As you may have seen, our internet radio tool Nicecast has been retired. While the app will continue to function on existing systems, it will no longer be supported after 2018.

We know that there are still plenty of people who wish to broadcast audio across the internet, and Nicecast’s retirement post touched on a few alternatives. After feedback from users, it’s clear that a deeper look at these alternatives is worthwhile.

Broadcasting Background

Nicecast contained two key components: A broadcaster and a built-in server. The broadcaster made it possible to send audio from a Mac to a streaming server, where listeners could tune in. The built-in server provided one option for making a stream accessible to listeners, with minimal setup required.

We’re not aware of any tools to make running a local streaming server on the Mac as easy as Nicecast did. However, there are several Mac broadcasting tools to send audio out to a remote streaming server. Much like purchasing web hosting, companies such as Fast Serv can provide a remote streaming server for a small monthly fee. You can also look at dedicated streaming services like Live365 and Shoutcast.com.

Once you have a remote streaming server, you’ll need a broadcasting tool to send audio to it from your Mac. This post uses a free tool called Ladiocast for illustrative purposes, but the Icecast website maintains a useful list of third-party broadcast tools to consider. The techniques shown below will work with any standard broadcasting tool.

Broadcasting to an External Server

Setting up a broadcasting tool like Ladiocast is fairly straightforward. To start, enter the details for your external server. Here’s the connection window in Ladiocast, connecting to a Live365 server:

Once you’re able to connect to the remote server, you need to select your audio source. Ladiocast features a Mixer window, which enables you to choose one or more audio devices to broadcast:

Here, we’ve selected a microphone (“USB Ear-Microphone”), and are now on the air. Ladiocast is taking audio from the mic and sending it to the remote Live365 streaming server. Listeners can then tune in to hear the stream.

Feeding Application Audio Into Your Broadcast With Loopback

On their own, Ladiocast and other tools are unable to broadcast audio played in apps like iTunes or djay. Instead, these broadcast tools are limited to pulling audio from microphones and other devices. This is where our audio routing app Loopback comes in. Using its virtual audio devices, you can get application-based audio into your broadcasting tool, and on to your listeners.

Here’s a very basic virtual audio device made with Loopback. It will take audio from djay Pro 2, and make it available through a virtual audio device called “LB: djay Audio”.

Once created, this virtual audio device can be selected as an audio source in a broadcasting tool like Ladiocast:

As you can see, audio from djay Pro 2 is now flowing directly into Ladiocast, which is then broadcasting it to a remote server. Virtual audio devices made by Loopback enable you to get any audio sources into your broadcasting tool, instead of being limited to physical audio devices.

More Powerful Broadcasting With Audio Hijack and Loopback

Loopback can assist in broadcasting application audio, but it doesn’t offer advanced controls such as audio effects, level adjustments, and more. For that, we’ll turn to Audio Hijack. Audio Hijack is generally aimed at recording audio, but it also offers tremendous flexibility to create the exact audio stream you want for a broadcast.

Below, we’ve created a complex audio chain in Audio Hijack. Audio from a mic, the DJ app MegaSeg, and our own soundboard app Farrago is all being pulled in, then audio effects are applied, before sending it on to multiple outputs.

As you can see, Audio Hijack lets you customize an audio stream in nearly limitless ways. At the end of the chain, you can see audio flowing on to “LB: Pass-Thru Device”. When we select that same device as the source in Ladiocast, the audio passing through our Audio Hijack session will be picked up by Ladiocast and broadcast to the selected remote server.

Closing

The setups shown above require a bit more setup than Nicecast, but they will enable you to continue broadcasting audio from your Mac. We encourage new and old users alike to utilize these techniques to transition away from the now-retired Nicecast.

Summary

Today, our internet radio tool Nicecast is being retired from active development. Nicecast is no longer available for purchase, and we do not plan any further updates. Nicecast will be supported on MacOS 10.10 through 10.13 until the end of 2018, after which it will be fully deprecated.

Please read on for more details.

Nicecast’s Origins

Nicecast was one of Rogue Amoeba’s earliest apps, first released way back in 2003, and receiving more than sixty updates since then. Soon after Audio Hijack provided the ability to record any audio on the Mac, users asked us to make it possible to broadcast any audio to the world. At the time, it was very difficult to create an online radio station.

