The Jukebox Issue

Problem at hand
What we had in place was a jukebox system wherein the client application on user machines would request songs from the main play list on the server. The server would pick up the next song in this queue and play it using media player on the server machine. The sound output is directed to the music system such that everyone around could listen to the many songs requested by others.

Everything appeared to go well until the non-jukie fellows started complaining - they did not want to hear to these songs, usually a different language/dialect. The music system had to go :(

Requirement
Now how do we fix this problem ? Music enthusiasts needed to be able to listen songs requested by others from their individual machines, perhaps using the headphones such that the non-jukies are not bothered.

Solution
Instead of directing the output from mediaplayer to the music system, use windows media encoder 9 series on the juke box server machine. Windows media encoder could encode music coming out from the soundcard into a live stream.

We needed a Win2003 box with Windows Media Services 9 series installed (comes with SP2) which can broadcast streams. Once we have this, setup the windows media services to feed from the media encoder stream off the jukebox server. What is remaining is simple. Ask all our dear enthusiasts to use Windows media player to listen to the live stream off the 2003 box. This way, the enthusiasts listen to the songs requested by other enthusiasts without disturbing the non-jukies.

Peace reigns once again.