There is no DJ sitting behind some console somewhere. This is all computer
driven, baby! My expertly trained team of ninja electrons swiftly and silently
paws through my collection, randomly selecting songs, and plays them one after
another. But, if the ninjas are so inclined, they would be... well, I wouldn't
say "happy", let's say "willing"... they would be willing to take requets
from you puny humans. You can do so using the nifty web interface.
It should be pretty obvious how to browse through or search my collection.
As you might have guessed from the answer (a) above, I really started this for
my own use. I really meant it to be a private stream, only for my own use,
and maybe I could give the URL out to a few of my friends, etc. But, when
configuring the streaming software, I accidentally set the "public" flag on
the stream, which caused it to get listed by the directory servers. And
people started listening in. Due to terminal laziness on my part (see
below), I never fixed this, so I figured what the hell, I have tons of
bandwidth on my server, might as well let people listen in. So you all get
to share my little pet project with me. Isn't that special?
This also means that, should my whims change suddenly (and they have been
known to do so on occasion), I could suddenly tire of all this, and the
stream will randomly disappear one day. (Either that, or the Japanese
equivalent of the RIAA could suddenly find me and put the smackdown on
this. Or, because it suddenly got popular and a lot of people started
listening in, I could exceed my server bandwidth and suddenly get a bandwidth bill for over $9000.) Either way, don't come crying to me if suddenly things go away.
There's plenty of
other great
anime/Jpop streaming stations out there,
ones that are MUCH better than this steaming pile of crap. So why are you
still here??!! (Just kidding, don't go, wahhh!)
As to the "too small" bit, I don't have a whole lot of room on my virtual
hosting account, and my DSL connection at home is so pitifully slow that it
takes over 9000 years to upload just one album to my server (well okay,
not really, but it feels about like that)
As to the 0 kbps/0 min/0 sec thing, it's a bug in the MP3 parsing code. It doesn't properly grok MP3 files encoded with Variable Bit Rate (VBR), so it throws up its hands in frustration and returns these bogus values. However, the software is still able to play the song, it just can't ascertain the bit rate (because it's variable, duh) nor can it predict the length of the song based on that bitrate.
Strangely enough, even though a song is shown as all zeros, the progress bar
still seems to update itself in a reasonable facsimile of the song's actual
length. I haven't quite figured that one out yet... let's just shrug and
call it "magic" for now, shall we?
UPDATE 2011-06-14: I added code to print the percentage played numerically
as well. See, who says I never do anything for you?!
I know it DOES (or SHOULD, anyway) work on Firefox, on Mac, Windows, and Linux, and I know that
it does NOT work properly when using Safari, either on a Mac or a Windows PC.
I *think* it works OK on Internet Explorer in Windows, though I haven't booted
Windows in eons and don't have the desire to boot it to test this (also I'm
too lazy to do so). Not sure about Google Chrome, though since it's based
on WebKit, which Safari is also based on, I suspect it wouldn't work on Chrome
either. (2010-12-25: yup, confirmed. The progress bar does NOT work properly
in Google Chrome.)
On a Mac, odds are that you've already got the necessary software -
iTunes. iTunes does a great job
at playing back these streams. It should be set up so that iTunes will
automatically open and tune in the stream when you click on the absurdly
huge "Listen Now!" link on every page. If not, open iTunes, go to the
Preferences dialog, and in the "Advanced" tab, click the "Set" button
next to the "Use iTunes for Internet Playback" label.
iTunes is also available for Windows, as well. Go to the link above and
download it (it's free). Follow the same procedure as above to set it as
the default player for Internet streams (although the iTunes installer should
do this for you automatically). If, however, you'd rather not use iTunes,
then there are many other players that you can try. Two that you might
want to look at are
Windows Media Player and Winamp.
You probably already have Windows Media Player installed, but if not, you
can pretty easily install it through either Add/Remove Programs or Windows
Update (or Microsoft Update). There are probably a gazillion other programs
that can play this stuff back; look for a feature labeled "Internet streaming
radio playback" or "Shoutcast support" in the features list of your favorite
MP3 playback software.
Linux users: if you installed one of the popular Linux distros, such as
Ubuntu, you're probably already set. If not, you'll have to go trolling the
Internet (or your Linux distribution's package repository) for a program
that fits the above description. Again, look for "Internet streaming
radio", "Shoutcast", etc. support.
Alternatively, there are some Internet-enabled mobile devices that can also
play this stream. If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, check out the
excellent (and free!) FStream stream player.
Windows Mobile devices (Pocket PCs, Windows Mobile smartphones, etc.) should
be able to play them using the built-in Windows Media Player app.
Android users should take a look the (also free) A Online Radio, available in the Android App Store. (The page linked to above contains a QR code that, when scanned with a bar code reading program, will link you to the Android App Store page for the app.)
I understand that the web radio player built in to the Sony PlayStation
Portable (PSP) plays this stream back just fine (we have many regular
listeners with PSP's). (The PS3 may play it too, I dunno. I do have a
PS3, but I'm too lazy to try it out.)
Most fairly modern phones should have similar capability as well; check your
phone's manual and/or look in your phone/wireless carrier's Application Store
for a program that can play streaming Internet and/or Shoutcast streams.
