Features
========
-configurable audio streaming software:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- para_server streams binary audio data (mp3/ogg files) over
- local and/or remote networks. It supports three builtin
- streaming methods (senders): http, dccp, or rtp.
-
- para_audiod runs on the client side and connects to
- para_server. The audio stream is read from the network and
- sent through any of paraslash's filters (mp3 decoder, ogg
- vorbis decoder, volume normalizer,...). The resulting stream
- is written to an external program's standard in, usually an
- audio player like para_play, the alsa player of the paraslash
- package. It is possible to capture the stream at any position
- in the filter chain.
-
- The receiving/filtering software is also available as
- standalone command line tool: para_recv reads the stream and
- writes to stdout; para_filter reads from stdin, converts the
- stream according to the given --filter command line options
- and writes the transformed stream to stdout.
-
-configurable audio file selectors:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- There are three audio file selectors available: random,
- playlist and mysql
-
- The first two of these are rather simple, and they are always
- supported. They allow streaming of randomly selected files
- or files given by a playlist respectively.
-
- The (optional) mysql selector is more involved. It manages
- statistics on your audio files, and audio file selection is
- done by sending a user-defined sql-query to the mysql server.
- This allows rather sophisticated configurations and is
- explained in detail in README.mysql.
-
- It is possible to switch between all supported selectors at
- any time.
-
-small memory footprint:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- paraslash is lightweight. The stripped binary of para_server
- with all its features compiled in (mysql/random/playlist
- selector, mp3/ogg support, http/dccp/ortp support) is about 110K
- on i386 under Linux. para_audiod is even smaller.
-
-command line interface:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- paraslash commands are sent to para_server and the response is
- dumped to stdout. This can be used by any scripting language
- to produce user interfaces with little programming effort.
-
-authentication/encryption via openssl:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- All connections between para_server and para_client are
- encrypted by default. For each user of paraslash you must
- create a public/secret key pair for authentication/encryption.
-
-various user interfaces and utilities:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- o para_gui. Curses based interface, displays information in a
- curses window and can be used to easily control para_server
- and para_audiod.
-
- o para_sdl_gui. Shows pictures (on a per song basis) and
- other information about the current audio file. Can be used
- as a screen saver.
-
- o para_krell. A gkrellm2 plugin that shows small pics and is
- able to launch 27 different commands by clicking on the image.
-
- o para_slider. User-friendly stream creator for people who
- don't like their keyboard.
-
- o para_dbadm. Simple curses interface for changing attributes.
-
- o para_fade. Simple volume fader and alarm clock.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ * Runs on Linux, Mac OS, FreeBSD, Solaris and probably other Unixes.
+ * mp3, oggvorbis, aac(m4a) support
+ * local or remote http, dccp, and ortp network audio streaming
+ * volume normalizer
+ * stream grabbing at any point in the filter chain
+ * stand-alone command line receiver/decoder/normalizer/player
+ * sophisticated audio file selector
+ * small memory footprint
+ * command line interface for easy scripting in high-level languages
+ * RSA user authentication
+ * encrypted communications
+ * GPL licensed
+ * written in C
+ * well documented
+ * complete API-Reference
+ * easily extendible due to its modular design
+ * curses-based gui
+ * volume fader and alarm clock.