192kbps/256kbps Streams - We'd like to hear your input!

[Mark Kane]

Please go here to vote in the polls


Hi everyone,

On Friday May 6 we made some significant upgrades behind the scenes to our streaming system and infrastructure. One of the noteworthy feature improvements is that we are now capable of offering higher bitrate streams than the standard 160kbps that we have done for many years now. Previously we could not do this due to capacity and software issues, both of which were improved on Friday.

The reason for this post is to hear feedback from the community regarding 192kbps and higher streams and how we should offer them. The monthly costs of keeping Party107 on the air are very significant (several hundred USD/mo), and for years have been covered almost entirely by one individual. While people have graciously stepped in and offered us bandwidth for relay servers over the years which is a huge help, the monetary contributions to keep the main infrastructure running have not been at a sustainable level. To those who have donated in the past, we REALLY appreciate your contribution, however we need more people to help as well to keep things running smoothly.

We are considering making 192kbps and possibly 256kbps streams available in the very near future. In effort to improve the financial situation, we are considering making these streams available for people who are willing to contribute to the station. To be clear, this is not an attempt to profit from the station, but only to help cover costs so we can instead focus on bringing you the best programming we can and improving the station in other ways.

I have added two polls above that we would appreciate your response on, and any further comments or questions are of course welcome in this thread.

Thanks very much for your support, and for listening!

- Mark Kane

[AD4E]

the 192 kbps stream is good option (& upgrade) over the 160 kbps. i don't think 256 kbps is worth the effort--192 k captures the fidelity quite well. --thanks for adding it.