So it was that we decided to join our powerful audio capture with a simple user interface on top of the open-source command-line icecast MP3 streaming server. With Nicecast, even novices could get started streaming audio from their Macs to listeners around the globe.

Since 2003

In short order, Nicecast users were providing hundreds of different streams for the world. Hobbyists were able to live out their DJ fantasies, while terrestrial radio stations could easily provide online access to their content as well. It was very exciting, and we improved the app significantly in the first few years.

However, Nicecast never gained widespread popularity, and thus has always been a junior player in our product lineup. As well, after a brief ascendancy, internet radio has not continued to grow. While it is certainly still in use today, it is small niche compared to the promise it originally showed. The vast majority of listeners rock out with streaming music services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and many others.

Our customers are best served when we optimize our limited resources, and so the time has come to put Nicecast out to pasture. The waning popularity of internet radio, coupled with pending changes to MacOS which will break 32-bit apps, are leading us to retire the product.

Next Steps

If you’re an existing user of Nicecast, you can of course continue to use it on supported systems (that’s MacOS 10.10 – 10.13). Nothing will change for you in the short-term. If you need to download the software again, the last planned version, 1.11.13, is available from our Legacy page. Technical support will be continued for licensed users through the end of 2018, after which the application will be fully deprecated.

Due to Nicecast’s 32-bit nature, we expect that changes Apple plans for future MacOS updates will render the two wholly incompatible. As such, you should be extremely cautious with any production environments running Nicecast, and avoid updating them past MacOS 10.13.

The Future

We encourage our existing users, as well as any new users looking for Nicecast, to find alternate solutions for broadcasting content online. Other solutions for creating an internet radio station do exist. To run a local streaming server on your Mac, installation of the command-line icecast is possible using Homebrew or MacPorts.

Feeding audio into any streaming server, local or remote, is possible with several different tools. The icecast website maintains a useful list of third party apps, with Mac tools like Ladiocast and broadcast using this tool (aka “butt”) being of special note. It’s also worth mentioning that our audio routing tool Loopback will enable you to feed any audio from your Mac into these tools for broadcasting.

Update (March 2nd, 2018): We got a lot of questions from users, so we’ve taken the time to expand on the above in a separate blog post. Please see “Broadcasting From the Mac Without Nicecast” for more complete instructions to help you transition away from Nicecast.

While Nicecast is now retired, we are considering future solutions to help users broadcast to more modern streaming options. In particular, we know many podcasters provide a live stream using Nicecast, and hope to eventually provide a more comprehensive solution for that use case. Following this blog is the best way to stay up to date with our latest news.

Closing

It’s sad to retire an application, particularly one that’s been developed for almost fifteen years. Nicecast solved a real problem in a fun, useful way. Unfortunately, that problem space just wasn’t big enough, and the world passed the app by. We’re sad to see Nicecast go, but excited to dedicate our energies to more modern projects which will help even more users.

Questions?

If you’re an existing Nicecast owner with further questions, please get in touch directly.

Our home audio streamer Airfoil enables you to send any audio from your computer to AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Chromecast devices. We also expand that ecosystem with our companion app, Airfoil Satellite. Using Airfoil Satellite, you can send audio to Macs, PCs, iOS devices, and more.

Today, we’re thrilled to add an Android version to the Airfoil Satellite family!¹ With Airfoil Satellite for Android, you can stream audio from a Mac or PC to any modern Android device (running Android 6 and up). In addition to receiving audio wirelessly, Airfoil Satellite for Android can also remotely control both Airfoil itself, as well as playback from supported source applications.²

Get It Free, Right Now

Airfoil Satellite for Android is an entirely free companion to our paid Airfoil applications. The new Airfoil Satellite for Android 2.0 is available for immediate download from our site. Get full details and download the app from the Airfoil Satellite for Android page.

Footnotes:

1. We formerly offered an application called Airfoil Speakers for Android which could receive audio from Airfoil, but did not offer remote control of Airfoil or supported audio sources. The new Airfoil Satellite for Android brings the Android platform to full parity with iOS when it comes to Airfoil, and it inherits the old app’s release history.

   Speaking of the old app, if you have an older Android device running Android 2.3 through 5.1.1, get Airfoil Speakers for Android from our Legacy page. With it, you can turn those older devices into dedicated Airfoil outputs. ↩︎

2. See a list of sources supported for remote control on Mac and Windows. ↩︎

Apple’s new HomePod speaker is now out in the wild and it’s generating plenty of buzz.¹ The device sounds great, but plenty of folks have noticed just how tied to Apple’s ecosystem it is. Thankfully, our home audio streaming tool Airfoil already works great with the HomePod. With Airfoil, you can send any audio from your Mac or PC to the device.

