Setting up a streaming radio

hi

i am planning to get a AMD64 based machine and set it as a mp3 streaming server.
The point is that i have absolutely no idea about what/how to set things up. I've browsed the net for a while and found tons of information that became confusing at the end.
I found there are software and harware based streaming solutions and the only way to finilize the streaming chain is to go through one of the existing streaming providers (SHOUTCast, Real, WM....)
Do you guys have a clearer and simpler idea on how to manage all this? What do I really need to make a radio work on the net?
Is a robust machine and an appropriate software such as SAM sufficient for streaming audio through the net?

I hope you can clarify all this for me!! thanks in advance!

There are 3 basic stages if you like to audio streaming:

1. You need a source (That is at your end) and it can be as simple as a playlist running on winamp to a fully blown automation suite. Something like SAM is a brilliant way to get high quality sounding results for a smaller price.

2. You then need a way to send the source to your sever, generally this is best done with an encoder (on your end) the encoder will depend on the sever you're streaming to. SAM has built in encoders, which can connect to all sorts of servers like SHOUTcast and Windows Media. Other options would be using the Shoutcast DSP Plugin for Winamp, or Windows Media Encoder.

3. Then you need the server which will handle the bandwidth load, you can either host this yourself on your own PC (Which isnt a great way of doing things if you want to avoid buffering or handle large numbers of listeners) or you can go to a stream host, such as http://www.wavestreaming.com/ (Which is what I would recommend.)

well, one thing that I would worry about is bandwidth, unless you have uber bandwidth, or plan to serve few listeners, this will be a problem. A way to check is though this formula:

Yes, thats why its a very good idea to go with a stream host