More Goodies From The Bandwidth Fairy

With the installation of our extra bandwidth proceeding swimmingly, we can really start rolling out the goodies for our online listeners.

First off, if you're listening to WFMU's live MP3 streams, the Accuplaylist info will now start appearing in the player itself. This is only true if the DJ at the time is actually doing an Accuplaylist (typing in the names of the songs and artists they play on the air in real time as their show proceeds). There is a page which lists all Accuplaylist DJs here.

In the past, you would've needed a separate web page open to see the song title info. Now you can see it within your player, whether you're using Winamp, iTunes, or Realplayer (and my condolences to you if you're still using Realplayer). The song titling will also appear in other, less popular players.

Moving our streams away from Live365 will also mean that our live MP3 stream will hopefully stop experiencing those outages which had been happening with increasing frequency.

Later this year we are going to experiment with changing the live MP3 stream to a variable bit rate stream, which means that the fidelity will improve for people with good solid broadband connections. Also on the agenda of the Bandwidth Fairy: experimenting with the new format of AAC Plus, which should give improved stream fidelity for all broadband listeners.

Comments

[travel today]

I had to laugh at the comment "start to roll out the goodies..." I haven't been out in a month and a half and most of the time disabled due to sonic enchanment. If it gets any better I may forget to eat.

[Rob S.]

You gotta love the 9-noon shift with their dedication to the accu-playlist!

[sighmoan]

I'm still waiting for people like Rex and Bronwyn C. to get a handle on the idea of commitment to a **weekly** playlist. Promises, promises!

[Mark]

This is great news! Well done!

[Steve Barton]

Ken: One of the goodies has not been working for me, the Random Song Generator. Playing the whole list or playing the individual songs both get about 1 or 2 seconds of audio followed by 45 minutes or 4 minutes (list or song) of silence from my Real Player. Has happened every time over a couple of days. Have never had a hitch with any other streaming content from FMU. Any other problems with the RSG?

(being able to listen to 7SD on podcast while doing my 30 minute commute in Atlanta is one of the joys of my life now -- thank you, thank you, thank you) -- Steve Barton

[Station Manager Ken]

Steve - Yes, we've received a few reports like this. You can e-mail Kenzo with a specific report - what kind of player, browser, operating system you are using. E-mail Kenzo here.