Today, we’ve got a great update to Airfoil for Mac which provides full compatibility with the HomePod, as well as several other updates and improvements. Read on for more details about Airfoil for Mac 5.7, or just grab the latest version right here!

Send Any Audio to the HomePod

Audio playback from the HomePod itself is entirely tied to Apple’s ecosystem (specifically, Apple Music and iCloud Music Library). If you use Spotify or any other audio streaming service, Airfoil is here to help. Just play your desired audio on your Mac, then use Airfoil to send it along. While the HomePod lacks a line input port, anything you can play on or through your Mac can be passed wirelessly to the device.

Perfect Your Audio With Airfoil’s Equalizer

Airfoil includes a built-in equalizer that lets you tweak your audio to get it just right. The HomePod sounds great, but you may wish to tone down its bass. Airfoil’s “Bass Reducer” preset is a great place to start:

Of course, if you want to go the other direction and really feel the music, the Bass Booster preset can help. Airfoil’s equalizer includes almost two dozen presets, and you can create and save custom presets as well.

Control Supported Sources from the HomePod

Airfoil for Mac can even receive direction directly from the HomePod. That means you can use “Hey Siri” or the volume buttons to adjust playback levels. Even better, you can pass playback commands from the HomePod through Airfoil and on to supported sources. A single tap on the top of the HomePod will toggle play/pause, a double-tap will skip to the next track, and a triple-tap will jump back. Addressing Siri with these same commands works as well.

Send to Multiple HomePods, in Sync

If you’re fortunate enough to have two (or more) HomePods, you can use Airfoil to send to all of them at once, with playback happening in sync. Airfoil has long been able to play audio to multiple devices in sync, and playback to the HomePod is no exception. Apple has touted multi-speaker sync as part of their delayed AirPlay 2 protocol², but it’s already possible today using Airfoil.

Send to All Sorts of Devices

Of course, wireless audio isn’t limited to the HomePod, or even just to AirPlay-compatible devices from Apple and others. With Airfoil, you can send audio to thousands of different devices, thanks to its additional support for Bluetooth and Chromecast hardware. Your house may already have multiple devices just waiting to help you rock out.

Much More to Find in Airfoil for Mac 5.7

In addition to improvements for the HomePod, Airfoil for Mac 5.7 has new support for enhanced metadata and remote control of Downcast for Mac. An enhanced experience will also be provided with web-based audio when using BeardedSpice to play music from supported sites in Safari, Chrome, or Vivaldi.

All Airfoil for Mac users should get this update immediately by selecting “Check for Update” from the Airfoil menu, or downloading from the Airfoil page.

If you’re new to Airfoil, you can get started streaming audio to the HomePod and other devices all around your house with the free trial of Airfoil for Mac.

Footnotes:

1. As well as a few ring-shaped stains. ↩︎

2. As discussed in our recent company status report, we’re still awaiting more details from Apple on AirPlay 2. There are many open questions, and for now, few answers. When we know more, we’ll be sure to share with you. ↩︎

In January of 2017, I posted a summary of our 2016, and a peek at plans for 2017. With today’s post, this becomes an annual tradition. Read on for a roundup of what happened in 2017 and a look at some of our plans for 2018.

Recap of Releases

Though neither was a major product launch, we actually shipped two new apps last year. On Valentine’s Day, we gave our users the most romantical gift of all: sound control software. The audio device control functionality from the then-retired SoundSource was merged with LineIn’s play-thru ability and modernized to create SoundSource 3. The best part? Rogue Amoeba customers who own a current license for any of our other apps are eligible for a free license to SoundSource 3! If you’re not up-to-date, now’s a great time to get the latest, then take advantage of the free SoundSource offer as well.

Our second new app came about as the result of some unexpected changes made by Apple. In late March, a tvOS update from Apple broke Airfoil’s ability to send audio to the Apple TV. Shortly after, we shipped a new tvOS app called Airfoil Satellite TV. This served as an interim solution for streaming audio to the Apple TV while we worked on restoring compatibility directly within Airfoil.

