There are three components to a music stream in second life
- The source – usually your computer uploading the digital music stream.
- The streaming server – which redistributes your digital stream to a specific number of listeners.
- The client – in this case the Second Life viewer where your fellow avatars listen to your performance.
You will need a way to upload your stream to the server. A simple and free way is to use the Shoutcast plug-in in the Winamp application. To make the connection you will need three pieces of information: the address of the server, the login, and the password. You can rent a stream from several places in Second Life and many venue owners have and will allow you to use theirs. This info is distributed usually in the form of a notecard. You want to be careful never to say this information in open chat giving anyone access to the login. It’s very frustrating to be attempting to start a show to find someone is using your stream.
The streaming server has a couple of components you should be aware of. One is the number of „seats.“ This is the maximum number of people that can be listening at one time. It can be any number from 5 to 100. The important thing to remember is the number of seats of the server should equal or exceed the number of agents („avatars“) that can be on a parcel/SIM. If your server only serves 50 seats but the venue owner has set the SIM to 100 agents that means you will run out of seats on the server BEFORE you fill the SIM.
The next setting you need to be aware of is the bit rate. Bitrates range from 64kbs to 192kbs. The higher the bit rate the better the sound quality AND the more network latency. So if you stream at the highest quality rate, you can actually be creating lag without making a giant difference in the enjoyment of your show. If you have access to a parcel, it’s a good idea to test your settings and see what sounds best.
Setting Up A Stream For Second Life
- There are several ways to stream music into second life. One is a shoutcast server. You as the performer need to set up a broadcasting client. That client connects to a shoutcast server. Either you set up your own server or you find and rent an existing server. Several event locations in Second Live have their own shoutcast server, so you only need a client to send out your voice.
How it works:
- Your streaming client sends the data to the server.
- The Listeners‘ Second Life clients grab the server’s URL from the parcel’s media settings and tune in.
quoted from http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Performance_Performer
