Streaming music from home while travelling

So I've got a huge amount of mp3s on my family computer, which is always on and I've got a couple of no-ip.org addresses linked to it. What I want to do is to be able to browse the music collection and stream it from anywhere over the internet. So far I haven't been able to find a program that suits my needs, but I'm sure there is one avalible.

Both the "server" and the client are running WinXP Pro (with IIS).

So, does anybody know any applications that I can do this with?

Use a partition from your home computer as a FTP/server file with a dynamic dns address (someone back me up on that one, not sure) and password protect it? That way you could dump your music into a self-regulated file server and while you travel run a playlist of URL addresses going back to your "server".

I've got the dynamic dns address (no-ip.org ftw), and I've got an ftp (no need for dedicated partitions or anything, btw, even though I have that too). What I'm looking for is a server->client program that lets me browse and stream music easily. Doing it via ftp isn't quick or easy at all, unless there's an app specifically designed for that that I haven't heard of.

Try Winamp + Shoutcast + some way to remotely control Winamp, like:
http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=144237

Looks somewhat like what I'm looking for. Thanks for the help.

If anybody knows other ways to do the same thing, please do tell. Alternatives are always good.

http://www.icecast.org/
Never tried, but it's an open source alternative to shoutcast.

Open source is usually a plus, thanks.

Yes because since it is open-source you can fix it yourself, which is good since there is no support for open-source software.

>>8
Yes there is, but it's irrelevant since the program didn't do what I wanted it to do anyways.

I hear XML playlists are slowly creeping up as the "next big thing", since they're apparently easy to run from an FTP source and provide for a simple yet efficient means of actually accessing the files. (I believe the actual player is a flash or java app, actually.)

I tried to make an XML playlist, but couldn't figure it out for the life of me. But, it's a start.

>>1
If this is you then this is what you do:

use icecast as the frontend: http://www.icecast.org/
use oddcast as the backend: http://www.oddsock.org/tools/oddcastv3/

oddcast is a plugin for winamp/fb2k that is so fucking simple to use. as a source it streams your mp3s playing in winamp to the icecast server, ( >>8 icecast only does the broadcasting part, it needs input 'sources' to work)
Now... if all your music that you want to play is in mp3 format:

install icecast/oddcast(for me I'm using latest wimamp)

look at icecast config file - "icecast.xml"
        <clients>100</clients>
        <sources>100</sources>
clients = number of normal people allowed to connect to your server from eg their media player
sources = number of backend streams that are allowed to connect to your server

you might want to set it to 2people/1source, I just set it high to muck around

find the
    <authentication>
        <!-- Sources log in with username 'source' -->
        <source-password>PUT PASS HERE</source-password>
part, change PUT PASS HERE to whatever, *remember this for later*
also change the hostname to your dyndns addy I guess
    <hostname>localhost</hostname>
    <!-- You may have multiple <listener> elements -->
    <listen-socket>
        <port>81</port>
    </listen-socket>
port should be obvious lol eg here listners connect to my server at http://server.com;81/_______.pls
..
thats all you need in that file
run winamp, prefs->plugins->dsp/fx->select oddcast
oddcast window pops up
autoconnect tick
[add encoder] adds another line to the box below, select it rclick configure
encoder type = mp3lame
(configure sound quality options how you like)
server type= icecast2
server ip = you know
server port = you know from icecast.xml
password = (PUT PASS HERE) from icecast.xml
mountpoint = place where the stream will show up as being
eg /stream.mp3 makes the stream at http://server.com:81/stream.mp3
reconnect secs = 10
[YP SETTINGS tab] = publicly list this stream.
set the stream name stuff here, and *then* untick public server, so you can still see the metainformation about your stream in your player eg so you can make it say something descriptive in your player.
do not save an archive of the stream in the other tab.
ok, then 'connect' that stream, it should attempt to connect to your icecast server (you should have the server going beforehand, but it doesnt really matter, since the source will attempt to reconnect every 10 seconds if it sees its server down, so you can start icecast server afterwards and let everything connect by itself) icecast should say it has a source connected, oddcast should say "connected" at whatever parameters you set
testing time:
play an mp3 (on repeat)
now in the oddcast dialogue you can see whether its pushing out music to the icecast server or not
ie transfer rate: xyKbps (/mountpoint)
and see the meter bars going at the top there
open *another* media player eg windows media player (this is just testing yo)
open url http://whatever:port/mountpoint.mp3 and theres about a 12sec delay between what you are playing in winamp, and wmp spitting it back out again.
eg for my <hostname>localhost</hostname>, with port 81, mountpoint stream.mp3, it looks like http://localhost:81/stream.mp3 which I can just substitute localhost with whatever its ip addy is when I'm working at another comp on the network.
while out and about on another comp id assume if it was public they'd probably have wmp, if it was yours somewhere else you can use winamp or whatever really. good luck.

another (command line) utility that I use from time to time is ezstream (http://www.icecast.org/ezstream.php), but you should probably get to know how the source/server stuff works and reading the docs for ezstream over and over first before diving into the fun that is ezstream (fun when you know how things work with it -hint- its sort of better than oddcast endgame wise but really full-on since it has the possibility to recode files into other formats and stuff on the fly and then stream it to the server)

also 'server ip' in oddcast stream properties dialogue can be an ip OR a hostname, so just because you have dynamic ip doesn't mean you're screwed, just put dyndns hostname I guess.

>>11,>>12
Thanks a bunch for writing all this for me. I really appreciate it, and it's made this a lot clearer for me. Before I just disregarded icecast as some too-advanced program which doesn't function, etc. Now I'll be setting up a stream for myself so that I can listen to my music from anywhere. Thanks again.