Fortunately, we were able to work around Apple’s changes, and we released Airfoil for Mac 5.6 and Airfoil for Windows 5.2 to restore full Apple TV compatibility. With these updates, the Airfoil Satellite TV app became largely redundant for the time being. However, it will continue to exist as a fallback. If Apple again breaks the Apple TV’s AirPlay compatibility, Airfoil will still be able to send audio to the device.

One other release worth noting was version 2.4 of our audio editor Fission. This update also resulted from changes made by Apple. The new iTunes 12.7 utterly broke the ability for any app to make custom ringtones for iOS devices, even Apple’s own GarageBand app. Knowing how much users love this feature, we worked quickly to restore it. We also posted instructions for using custom ringtones with newer versions of iTunes, whether or not they’re made with Fission.

Of course, we shipped plenty of updates for all of our applications, with a total of 33 releases last year. This was actually our lowest yearly total in almost a decade, however. This reduction in releases was largely due to a lowered need for bug fixes, which is always a good thing. We also had a larger-than-average amount of work in progress that didn’t ship in 2017, and I expect our raw number of releases will jump back up in 2018.

The Newest Amoebas

We made multiple hires last year to keep our team strong and productive. In June, we hired Andy Taylor to work on Airfoil for Windows. Since then, he’s worked to ship the necessary updates to restore Apple TV compatibility and fix other minor bugs. We’ve still got more in the pipeline for Airfoil for Windows, including the long overdue support for Chromecast, so stay tuned for more updates.

Later in the year, Robert Charlton joined us as we doubled the size of our support team from one full-time tech to two. This larger team continues to provide fast and friendly help, but also has more time to refine and improve our support site, manuals, and backend processes. All of this will allow us to provide ever more solid software.

Other Major News

In February, we posted the results of removing Piezo from the Mac App Store. Piezo actually earned more revenue when it was available exclusively through our store than it did when it was also available in the Mac App Store. That’s a nice outcome, but the far greater benefit to leaving the Mac App Store was that it allowed us to improve the quality of Piezo. Given the convenience the Mac App Store could provide, it’s unfortunate how poor an overall experience many developers have had with it. Fortunately, direct distribution of software is easier and more convenient than ever. In fact, in 2017 we also switched our entire store over to use Paddle.com for payment processing, with very few issues.

At June’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced the new HomePod, which is finally arriving this week. We’ve confirmed that Airfoil can send audio directly to the HomePod, so you can stream any audio from your Mac or PC to the HomePod, right out of the box. We’ll be updating Airfoil to improve compatibility, so watch for updates in the near future.

Apple also announced a new AirPlay 2 protocol, which they have since delayed. There are many open questions with AirPlay 2, and for now, we’re all waiting for more from Apple. Worth noting though is that Airfoil can already match AirPlay 2’s announced ability to stream to multiple devices, all in sync.

In September, we celebrated a rather momentous occasion, our 15th anniversary. It was fun to look all the way back to the very first version of Audio Hijack, and to reflect on how far we’ve come. We plan to be here providing great audio software for many more years to come!

The Future

We’re always tight-lipped about what we’re up to for the future, but I’ll share what I can.

Last year, I teased a new app codenamed “Iron Beetle”, which has now shipped as our new soundboard app Farrago. We’ve been getting lots of great feedback already, and we’ll use this to help guide the development of Farrago updates in 2018.

We also expect to ship a major Airfoil for Windows update in the near future. This was discussed last year, which means it’s quite overdue at this point. Progress was slowed by the Apple TV issues we had to work around last year, but we’re still working hard on support for Chromecast.

Our work on big updates for Loopback has progressed well, and we hope to have more to share later this year. We’re planning to offer even more power coupled with a more polished user experience. For now, here’s a sneak peek at some interface improvements we’re working toward.

More to come!

We’re not currently planning the release of any brand-new products in 2018, so we’ll instead be focused on updates for our existing apps. That will include new features and functionality, as well as more run-of-the-mill bug fixes. We also always plan for updates for Apple’s nearly-annual MacOS release (this year’s name guess: “Sequoia”).

Stay Tuned

You can keep up to date with our latest news in several ways:

• Subscribe to this very blog.
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Like us on Facebook
• New! Follow Rogue Amoeba on Instagram.

We can’t wait to share more with you in 2018. For now, I hope the new year is treating you well. Stay tuned for updates from Rogue Amoeba!