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How much bandwidth does it take for a decent stream?
A quality music stream is should be a minimum of 128k for near CD quality. Near FM quality is about 64k.

Do I need a dedicated server?
Depends. If this is a full-time stream then it is highly recommended.

Any special requirements for hardware?
Depends on your audio source, etc. Will you be doing any live programming? Will you be playing CDs or only streaming audio files.

Do I need special licenses as a home user?
If you are doing original content, meaning you created it and own all rights, you can stream to your hearts content. However, if you are going to stream music, you will be subject to royalties. If you are streaming other audio produced by someone else, there will definitely be Copyright issues.

Anyone ever tried this?
Yes. It isn't that hard and there are plenty of online resources to help you.

posted September 28, 2007

There's no simple answer to this - everything depends on the scale of the operation. You have a number of decisions to make, but start with the following:

1. Who is your target audience? The bandwidth available to them will affect your choice of formats and bitrates to support.

2. What size of audience do you envisage reaching? This affects the bandwidth capacity you will need.

3. What streaming formats do you wish to support? Real, Windows Media, Mp3, Mp4/AAC/AAC+ etc etc Think of the typical client platform and what software may or may not be available.

posted September 28, 2007