldhippie wrote:
I use R.I.P. and have it set to kick people after 10 hrs, whcih I can lower when I need to. It works fine.
Trip
Please tell me more about R.I.P..website or something...thanks

I'll email you.

Trip

Peace Out Radio
Peace Out Radio On Facebook
Military Service

**Project 42** · 2010-03-03 12:34:08

Project 42
Member
Offline

From: Texas
Registered: 2010-02-04
Posts: 56

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Interesting thread! Is there a way to set a "kick-off" value for the Icecast2 servers/streams?

Project 42 Radio -- The old stuff. The new stuff. All the stuff in-between.

**FS-Randy** · 2010-03-03 13:38:34

FS-Randy
Hosting Provider
Offline

From: WDC, San Diego
Registered: 2006-05-20
Posts: 305

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Project 42 wrote:

Interesting thread! Is there a way to set a "kick-off" value for the Icecast2 servers/streams?

Yes, specifically, you would use the <max-listener-duration> directive if self-hosting or configure it via your hosts control panel in the case of hosted Icecast (non-loudcity hosting that is).

Managed Hosting - Saving the world from buffering and downtime - one stream at a time!
A LoudCity hosting partner.

**audioprobe** · 2010-03-03 14:28:40

audioprobe
Member
Offline

From: Tennessee
Registered: 2010-01-17
Posts: 107

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

audioprobe wrote:

I'm working on composing an email, so you should receive that shortly.

Apparently said email didn't send earlier. Sorry about that. You should have it now. **scolds Outlook**

-Nathan Skelton

AudioProbe.net - Playing the best music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and more...commercial free, high quality 192kb/s, and firewall friendly port 80!
[img]http://audioprobe.net/signature.png[/img]

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-03 17:11:15

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

ROTFL... I was wondering about that, but I'm in a NyQuil-induced stupor... how should I know if you sent it or not? :-D

(That's also why I don't use Outlook, but Outlook Express, now Windows Mail or something similar... me & Outlook have NEVER gotten along...)

No rush, I'm just here in the corner, popping cough drops like they were pills, if pills were candy... er, something... and drowning in my own snot...

(Sorry if you were eating just then...)

Carry on!

**DaveCT** · 2010-03-03 17:15:27

DaveCT
Member
Offline

From: Norwalk, CT
Registered: 2006-02-08
Posts: 373

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

blacklightradio wrote:

... and drowning in my own snot...

Can I tell you about the things I was coughing up after I had lung surgery in November? Perhaps not...

Dave
Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (Powered by StationPlaylist)
Listen to "The Magic Of The 80's" Saturday's 8pm EDT and Sunday's 12pm EDT

**audioprobe** · 2010-03-03 18:38:41

audioprobe
Member
Offline

From: Tennessee
Registered: 2010-01-17
Posts: 107

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

blacklightradio wrote:

ROTFL... I was wondering about that, but I'm in a NyQuil-induced stupor... how should I know if you sent it or not? :-D
(That's also why I don't use Outlook, but Outlook Express, now Windows Mail or something similar... me & Outlook have NEVER gotten along...)

Nyquil sounds like fun, LOL.

Well, it's not really Outlook's fault that in all this time I've never actually used that account to send anything. But it is kind of its fault that it didn't announce to me that it had trouble sending the message.

Anyway, all fixed now.

blacklightradio wrote:

No rush, I'm just here in the corner, popping cough drops like they were pills, if pills were candy... er, something... and drowning in my own snot...
(Sorry if you were eating just then...)
Carry on!

No worries...I just got over a similar sickness. Be careful, eating too many cough drops acts as a laxative!

DaveCT wrote:

Can I tell you about the things I was coughing up after I had lung surgery in November? Perhaps not...

My imagination has already taken care of this.

-Nathan Skelton

AudioProbe.net - Playing the best music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and more...commercial free, high quality 192kb/s, and firewall friendly port 80!
[img]http://audioprobe.net/signature.png[/img]

**ALRhhhug** · 2010-03-03 20:45:42

ALRhhhug
Member
Offline

From: Brunswick, GA
Registered: 2006-02-11
Posts: 1,053

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

DaveCT wrote:

Can I tell you about the things I was coughing up after I had lung surgery in November? Perhaps not...

Please don't.

Altared Lives Holy Hip Hop Radio -The MOST variety of Gospel Hip Hop on the Internet!

