Fix For My Fix
So usually at work I come in, toss my stuff on my desk, start up my PC, check email and go to SHOUTCast, connect to a classical/symphonic radio station and then start my work for the day.
Well eventually I got tired of the music, why? The quality is sub-par (low bit-rate), the choices are few (~10 stations to choose from, if that many), selections are repeated throughout the day (annoying), ads are rampant (after listening to some Vivaldi, how would you like hearing some loud guy exclaiming that I need cheap webspace?), and songs are just totally random (why the hell would they toss on the same Enya song every couple of hours? Not to mention the Braveheart soundtrack).
So I did what any geek who lives and dies for music does, I set up my own streaming server on my PC at home using VNC to connect from work.
Initially I wanted to set up an Ogg Vorbis streaming server instead of an MP3. Why? Because Ogg rules, check the link as to why. But there were hassles that I had to go through which I eventually decided were not worth it for the barely noticeable benefits for my ears and bandwidth.
I also set up a quick web playlist manager, so I could just log onto a webpage from work, click on a couple files/folders and then get those files to be enqueued in the streaming server, but I figured I’ve got VNC and I didn’t really want another piece of software running with another port open in my firewall (currently the streaming requires 3 separate entities: The server, the server audio feeder, and the audio player that feeds the feeder…annoying huh?).
So currently I’m listening to The Shins - Oh, Inverted World, I’m really loving that album, it grows on you very quickly, in a good way. All the MP3s are on my hard drive in my apartment, the only thing that my work PC has is Winamp. It’s great, I’m listening to all my albums at a higher bitrate (192kbps) and with no ads.
3 Responses to “Fix For My Fix”
Seriously, just get an iPod (or something similar). There is no going back.
I do have an iPod, but I only use it when I’m out running, it’s an iPod Mini, so only 4gigs worth of music, which isn’t a lot actually, considering I’ve got close to 30 gigs of music on my PC (I ripped all my CDs to mp3, most of them anyway).
I would get another iPod, but it’s just one more thing to carry to work, and I’m lazy.
Too lazy to carry a larger iPod but inspired enough to nerd-stream tunes from home.
And here I’ve been breathing on my own like a sucker.
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