New! We've made it even easier
for you to tune in to the stream! We now have a Flash based
playback widget thingie, that lets you play the stream from within your
web browser - no additional software required! Just click the absurdly huge
"Listen now using the
Web-based pop-out player" link. This will open a new browser window with the
Flash player in it. You will need a computer that supports Adobe Flash
(pretty much all of 'em do... with the notable exception of certain *cough*
uber-popular smart phones, and a certain tablet computer that will be
coming out shortly... ahem...), and you need to download and install the
free Flash player
plugin. Once you do, you're good to go! Now isn't that easy?!
Note: the Flash player can
sometimes be a bit cranky, and may suddenly stop playing on you, or suddenly
decide to reload the stream. I'm trying to nail down why this is happening,
but if this ever happens to you, clicking on the "play" button and/or closing
and reloading the plugin should do the trick.
Q1: Why, god, why?
A: I ask myself the same question every day. ...Oh, you meant, why did I
create this streaming Internet radio station thingy? Several reasons, really.
(a) I wanted access to my favorite Jpop/Jrock/anime/etc. songs no matter
where I am, no matter what computer/laptop/iPhone/iPod touch/other
Internet-connected device/etc. I happen to be using at the time;
(b) I wanted to fool around with Icecast (the streaming music server
that is behind all of this) and ArmiDJ (the set of scripts that handles
this whole playlist/queueing/request/etc. system); and (c) I was bored.
Yes rly. I was bored one night and thought to myself "Self, you have always
wanted to play around with this streaming music stuff... now's as good a
time as any." And myself replied "That's a great idea, self! (Besides, it's not like there's anything else to do around here...)" and began
pecking away at the keyboard. The rest, as they say, is history.
Q2: Why is the site so butt-ugly?
A: because: (a) I am *not* a web designer, and (b) I'm terminally lazy.
Seriously, I've got about a bazilion other things to do, including of course
the podcast, never mind Real Work(TM),
and prettifying
this site isn't really high on my list of priorities. And even if I wanted
to, and had the talent to do so, it would be extremely challenging work.
This site, and the music streaming software behind it, is really a loose
patchwork of html and perl code that's held together with prayers and
chewing gum, and doing something like adding nifty CSS stylesheets to prettify
and stylize everything would be just Too Hard(TM). So deal with it! :P
Q3: Why is the music collection so small/why does it suck/etc.?
A: It is what it is, okay? My tastes are... eclectic. Plus I don't know
that much about this stuff (yet... I'm learning...). And I don't have a whole
lot of money to throw around (and import CD's are expensive...). So I get
what I can, when I can, which isn't that much/often. Also there are periods
when I just can't/don't keep up with the J-music scene, which is why my
collection is... spotty. (i.e. I have a bunch of stuff from several years ago,
then a huge gap in years, and then a few things from the recent past, etc.)
Again, I'm working on it, and I'm learning, so deal.
Q4: Hey, moron, you got the name of such-and-such song/artist wrong! Fix it!
A: Yes, I know, I suck, and I'm an ignoramus. So sue me. :P Better yet
drop me a line (send an email to feedback@otakunopodcast.com) with the
current (incorrect) name of the song, and what its correct name should
be, and I'll fix it just as soon as I can get off my lazy duff.
(which could be a while... so don't hold your breath)
Q5: Your collection needs more X!
A: You did NOT just say "more cowbell", did you" Cuz if you did, I'd have to
pound you flat like a mochi cake. (Have you SEEN those hammers that they
use??! Wild!) Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, in your humble opinion, you
feel that this station needs more of a certain type of music... perhaps
a certain style in general (more Jpop! more Jrock! more ...whatever...!),
or perhaps more music by a specific artist. Well then, speak up!
Drop me an email at feedback@otakunopodcast.com
with your suggestions, and I'll do my best...
So what the hell is this podcast you keep talking about?
A: Why, I'm glad you asked! Check it out!
The website says Song X is 192/256/320/etc. kbps, but it sounds like crap!
What gives? -and- WTF? The website says that this song is 0 Kbps and lasts 0 min 0 sec??!
A: The system dynamically recompresses everything to 128k mp3 before it spits it back out at you. It does this to save bandwidth. So yes, the source material (the MP3 that's being played back at you) may be 192/256/320 kbps or whatever, but it's all being reencoded to 128k on the stream. That's also why it may sound crappy to you; we are decompressing an already compressed stream, then recompressing it. Each time you do this, you lose a bit of quality (sort of like how, every time you copy a fansub videotape, the quality gets that much crappier. Ahh, fansub videotapes... those were the days... *gets a far off look in his eyes*)
The progress bar is broken!
A: Yeah, I know. Some web browsers don't properly render the progress bar,
causing it to show bogus values (i.e. the song is almost over but the bar only
shows it as being 1/4 or 1/3 done). It's an HTML thing probably. Honestly
I don't know, and I am too lazy to find out.
What do I need in order to listen to this fine stream?
A: You will need a computer of some sort, running one of the common operating
systems (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/BSD all have software available for
them that can properly play back this stuff).
The Flash player keeps dropping out/restarting! What gives?
A: See above. It's a bug in either Flash or the particular flash player
widget I'm using. Deal with it, or get a real client.