Nice Streams!

I've spent a few hours over the last week or so ripping Christmas CD's. I'm not quite done and there are over 40 albums spanning almost a day an a quarter in playtime. But what to do with them? Well, I thought it might be nice to listen to it as I went from computer to computer, so I decided to try Apple's Darwin Streaming Server (DSS). DSS is the Free Software/Open Source sibling to QuickTime Streaming Server. It appears to have most of the same functionality (including QuickTime streaming).

One of its many features is IceCast compatible MP3 streaming. So, in a (nearly) effortless few minutes, I installed DSS, fixed my MP3 directory's permissions, used the great web-based GUI to select the proper folder, and clicked “play.” Now, I can connect from any system on the network and hear the continuous stream as if it was on the radio. Only its 100% good Christmas music and not some of the stuff that makes you wince in agony (the Christina Aguilera Christmas songs where the worst of the year, I think).

DSS's stream works just fine in iTunes (which shows the proper track information), XMMS (which does not show proper track information), Windows Media Player, and probably others. WMP seems to have a larger buffer and thus you don't want to have WMP playing the stream within listening distance of a system using XMMS or iTunes, but other than that, it works well on all three.

Now, I'll just do the same in a few weeks for my non-Christmas music and all will be well. If you'd like to try DSS, you can do so on Mac OS X, GNU/Linux or Windows. The server is available for a free download under the GNU Project approved Apple Public Source License (ASPL) 2.0, right here.