Knowledge base

Generally speaking, we are compatible with all software listed here: http://www.icecast.org/3rdparty.php but they don't all allow AAC stream for example.

Illustrated steps

Our guides for Edcast (standalone autonomous version) / Edcast (Winamp plugin version) / Nicecast / Sam Broadcaster  / Simplecast  / Mixxx

There exists also (without guide) StreamDiffusion / MB Recaster ...

More information

If you're using some software which isn't mentioned above, don't hesitate to comment on this FAQ and send us its name so we can add it to the list.

This guide explains how to transfer an Infomaniak product from one client account to another.

Generating the transfer link for the product to be transferred

1. Open this page with the login details for the account that contains the product(s) to be transferred (this will only function if you are in the right client account, connected with a user who has sufficient administrative rights)
   
2. Click Transfer products
3. Tick the product(s) to be transferred
4. Read and accept the Terms and conditions
5. Click Transfer
6. Copy the transfer link or send it to the email address of your choice

Importing the product into the chosen account

Open the link you have copied or from the email with the login details of the client account

1. If necessary, choose the destination account using the drop-down menu
2. Read and accept the Terms and conditions
3. Click Receive products (if the button is not clickable, make sure you have selected the destination account)

To upload metadata after configuring your encoder, you may:

• configure Edcast or other software (click here)
• provide the URL of a script that supplies the text to be displayed (for our Flash player only)
• upload information (where you or WinAmp, SamBroadcaster etc, know what you are broadcasting) to the server using the script below.

Actions to be carried out

Simply perform a GET request to the following URL:
https://statslive.infomaniak.ch/updatemetadata.php?radio=...&password=...&push=...

the "radio" parameter is the mount point, e.g. yourfmradio-64.mp3
The "password" parameter is the password supplied in "Webmediastats access link"
the "push" parameter is the metadata that you wish to have displayed

The URL is available from your management interface by going to Radio -> Configuration -> Additional Info .

More information

For developers coding their own player, there are various libraries available to fetch and display the uploaded information, as such data is sent as part of the stream data. The other option is to retrieve the stream info on the server itself. 

In addition to the broadcasting of your stream, we authorize the relay of any kind of stream (any webradio for instance). In that case, we no longer intercept the radio from an encoder that connects to our master server, but relay the stream that another server broadcasts.

Actions to be carried out

Log in to your administration panel
Go to your stream configuration
Activate the stream relay under Advanced Settings

The setup requires 3 fields:

1. server name
2. port
3. mount point

If the stream you need to relay is made up like this: http://server.com:82/music.mp3, then specify:

1. server.com
2. 82
3. music.mp3

That being said, in some cases (such as in the example of the video below), the mount point field can be empty, and the extension isn't always necessary. If there isn't any port number in the URL with http, simply type "80".

Illustrated steps

Configuring a relay

More information

This function is available for "normal" streams just as well as for spare streams (Backup Streams), under "Stream format" and then by clicking on the edit icon on the right of the stream chart.

It is necessary to interupt the encoder for the relay to take over.

You have the possibility of adding a jingle or introductory announcement, before the steam begins playing for the listener. You need to load an MP3 file from your hard disk, directly from within the administration console. There is a field available for this purpose below the stream to which you wish to add an introduction. This is only possible with your MP3 radio streams (this is why the field doesn't show below an AAC stream). All listeners who connect to the streaming server will hear the introduction before being able to access the live streaming.

The first time you load an MP3 as an intro file, you will need to wait until the following day for this MP3 to be played before the stream. However, once the MP3 file has been loaded, you will have the possibility of uploading a new one, and the result shall be audible after a few minutes already.

This intro should preferably not last longer than 15 seconds so that listeners are not obliged to wait too long before they have access to the actual streaming. Make absolutely sure that the MP3 intro file you created has exactly the same bit rate (kbps), the same sample rate (kHz) and the same mode (mono/stereo) as your usual streaming.

Here are the guidelines given by Apple regarding the requirements for adding your stream to the iTunes directory. This information should be supplied in the e-mail that you need to send them.


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

* Streams must broadcast at a bitrate of 128k or higher, except for spoken word such as   News/Talk, Sports/Radio and non-music Comedy where AAC/AAC+ streams 64k and higher are acceptable.
* Stations can list only one bitrate and one genre.
* Stations using names other than their own to be listed higher in the directory or twice in the directory will be rejected.

THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED RESPONSE. If you have already sent new submissions or updates, they will be processed within approximately 5 business days.

TO ADD, EDIT, OR TROUBLESHOOT YOUR LISTING

1) All emails must have one of these three subject lines as follows:

* Station Submission: (station name) (ex: Station Submission: Hits Radio)
* Station Update: (station name, exactly as it appears in iTunes)
* Other Inquiry: briefly state issue here

2) If you have new submissions or updates for multiple stations, please forward all requests at once, and in one email.  Please attach the information in a document (Excel, Pages) if there are more than three updates or submissions.

3) We will only accept requests from the contact that we have on file for the station or a station owner. Listeners, friends, station personnel not listed with us cannot make requests on behalf of a station.

4) Station submission requests must contain all of the following information:

iTunes Store login account/email address
Station Name (this must be the name as it is used in your station’s official branding; you may not change your name to start with 'A' to be listed higher unless it is a legitimate part of your station's name)
City/State/Country of Origin
Language of Broadcast
Stream Type (MP3, AAC or AAC+)
Station genre; must be a genre listed in iTunes 10 (sorry, only one genre per station)
Explicit material? (Yes or No)
Website for station
Short station description (to be shown in tuner)
Contact name, email and phone number
Bitrate (sorry, only one bitrate per station)
Audio Stream IP/URL (sorry, only one url per station)
Cover Art: attach a 1400 x 1400 JPG or PNG image using RGB colorspace to your submission form.

If you are a Live365 station, make your iTunes submission request by emailing iTunes@live365.com.

5) Station update requests must contain the following information:

Station name (this MUST be the name as it exists in iTunes)
Contact person name, email and phone number
The specific update you'd like us to make ONLY (do not resubmit information that is remaining unchanged)

6) Further notes:

Please ensure that your station stream works properly in iTunes:

      * Open iTunes
      * Select 'Open Audio Stream' from the 'Advanced' menu
      * Enter your audio stream URL

Remember: only .m3u, .mp3 and .pls formats are compatible with iTunes. IP addresses (with these format streams) are also acceptable. .asx, .wma, .qtl and other various formats are NOT compatible and should not be submitted for consideration.

iTunes does not guarantee specific times of updates, station addition or station maintenance.

Additions and changes may only be made to the directory included with iTunes 10. No changes can be made to older versions of iTunes. If you do not see your station, first ensure you are using the latest available version of iTunes, available here:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Station names, descriptions, and URLs may be edited to conform to our editorial and technical standards.

We may remove your station at any time, without notice. We may not re-add a station depending on the issues surrounding its takedown. In most circumstances, we will attempt to contact you when we remove a station, using the contact info you provided to us.

Please allow up to 5 business days for your station to be added before inquiring about its status.

Thank you for your interest in iTunes Radio.

Regards,

iTunes Radio Team
itunesradio@apple.com

The textual information that you wish to serve up must be in a file whose location is published. Some applications automatically store data relating to clips in a file; the text must be in raw format but accents are supported (be careful with coding... unicode, ASCII, UTF-8 work).

This feature must be enabled in your configuration options (please refer to the relevant software's official documentation for more info). However, this is not necessarily the case: some software does not offer this feature.

This is how the mechanism for exporting title and artist information works:

• The radio streaming software exports (if the option is enabled) the title and artist name in a file
• The encoder retrieves the information from this file and packages it into the audio stream metadata (if the option is enabled)
• The encoder then sends the stream to our servers
• The stream is then served to web users via the player
• The player then interprets the metadata and displays it to users

Steps to be taken

Using Edcast
Go the Metadata settings (Fig. 1) and specify a URL (Fig. 2) pointing to the file or a location on the hard disk. You may specify how often the file will be reloaded. If this works, you will see the information displayed (Fig. 1).

Using the Flash player provided by us
In this case, go to the admin console for your stream, then go to Flash Player -> Advanced Settings -> External Metadata and you will be able to specify the URL where the file may be retrieved.
The principle is the same as detailed above, except that the encoder does not retrieve the file containing the title and artist name. Instead, the Flash player periodically downloads the file directly in order to display its content.
Note that the disadvantage of this method is that only the Flash player will be able to retrieve this information; if the stream is downloaded via an application such as Winamp or VLC, the title and artist will not be displayed.

