Depending on how the stream is being generated, the metadata may or may not be available as the source. If the source is from hard disk (similar to SlimServer), not generally a problem. But if its being generated by an encoder tapped into the audio at a typical over-the-air radio station, there may be no metadata. This is similar to the audio that comes out of a turntable or the RCA jacks of a CD player; it's just analog audio, no metadata. As a matter of fact most CD's themselves don't have metadata; that's why we need freedb or it's equivalent. While many radio stations play all their audio from hard drives, even they may have an "audio-only" path to their Internet feed. And there are still stations that play their audio directly from CD, so there's no metadata to send in that case.
A radio operation like XM or Sirius, who attempts to provide metadata with most of their channels is a big deal. XM certainly has a completely separate path to the encoders for the metadata; the audio is routed via AES/EBU format interconnections in the studio and a Klotz proprietary format over fiber optic to the encoders, whereas the metadata follows a separate path using RS485 connections. The Klotz routing switcher switches both the audio data and the metadata paths simultaneously, so it appears to those of us observing things from the outside that they are not separate. This is similar to the routing switchers used in TV stations, they switch the video and audio signals simultaneously, even though they are separate signals. -- Timothy Stockman ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Timothy Stockman's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8867 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40959 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
