ASX Script

[Brian Kelsay]

A simple Google of "asx script"  turned up the following nugget.
<QUOTE>
"If you wish to have your users utilize Windows Media Player to directly access your feed, you will have to provide them with the link which they will have to enter into the URL section of their player. They CANNOT use this link on a browser, it WILL NOT work. The link will be exactly as follows:

http://your_domain_name:port# or IP address:port, i.e. http://24.91.250.47:8080

Again, this link will only work from Windows Media Player and NOT from a web browser.  This is why the .asx file is crucial if you want your users to be able to access the feed from your website. The .asx is simply a script that runs Windows Media Player on your computer and points it to an address."
</QUOTE>
http://www.scancapecod.net/livescan/asx.html

We were talking about this last night at Denny's.  See what you miss by not coming.  I think for now all you need to have them do is post a link on their site that they can put in any player, WMP, Real, Quicktime, Winamp, Xmms, that is just an ip and port number or a host.domainname and port.  Or you could try just putting a hot link and see if the default player (not WinMedia Player) will startup when the stream is detected.  Winamp should.  Or create a playlist that can be linked to as seen below.

If you want to see how other sites deal out streams, goto http://www.winamp.com/music  or http://www.shoutcast.com
Shoutcast has a button(image) that links to a .pls (playlist), which is a mime type, which can be handled by various players.
http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=9949&file=filename.pls  is an example.  What does rn=9949&file=filename.pls do?  Parameters to the standard playlist file that they store in sbin on the server.
Winamp has specific artist links such as: http://www.winamp.com/bin/playlist.pls?streamtype=strmedia&mtype=SA&id=1140019&bandwidth=NSAHBURL for a single song.  Looks like similar parameters being given here.  But Winamp and Shoutcast are related.
http://www.wcbm.com/ is an example page of an AM station I stream from to get a program that is not played here locally (GG Liddy).  They have a link, http://main.str3am.com/wcbm , that let's you listen live.  I'm guessing that it points to their media hosting company, who have something like your asx script set up for a lot of radio stations that want to stream.
Another example page, http://www.talkradio1290.com/ has a link to http://www.warpradio.com/popTuner.asp?id=11228 to tune in to the live stream.  This like the previous one will launch a temp file and then Winders Media player.  I went to the warpradio site and there you can search by genre or station call letters.  One of their links points to

javascript:void(window.open('player/checklogin.asp?id=13800&page=popTuner','popup','toolbar=no,location=no,scrollbars=no,width=760,height=620'));

Figure that out.  I don't read javascript jibberish, but it must work.  It launches a new small browser window that has an embedded player.  Don't know if it is WMP, but likely it is.

If you want to help them replace the streaming server, you have more work ahead of you.  Google for icecast and see how that is implemented.  It should be cross platform for all users if stream is transmitted as MP3 or OggVorbis.  Winamp will play OggVorbis.
Icecast2 Docs: http://melmoth.dyndns.org/stream/doc/index.html
Unofficial Howto: http://www.gnuware.com/icecast/
Ogg Vorbis Streaming Howto: http://www.6809.org.uk/media/ices2-howto.shtml

You might also check out the LiveCD called Dynebolic, which supposedly contains all the parts needed to make a streaming server.  I tried a previous version, but I had problems, as I had never used any of the audio programs before.  I also didn't like the window manager they used.  There is a newer version out, 1.3.  Dynebolic might allow you to easily try stuff out without going thru the motions of installing everything needed.  You will just have to configure stuff.  Recording, encoding and streaming is a more complicated process than it sounds like.  You have to configure 3-4 complicated programs.

------------------------------------------------------------------
>The following script, when clicked in MS IE will launch an audio stream. 
>The stream can also be bookmarked and played in Windows Media Player, but
>I can't seem to get any linux-based player to connect.  Any ideas or
>suggestions?  I could probably get them to change the script if we found
>something that worked.

<ASX version="3.0">
  <COPYRIGHT>2001-2002 KTBG-FM</COPYRIGHT>
  <AUTHOR>90.9 The Bridge</AUTHOR>
  <Entry>
    <ref HREF="http://153.91.42.26:8085"/>
    <BANNER HREF="http://www.ktbg.fm/images/logos/bridgelogo_horiz.jpg">
     <MOREINFO HREF="http://ktbg.fm/" />
    </BANNER>
    <copyright>2001-2002 KTBG-FM</copyright>
    <author>90.9 The Bridge</author>
  </Entry>
</ASX>


Brian Kelsay