Illustrated steps

fig.1

fig.2

To find out more

For various reasons, Flash does not allow certain files to be executed or downloaded from a domain other than the domain from which they are requested. Therefore, you must place a cross domain policy file in order to grant access to domains outside the domain in question. Create a crossdomain.xml file containing the following code and place it in the root of the site hosting the metadata file.

<code><?xml version="1.0"?><!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy><cross-domain-policy> <allow-access-from domain="*.infomaniak.ch" secure="true" /></cross-domain-policy></code>

It's also possible for you to design your own flash player if none of the available suit you.

Adobe Flash Player doesn't allow to connect and read AAC audio streams before it has been rebundled in an FLV streaming format. That's why you need to add '?type=.flv' as a parameter to indicate to the Icecast server that you wish to use an flv 'wrapper' for the current AAC+ stream.

The connecting functions are directly included in Flash, all you need to do is to log in using as an example the following code:

  ...
 //Creating the connection
 var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
 nc.connect(null);
   ...
 //we start the audio broadasting
 var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
 ns.play("http://alpes1gap.ice.infomaniak.ch/alpes1gap-high.aac?type=.flv");   // Logging address example

  For more information, we suggest you read the official documentation.

If you find there is an explosion in the number of connections, it may be a sign that listeners have had more problems this month and have had to connect several times; note the number of connections with unique IPs. It gives a good indication of the source of the problem if they are stable. The Problems may be arising from our Icecast servers for example, but also upstream from a transmission problem (radio signal is interrupted, due to a problem with the encoding server or with the Internet connection) or else problems downstream on the listeners' side (not enough bandwidth, lines overloaded, interruption in the Internet connection). We don't have the means at this time of investigating what might have happened several months ago.

The results between NetMetrix (WEMF) (Or other audience analyzer) and your own statistics can vary; NetMetrics has another calculation method than that which we use, apparently based on the events in the player itself. The notion of unique then takes on a different dimension altogether.

Statistics are generally very peculiar. You can use 3 stats applications and obtain 3 different results. Learn more

There can be various reasons for disconnections occurring. If there are no apparent issues with our infrastructure or the Internet, please firstly check your encoder configuration in accordance with the instructions given in the corresponding guide.

You might also check that upstream components are working properly:

• if you are streaming an FM radio, check that your capture board is working correctly
• if you are broadcasting a web radio, check that your streaming software (WinAmp, SamBroadcaster, Station Playlist, etc.) is working correctly

Ensure that you have not scheduled a daily restart of your stream (in the general settings for your radio) or if you really need this, specify a time that will not affect the majority of your listeners depending on which country they are listening from. Note, however, that a weekly restart takes place just before dawn on Tuesdays (Swiss time).

If may be that your ADSL line is no longer able to keep up with the data being sent to the server. You should have a minimum equivalent upstream bandwidth (or "upload" speed) to match the total of all streams being uploaded to the server (e.g. for one radio streamed at 128kbs plus another streamed at 48kbs, this gives 130 + 50 = 180kbs).

Generally, radio stations have a dedicated ADSL line for uploading their audio streams to avoid all of the available upstream bandwidth being used up whenever, for example, a large e-mail with an attachment is sent at the same time (bearing in mind that upload speed is never the same as download speed) which would then saturate the line in the upload direction and cause streams to break up (during encoding), meaning in turn that users experience this breakup as the stream is downloaded.

Your ISP may also cause an outage on the line which, however short, will also cause a break in the radio stream.

If your encoder (Oddcast/Edcast etc) is configured to upload metadata to our servers via a text file hosted with another provider and the latter experiences disruption, the stream may also be disrupted!

Also, pay attention to the load on your computer's CPU: make sure that this is not the bottleneck by checking that you have enough memory if you are carrying out other operations in addition to the AAC stream encoding, which is a particularly memory-hungry task!

Note that if all streaming goes down, our teams are notified automatically and will take action immediately. We log all connections and disconnections to the encoder on our incoming stream server and will send you an e-mail notification.

The diagnostics page in your control panel provides access to various information:
The "Network Status" section provides information on the overall status of our infrastructure.
The "Incoming Streaming Servers" section tests that incoming and outgoing streaming servers are working correctly (more information).
Finally, the "Internet Connection" section allows you to test the connection between your server and our infrastructure.