AhmpCaster is a program that lists Shoutcast and Icecast servers off the web. AhmpCaster works together with your streaming MP3 player to make listing and connecting to streaming MP3 servers a lot easier.
AhmpCaster also works together with your browser as a helper application for M3U and playlist files (it simply converts the M3U file into a playlist if neccessary and redirects it to your MP3 player).
Version 1.2 now has a favorites window. And no, that is not a typo. The program's name has been changed to AhmpCaster because the old name was infringing on a pre-existing trademark. It's still pronounced the same, just spelt differently.
Streaming MP3 Players
AhmpCaster has been tested and works with the three MP3 players that I know of that can play Shoutcast streams:
MACAST http://www.macast.com
SoundJam http://www.soundjam
Audion http://www.panic.com
In theory, it will work with any player that supports the standard MP3 playlist format for loading URLs. So if any new players come out after this document is released, AhmpCaster will probably also work with them.
Using AhmpCaster
Using AhmpCaster is quite simple. Just make sure you are connected to the internet, load it up, double-click the name of a tracker you want to view, and voila! A list of streaming music servers will be displayed for your enjoyment. When you find a server that you want to listen to, just double click it and it will load up in your MP3 player.
If the list of servers is really long and confusing, you can sort the list by name, number of users, or stream quality by clicking the headers that have those names in the server list window. You can also use the "Find…" feature from the edit menu (press command-F) to search for servers with keywords in specific chart windows, or all open chart windows. After your initial search, you may narrow the results down by using the "Narrow" button with new search terms.
Now since version 1.2 you can keep a favorites list, which is a list of your favorite servers. To open the favorites list, select it from the "Window" menu. To add a server to your favorites list, select the server in the tracker list and click the "Favorites" button.
ATTENTION: PROXY/FIREWALL USERS:
AhmpCaster supports proxies and firewalls. You can set AhmpCaster to use a proxy server by selecting "Preferences…" from the "Edit" menu. If your proxy server uses a different port than 80, you can specify the port after the address preceded by a colon (eg. proxy.myisp.com:83). At the time I am writing this, however (11/28/99), MACAST does not support proxy servers for streaming music (I am not sure if the other players do or not).
How Much Does AhmpCaster Cost?
AhmpCaster is $5 shareware. To pay for AhmpCaster, you have two options.
1. Register Online
Probably the quickest and easiest way to register AhmpCaster is by credit card online, which you can do at http://order.kagi.com/?UAU. A secure order form is available at that page.
2. Use the included "Register" application
To do this, simply open up the "Register" application that is included with AhmpCaster, fill in your name and email address, and indicate how many copies of AhmpCaster you want to register. Then Save, Copy, or Print the information from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. Different methods of doing this are as follows.
Credit Card:
If you are paying by credit card, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com, and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either copy the data from Register and paste it into the body of an email, or you can save the data to a file and attach that file to a message. If you choose the latter method, do not compress the file. If you have a fax/modem, you can just print the data directly to the Kagi fax number.
Email payments are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed, along with your serial number. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days to process.
Cash or USD Check:
If you are paying by cash or check (checks can be accepted in US Dollars only), then you should print the data from the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-UAU
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
Cash in a wide variety of currencies will be accepted, however checks must be drawn in US Dollars only (the conversion rates for non USD checks is too high to be worth it for such a small payment).
Invoice:
If you have a purchasing department, enter all of the data into the Register application (select Invoice as your payment method). Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to hilight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all of the paperwork at your end.
When Will I Get My Serial Number? (And How?)
Your serial number will be included in the confirmation email after you register. AhmpCaster prompts for a serial number every time you load it. Enter your name and serial number exactly as it appears in the email. After you do that all of the registration reminders in the program will no longer appear.
What's Up With The Plugins?
AhmpCaster is plugin based, which means it can be expanded to support any shoutcast server trackers out there. If you know some tracker out there that you would like to see added to AhmpCaster, give me a shout at rsxsolutions@kagi.com and I will look into making it.
Special Thanks To…
Israel Curtis (irc@email.byu.edu) for his great splash-screen artwork, Paul (aka. PunkXRock), Crusher4, all the faithful users of the beta versions, and all of my registered users for supporting shareware and motivating me to continue supporting and updating AhmpCaster.