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-09 01:57:34

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Please forgive me for this question, I've been living in a bottle of NiQuil for the past week, so I'm feeling VERY stupid... please be gentle with your answer:

If I'm currently streaming to host A, & I want to add host B, would it be better to set up another encoder to hit host B from the source (doubling my bandwidth out of here) or to use one of my slots on host A to feed host B?

I'm wondering in particular (this is where I get VERY stupid) if feeding B from A will result in any sound degradation.

...Of course, if you say "feed B from A," then I'll have to get stupider and say, "how do I do that?"

Sorry for being so dense, I've just never done a setup quite like this before.

ANY help is appreciated.

**John** · 2010-03-09 08:55:40

John
Administrator
Offline

Registered: 2005-12-07
Posts: 1,676

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Feed B from A. No sound degradation at all.

Relay settings is what you're after if Shoutcast.

**audioprobe** · 2010-03-09 13:27:43

audioprobe
Member
Offline

From: Tennessee
Registered: 2010-01-17
Posts: 107

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

The way I understand it is that Server B will act as a client to Server A. I think this only requires a change to the configuration file on Server B as long as relaying is enabled on Server A (this is the default setting). I'm thinking that this is all that needs to be changed.

; RelayPort and RelayServer specify that you want to be a relay server.
; Relay servers act as clients to another server, and rebroadcast.
; Set RelayPort to 0, RelayServer to empty, or just leave these commented
; out to disable relay mode.
; RelayPort=8000
; RelayServer=192.168.1.58

-Nathan Skelton

AudioProbe.net - Playing the best music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and more...commercial free, high quality 192kb/s, and firewall friendly port 80!
[img]http://audioprobe.net/signature.png[/img]

**blacklightradio** · 2010-03-10 04:02:43

blacklightradio
Member
Offline

From: Owasso, Oklahoma USA
Registered: 2007-02-18
Posts: 222

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

A HUGE thank you to audioprobe who has more than doubled our capacity... this is a tremendous help... who knows how many we may get listening today!

I was able to add his server in my LoudCity server list (with mine still first) and load it in Winamp & Windows Media Player. In each case it created a playlist of my server followed by his server... meaning when I'm full, he'll be able to take the overflow.

I suspect it will work in RealPlayer, but I can't stand Real so it's not on my system. I figure iTunes is out of luck as well, but that's O.K.... hopefully listeners will discover they can come to my website, & then my LoudCity page, & get in when they can't through iTunes.

I know it's temporary, but it is a great relief to be able to let in as many listeners as want to hear what we're doing. It's takes eyeballs, or in this case eardrums, to be able to generate any income to cover expenses.

If these new slots increase our website traffic enough, hopefully we'll get to a point where we can pay for these slots on our own... and hopefully many more.

I offered to promote his station & / or services, and he declined. I truly admire the commitment to the community shown by audioprobe!

As you can tell, I'm very happy... today could be a BIG day for us!

*happy dance*

Forum Sponsors

Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

Posts [ 23 ]

1 Topic by blacklightradio 2010-03-01 17:53:45

Topic: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

2 Reply by AJ 2010-03-01 18:38:13

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

3 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-01 18:52:59

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

4 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-01 23:02:26

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

5 Reply by AJ 2010-03-01 23:35:37

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

6 Reply by John 2010-03-01 23:38:45

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

7 Reply by audioprobe 2010-03-02 17:40:23

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

8 Reply by oldhippie 2010-03-02 20:00:37

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

9 Reply by trprock 2010-03-02 22:38:32

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

10 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-03 02:20:41

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

11 Reply by audioprobe 2010-03-03 10:45:49

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

12 Reply by oldhippie 2010-03-03 11:31:24

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

13 Reply by Project 42 2010-03-03 12:34:08

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

14 Reply by FS-Randy 2010-03-03 13:38:34

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

15 Reply by audioprobe 2010-03-03 14:28:40

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

16 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-03 17:11:15

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

17 Reply by DaveCT 2010-03-03 17:15:27

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

18 Reply by audioprobe 2010-03-03 18:38:41

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

19 Reply by ALRhhhug 2010-03-03 20:45:42

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

20 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-09 01:57:34

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

21 Reply by John 2010-03-09 08:55:40

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

22 Reply by audioprobe 2010-03-09 13:27:43

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists

23 Reply by blacklightradio 2010-03-10 04:02:43

Re: Providing A "We're Full" message using playlists