Features
========
-configurable audio streaming software
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- para_server streams binary audio data (mp3/ogg files) over
- local or remote networks. It contains two built-in streamers:
- the http streamer and the ortp streamer.
-
- para_audiod runs on the client side and connects to
- para_server. The audio stream is read back and sent through
- any of paraslash's filters (mp3 decoder, ogg vorbis decoder,
- volume normalizer,...) and the resulting stream is written to
- an external program's standard in, usually an audio player,
- like para_play that uses alsa. It is possible to grab the
- stream at any position in the filter chain.
-
- The receiving/filtering software is also available as
- standalone command line tool: para_recv grabs the http or ortp
- 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.
-
-mysql-based audio file selector:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- the (optional) mysql database tool manages some statistics on
- your audio files. It contacts the mysql server to decide which
- song to play next by sending a user-defined sql-query. This
- allows rather sophisticated configurations and is explained
- in detail in README.mysql.
-
-small memory footprint:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- paraslash is lightweight. The stripped binary of para_server
- with all its features compiled in (mysql/random dbtool,
- mp3/ogg support, http/ortp support) is about 100K on i386
- under Linux. para_audiod is even smaller.
-
-command line interface, including shell:
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- para_client without arguments starts interactive (shell)
- mode. Otherwise, command is sent to para_server directly
- and output is dumped to stdout. This can be used by any
- scripting language to produce user interfaces with very 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, NetBSD, Solaris and probably other
+ Unixes
+ * Mp3, ogg vorbis, aac(m4a) support
+ * Local or remote http, dccp, and udp network audio streaming
+ * IPv6 support
+ * Forward error correction allows receivers to recover from packet losses
+ * Volume normalizer
+ * Stream grabbing at any point in the filter chain
+ * Stand-alone command line receiver/decoder/normalizer/player
+ * Stand-alone audio format handler utility
+ * 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