Webcast archive service

🗄 Stream Archive
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  1. Try one of the stations in testing, e.g. https://spinitron.com/WZBC/

  2. We added WOWD to the test stations around 7pm on Wednesday so you can also try https://spinitron.com/WOWD/. If you try an earlier date/time, it won’t work, even though the UI allows you to choose earlier dates.

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I would like to also know if there will be a counter for number of plays? It was very useful.

Joseph McGuire

KSVR-FM Mount Vernon Washington

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Hi Joseph. Thanks for joining the forum.

Yes, we’re currently working on the management tools (mentioned in the OP). They will include what I think you’re asking for.

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Thank you. DJ’s enjoyed seeing the number of times a show was played or at least started.

Joseph

1 Like
25

Tom - Just wondering if you could post a status report … is Ark still in Beta mode? Do you anticipate significant changes before it fully launches?

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Yes. We’ll post a status update soon.

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Outage overnight Oct 25th to 26th

Owing to a sysop error (i.e. it’s Tom’s fault) the stream recorder failed for several hours last night. This means there will be parts of your archives during these hours that won’t play. I don’t know the exact date-times when your recordings stop and restart.

Sorry.

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Development status update

Until about 2 weeks ago we thought things were looking good. The Ark Player is working, the recorder and server parts are working. There were some things to finish up that wouldn’t take long.

One of those things was playback using mobile. This turned into a big problem.

Sorry to be technical for a moment, please bear with. Until now we use a browser feature called Web Audio API to convert audio files into sound. Each file is a segment of the archive of your webcast (5 minutes each as it stands). Web Audio allows seamless playback of the segments. JavaScript runs in the background in the web browser to download, cue-up and start each subsequent segment. That just doesn’t work on mobile. If the user has switched to a different browser tab, or is using a different app, or locks the screen, or if it turns itself off then the JavaScript that plays the next archive segment won’t run. The archive just stops playing.

This is a fundamental problem.

It’s not ok to limit the archive to people actively using desktop or laptop computers. People should be able to listen with their phone in their pocket or purse, as they would to music, a podcast or audio-book, or while using a different app, or reading news in a different browser tab. They should be able to listen while out and about, or in the car, or in any room at home or work using a phone or tablet with a Bluetooth speaker, earphones or the device’s speaker. They should not need a computer to listen to the radio.

So we went back to square 1: the basic research on how to implement the service. We are currently working on how to implement it using HLS. It segments the archive into smaller audio files (e.g. 10 seconds) together with a playlist file that lists the URL and duration of each segment. We point the browser to play the playlist and it can do that without JavaScript running in the background.

It’s promising. Yesterday I played an archive of WZBC for two hours while my phone’s screen was locked.

There’s a lot still to do and I don’t know how long it will take. When you’re trying to engineer something you haven’t done before, you don’t know what needs to be done until you’ve done it so estimating how long it will take is hard. Remind me and I’ll give you another update a week from now.

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Thank you Tom.

I know WSCA would be very interested in joining ARK. Please keep us in mind.

Much appreciated, Jason (Station President)