Winamp and Orb together to defeat the Wapcam
By wapcamer on Sunday 17 June 2007, 18:30 - Mobility, Apps and Cool Stuff - Permalink
The famous Winamp soft has associated the most advertised home media publisher that is Orb.
According to ratiatum, Orb Networks has released a special version of
their Orb software including the winamp technology. This new software called
Winamp Remote incorporates the Orb engine in order to deliver mp3 streaming on
the internet. According to the article, Winamp hopes to widen its users base to
mobile users and conquer new markets.
Having tested the Orb service as well as the Winamp Remote service, there are two surprising points:
- First, there is no real difference between the two applications.
It seems Winamp engine helps to adapt the streaming bandwih to the network capacity, especially regarding mobile networks such as 3G. But as far as I tested, Orb software was already able to adapt the bitrate to the network. It was even one of the main feature provided by this soft. So where is the advantage? I personnaly think this is more a marketing operation as Winamp is worldwide known and Orb would take profit of the credibility and notoriety of Winamp. For Winamp, they gain acces to a new market which are mobile users.
- Second, well... as assumed, it didn't work !
In my case, I wanted to test mp3 streaming over GPRS/Edge. Orb is not able
to stream over these networks and neither is Winamp Remote. Of course, after
logging in, you can still browse your PC and download files, but you can do so
either with WapcamServer or any well configured webserver. And then, no need to
subscribe to an external service provider, with the security issues that it
brings.
You will tell me that GPRS is a pretty old technology, 3G allows much more flexibility( such as the use of UDP packets, the possibility to use whatever port, etc...) and bandwidth, which makes it more a real Internet connection than GPRS is. However, my interest is to bring that service to the max. numbers of users and I would like to use my unlimited GPRS subscription :)
To conclude, I don't think Orb or Winamp Remote bring such a value-added service that I can stop developping the Wapcam Project. Even if it is much better looking and seems more "pro", it is more or less the same as the wapcam service. Had I the same means they have in development, graphism and marketing, I garantee Orb would not last long.
And to Loris, who only looks at what glitters, you should really try out WapcamServer and would be surprised.
Comments
>> Orb is not able to stream over these networks and neither is Winamp Remote.
hmm - actually, i've been streaming music from my home PC and SHOUTcast stations through Orb over GPRS for over 2 years now very successfully!
and over Winamp Remote on my N91 ever since the week before CTIA
what carrier are you using? what phone? and what player is on that phone? (Orb streams to any phone with a streaming player of any kind - real, 3gp, windows, flash - so long as the browser can hand off the stream, which is true for all but some BREW phones, most of which don't have streaming players anyway)
and Winamp Remote, as you point out, is the same core technology as Orb... just with only very specific capabilities included (today, your home PC's music to remote PC's and to mobile; more features coming very soon)
happy to help figure out what issue you're having on your phone so you can enjoy this!
all of that said, i don't see Winamp Remote as being likely to provide WAPCAM's webcam-focused capabilities in the near future (though GENERIC Orb of course does provide mobile access to your webcam), so i would agree: don't stop work on wapcam!
looking forward to working through your mobile situation together
i
Hi Ian,
thank you for your (so) quick feedback.
First of all, you're right to correct me when you say Orb is capable of streaming over GPRS/EDGE. I was just relating about my own experience.
In my case, I am using a Samsung i320(WM5) or Samsung D720(S60 2nd Ed.) and the carrier is Bouygues Telecom in France (APN:mmsbouygtel.com). I'm one of the lucky people having an unlimited GPRS connection.
I wish I could test the service with a Nokia device, especially the new S60 3rd gen phones, but unfortunatly I don't own such a device.
As for the player, I use either Windows Media Player or TCPMP.
I think WMP sucks because I can't use it with my WapcamServer (on PC neither, it just doesn't support either RTSP or the SDP provided by my streaming server or is it sthg else?) and TCPMP doesn't support streaming at all.
By the way I would be glad if you can give me advice on the best streaming players for Windows Mobile or Symbian (free of course).
From my experience, it is pretty difficult to use GPRS for more than just HTTP, unless you set up special partnerships with operators. I wrote a post about it on this blog but it's french so I forgive you for not having read it ;) I once did the test and sent just a single packet in UDP or TCP over Orange GPRS network: only the TCP requests beginning with HTTP GET... could reach my server, which confirms that only HTTP traffic is allowed.
So indeed, I'm pretty much interested in how you made Orb function on GPRS and how I could have it working for me too.
Regarding Winamp Remote, can you explain me the end user-advantage while using this rather than the original Orb?
According to you, Orb seems much more powerful than Winamp Remote ...
Finally, thank you for your support regarding the Wapcam Project. It ressembles more to Orb than Winamp remote, since its aim is to allow users to access and stream whatever files to the internet and mobile devices, in a 'Do-it-yourself' way.