Jamcast

I would like a little help from you, the users of Jamcast to get an idea of the uses of this program.

I am trying to perform a review of this product but would like some help about where and when this would be a useful purchase and not just going with a solution like Windows Media Center or other streaming solution that I would already have with my computer and gaming system.

I can see the benefits if you have a receiver with built in Ethernet capability but not the idea behind just using the receiver with my gaming console or even an HTPC near the receiver.

Given all the various situations you have used Jamcast when is it the only solution, or best, you can use for your music/podcasts/internet radio or whatever?

Is there other hardware like Blu-ray or DVD players that would require this and make it that much more worthwhile?

Is there something I am missing here because I really can't see much use for this other than a small market of people who are either between getting more hardware or have an odd setup in their home to make this a useful product.

Hi Jeff,

You weren't addressing me, but I hope it's OK if I chime in with some information you might find useful.

Jamcast is part of the UPnP/DLNA ecosystem, which also includes thousands of models of networked TV's, home theater components, set-top boxes, mobile devices, gaming consoles, etc. When these devices are connected to a network where Jamcast is running, they can connect and play any media that you're sharing.

You can find out more about DLNA and UPnP here:

http://www.dlna.org/home
http://www.upnp.org/

You'll see on these sites that these standards are being built into very mainstream products. For example, many of the HDTV's that Samsung ships these days are DLNA compatible and work great with Jamcast. More and more manufacturers are getting on board every day. More than 300 million DLNA-compliant devices will ship in 2012.

It's also worth noting that many of our users were initially attracted to Jamcast because of its Virtual Soundcard feature. This allows users to play to a device whatever audio is currently playing on the PC, and is getting a lot of use from Pandora and Spotify enthusiasts especially. Most network-connected entertainment devices don't offer a way to listen to these audio services otherwise -- Jamcast to the rescue.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions for you. Thanks very much for taking the time to review Jamcast.

Thanks!

I am using Jamcast to stream Pandora (free version) from my computer to my Roku Soundbridge to my receiver. So far, it works well. I will also use Jamcast to stream MLB radio broadcasts from my MLB.com account to my Roku Soundbridge to my receiver.

I use Jamcast because it is simple and modest. It beats Windows Media Player because if you have a bigger mp3 collection wmp eats up your cpu and still the streamed information is not scrollable smoothly on my output device...

I use Jamcast to play music through my Home cinema/Hi-Fi in my living room. Jamcast is picked up through my Playstation 3 or my Xbox 360, both of which are connected to an Arcam DAC then into my amp. sound quality is amazing. I can listen to internet Radio, Last FM ,live 365 and others. I can also play hi-rez audio such as Flac files, using vlc media player. In addition, I can listern to thousands of albums downloaded from Zune as part of my subscription!

As an added bonus, I can listern to Last FM while gaming on my xbox 360, this is not supposed to be possible! as well as loads of other music

I have been able to stream music before Jamcast but never internet streaming and radio sites before in such a straight forward manner.

very pleased!

I run a radio stream on the server and use jamcast's virtual soundcard to stream it to my phone when I'm out.