I want to talk about BUTT!  No, not the posterior, it’s a free online broadcasting/streaming tool (it stands for Broadcast Using This Tool).  A fellow DJ pointed me to the blog post of Komuso Tokugawa where he talks about the pro’s and cons of BUTT.  I’m always interested in new tools, especially ones that can make my life potentially easier and gave it a whirl, while it is not a replacement for SAM Broadcaster or Wianmp, it could be worth your while.

BUTT is a small, light weight broadcasting tool that can broadcast to both Shoutcast and Icecast streams.  It works on Linux, MacOS, and Windows and is pretty handy.  Some of it’s capabilities are stream recording (in different bitrates), .ogg and mp3 streaming support.  It also provides some cool stats such as how long you’ve been on the air, how much data have you streamed and how much data have you recorded.

While BUTT looks like a promising tool, it is no where near a replacement for Winamp or SAM Broadcaster.  It’s sole purpose is to broadcast not to play music (which is cool), this tool is better geared towards musicians and live mixes.  The fact that it’s very lightweight and just broadcasts make it very compatible with external sound sources.

If there were things I would love for it to do would be the possibility for cross-fading with a microphone, integrated stream stats (such as how many people are listening), and integration with Winamp (mainly to pull what’s currently playing).  Otherwise this program is a must try.