NPR Digital Services Blog

Your stream is offline and you’ve rebooted the encoder, but it still isn’t streaming. There IS one more thing you can check on yourself, if you’re so inclined.

Check Winamp, and make sure the ‘Output‘ tab is selected. There’s an odd bug with the Shoutcast plugin for Winamp. It doesn’t always establish an upstream connection if a tab other than the ‘Output’ tab is selected.

It’s best practice for anyone working on the encoder to always make sure that the ‘Output’ tab is selected before they leave the machine.

We can also edit the encoder configuration files to put a workaround for that into place as well, so if this happens to your encoder, let us know and we’ll make that adjustment.

Don’t know what any of this means? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Just write to us at help AT publicinteractive.com.

What should you do if you think your web stream is down or offline?

1. Make sure your encoder is on. I know, I know, this seems basic, but we have run into more than one instance in which they have been accidentally unplugged or lost power. It’s a little embarrassing for everyone.
2. Make sure your encoder is receiving an audio feed.  It has happened. Again, see above.
3. Please verify that the stream is offline. Try to listen from more than one computer, location or device. If you can hear it from one, but not another, then the stream is online, and the problems lie elsewhere. Check with your local IT support or internet provider.
4. Are you hearing just the gateway/intro, but not the stream? If so, read more about that here.
5. Always try rebooting (restarting) the streaming encoding computer first. This solves many problems.

To maintain your streaming encoder and provide ongoing support, we need to be able to access it remotely.

We use LogMeIn, which is easier to use than VNC (the old way, for those of you that go way back).

While some of you have LogMeIn already set up on your encoder (thank you to those who recently set this up), if you’ve been using our live streaming service for more than 9 months, you may not.
To see if it’s installed, look for the blue and white circular icon in the system tray (bottom bar, lower right).

How many people are listening to your stream? How can you see what your peak listening is?

We offer live streaming reports via our streaming provider (CDN). They are found at http://control.llnw.com/portal/login.do  Contact us for your log in information, if you don’t have it.

You can set things up so a summary report is automatically emailed to you each month. We recommend that.

After you’ve logged in, click ‘Reports’  at the top.

LIVE STREAM MONTHLY SUMMARY DATA

• In the left column, you’ll see a link for ‘Traffic’.
• Click Monthly Summary.
• Then, in the middle section click ‘History’ link.
• There’s a link to export this report at the top right
• You can also change the date range to see weekly, daily, etc.

Email Options: In the right part of the page, you’ll see Email Options. Click this link, and fill out the form. Hint: choose monthly

Good news, Public Interactive streaming customers!  You will see streaming discounts ranging from 10-40% beginning April 1st – no foolin’!

It’s also a great opportunity for your station to upgrade your stream quality to the next bit rate and increase capacity (the streaming pack, e.g. 100 or 200 peak listeners, etc.) to avoid overage.

If you’re a current customer, and you have questions about how you can upgrade stream quality or capacity or how our new streaming prices will affect your station, contact Suzanne Brendle.

Not a current customer of Public Interactive streaming and want to get in on the action?  Contact Marketing and Sales Manager Joe Orlando, at jorlando@publicinteractive.com or 888-729-8809.

There are lots of great reasons besides the price!

• Reliability and Quality: A global and redundant infrastructure of interconnecting servers around the world. Our network optimized for quality, scalability and reliability gives your online members a quality listening experience.

We are happy to let you know that we are going to reduce our streaming service fees soon.

If you’re thinking about increasing your stream quality (the bit rate, e.g 32kpbs, 64kpbs, etc.) or increasing your listener capacity to avoid or reduce your overages (the streaming pack, e.g.  100 concurrent listeners, 200 max concurrent, etc.), now is a good time to consider making that change.

While we’re still working out the final details, we expect to offer a reduction of around 10-40%, depending on the your bit rate/pack combo.

We’ll post more details soon!

What are the holidays without holiday savings on items that your station really needs?  Public Interactive is offering a special discount on our SoundExchange Bundle – Public Interactive Composer Pro and Streaming Services!

This combination takes much of the pain out of your SoundExchange reporting process. Clients who use both Composer Pro and our Live Streaming don’t need to submit anything additional for SoundExchange reporting, saving you time.

The bundle includes Composer Pro and Streaming.  Buy both and save with our special discount, for a limited time.  Already have one?  Why not add the other?

Resolve to make SX reporting easier in 2010!  And with our SoundExchange Bundle, you’ll save, too.

Contact Joe Orlando, Marketing and Sales Manager, at jorlando@publicinteractive.com or 888-729-8809 and ask about the SoundExchange Bundle.

CPB has selected NPR’s newest division, Public Interactive, to take on the central role in collecting and reporting public radio music streaming information to the SoundExchange, the performance rights organization that collects and distributes royalties to artists and copyright owners.

More Info
http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-info.html

Press Release
http://cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=740