When will the service be available?We already conducted live streaming within the NCORE office. Thus, the only next step is completing the portal. Once the portal is up then you can start using it. We will post it here when the service is available. We aim to have the pre-launch test sometime February 2007. Full launch will be between March and April 2007.
How can I access the service in the internet?You can access the service using Winamp, iTunes or Windows Media Player. Simply set your players to access the ShoutCast address
http://www.delasalle.ph:8888 Make sure that your firewall allows access for media streaming and proxy settings (if needed) are configured properly.
Below are the settings you need to do in Winamp:
- For the DLSU Student Network, type this http://iwss.dlsu.edu.ph:8080 in the proxy address.
- For the DLSU-CCS Faculty Network, type this username:password@proxy.dlsu.edu.ph:80 in the proxy address.
Is the service publicly accessible?The real aim is public streaming. Currently, we are streaming within the DLSU Student Network. Public streaming requires the approval of the DLSU Administrators which we are also in the process of acquiring a permit. The approval process can be expedited if students, alumni and faculties support the service by endorsing us.
What features can the portal provide?The intended features of the portal are basically similar to YouTube with some modifications. It will contain profile creation, artist-song browsing, rating, voting and commenting. Only registered users are allowed to upload their songs, perform rating, voting and commenting. Unregistered users can only browse the portal.
Can any song be uploaded in the portal?Yes, we accept any music genre as long as the songs are original - not tied to an entertainment company such as Sony-BMG, Universal, Warner, etc. The songs uploaded are the property of their respective owner. Uploading the songs in the portal grants the team in broadcasting the songs in the internet.
What will happen if a copyrighted song is uploaded?Our policy is not to allow any copyrighted songs be uploaded in the portal. In the event a user does so, we will inform the user for copyright infringement and then we delete the song.
What will happen to the user if he/she infringes the copyrighted song?There are a lot of things we can do to that user - call NBI, inform the parents... In our case, we just delete the songs that are considered copyrighted and nothing else. We are friendly people, we are not squealers.
How can the songs be examined if copyrighted or not?We are computer science professors/students; our domain is anything about computers. Therefore we can propose a thesis to do copyright infringement detection to handle this. Right now, we’ll do it manually. Cheers!
Is the service profiting from the songs uploaded?No, it is one of our policies that we will not profit from the uploaded songs. We seek other ways to sustain the service in terms of maintaining the equipment. We do not earn a centavo for our efforts in establishing this service.
What music file format do you support?We wanted to support multiple music file formats – AAC, OGG-Vorbis, MP3 and WMA. For now, we only support MP3 format for the uploads and streaming.
How can I convert my file format to match yours?There are a lot of file format converters in the internet. Google is your friend.
How many connections can the service provide?It really depends on the network bandwidth. A single connection only requires 14kbps (64kbps mono) in order to have a decent stream. Thus, it is also possible to listen to the service in dial-up connections. The servers currently are configured to allow 100 simultaneous connections. In the future, more servers can be established offering more connections.
What is the quality of the songs you stream?Right now, the team is debating in whether to stream the songs in 64kbps mono (FM station) or 128kbps stereo (near CD quality) or somewhere in between these two. Better quality streams simply means more bandwidth requirements – can handle a few connections. Lower quality streams mean can allow more connections.
How can students, alumni and faculties support the service?Simple, love our work. This service promotes Lasallian musical achievements. This very effort we did in establishing the service will really help our fellow Lasallians to be recognized worldwide. So spread the love! Donation of computer parts is highly appreciated; this would mean to us that we can expand our operations and you get to be mentioned in the radio.
I want to donate, who shall I look for?Just look for the following people in Gokongwei:
- Karlo Campos
- Raffy Cabredo
- Pogz Ortile
- Isaac Sabas
Where are the servers located?The servers are located in our crowded little office in G102, Gokongwei Building. The servers have a 100mbps backbone to the DLSU Student Network.
What are the specifications of the servers?Our servers are not high-end but they are tweaked to be powerful. Most of our servers are built from extra parts found scattered in our homes. The portal and the ShoutCast servers are running on Pentium III’s – come to think, they aren’t even rated above 800 Mhz!
How do you generate the playlist?We will generate the playlist everyday given the following heuristics: recently uploaded songs get to be played as soon as possible, songs that match a genre, songs that match a particular event – Christmas, valentines; songs that match the current time – upbeat music during Friday nights. There are a number of heuristics we can do for this. You can also help us in how to generate the playlist.
Do you have a DJ to entertain the audience between songs?Right now we don’t have a DJ and we think it does not need one for now.
Do you allow advertisements in your service?Advertising is one way we can sustain the service. Currently, we have not yet considered having advertisements in the service. We will inform everyone if we do accept advertisements.
Do you have plans in accommodating more people into the team?It depends, if the service needs more people, we’ll think about it. For now, we are enough to run the service.
Will this FAQ be updated?Yes, this FAQ will undergo revisions if needed.
