Your Feedback: Muppet Central Radio on Live365

[Phillip]

As announced earlier today, phase 1 of our Muppet Central Radio updates are now in place. Here is a summary of the updates that were announced.

1. Every song has been re-recorded to optimize the overall sound of the station.

2. The sound quality of the stream has increased 50% while remaining accessible for users of dial-up and higher.

3. Full track listings including artist, title and album/show are on every song.

4. Transitions from one song to another should be greatly improved for all users.

I tried to find the right balance of keeping the stream at a small bitrite, but significantly increasing the quality for all users. Keep in mind, this is only phase 1. Phase 2 will be rolled out in a couple weeks and include more enhancements. I will announce the purpose of the phase 2 upgrade after it is complete.

Let us know your thoughts and feedback on the latest additions.

Click here to listen to Muppet Central Radio...

http://www.muppetcentral.com/radio/index.shtml

 

[sarah_yzma]

question

i know this is an odd one...but if you turned it off at midnight...did that mean you did it all at night? shouldn't you sleep?

Sarah

 

[Phillip]

I uploaded the files throughout the night while I was sleeping.

Figured many in the US would be sleeping too, so it was the best time to take the station off-the-air for 10-12 hours.

Got up early this morning to check on the progress. Then rolled it out about six hours later after everything was ready to go.

 

[sarah_yzma]

oh...sneaky phil...hehe

Sarah

 

[scarecroe]

Lovin the added source credit, very nice.

What bitrate are the files encoded at? The compression artifacts are more audible now that the material is coming over a wider stream and with a higher frequency. The lower stream bitrate and frequency before used to muffle the audible compression that comes across with the MPEG technology. Overall though, there is a fuller sound.

 

[Thijs]

Great work Phil. The quality is much better.

 

[Phillip]

Originally posted by scarecroe
What bitrate are the files encoded at?

They are 24k with a full frequency response up to 20,050 Hz. Before they were streaming at 16k and topped off at a frequency response of 11,025 Hz.

I experimented with going up to 32k (56k modem minimum), however, the quality jump wasn't as significant as going from 16k to 24k. I also didn't want to alienate some of our dial-up users.

In case you missed it, here is some other technical info about the phase 1 updates.

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=102511#post102511

 

[Luke]

It's fantastic quality, but on my dial up connection over here on a 33.6kbps (yes i need to get a cable modem soon) the sound breaks up every 8 seconds or so. Maybe it's just that little bit slower internationally.

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Is it easy to get MC radio?

I mean, I used to have it a while back, then last time when I went to go get it again, ya had to register through email or some'in', and it seemed too difficult to try (and I can be rully lazy at times).

Just curious if has lotsa steps, and if yer email'll get spammed.

 

[Phillip]

Byron,

You do need to register to listen, but your e-mail address will not be given out for any reason. I recommend you use the default Live365 player for the best sound. It's a very small plugin and you only need to install it once. I think you will enjoy all the Janice and Mokey tunes once you sign up.