Frequently Asked Questions > General Questions > Why do RadioReference.com feeds buffer for around a minute and the RailroadRadio.net feeds buffer for only a few seconds?
The biggest reason the buffering time is different is that the RailroadRadio.net feeds are being streamed via SHOUTcast servers instead of Icecast servers.
When BBScanner connects to a stream it needs to wait until 100kb of data has been received before it can begin playing the audio.
When BBScanner connects to a SHOUTcast server, the server is able to send at least 100kb of data as soon as the connection is opened since the server always keeps that much buffered, this results in BBScanner being able to buffer that much data very quickly and begin playing.
When BBScanner connects to one of RadioReference.com's Icecast servers, the server is able to send around 16kb of data as soon as the connection is opened (since the Icecast server is configured to buffer only 16kb), since this isn't enough to fill up the 100kb buffer, BBScanner must wait for more data to be received (which will come in at the rate the stream is being encoded) before it can begin playing.
The RadioReference.com servers are configured to buffer only 16kb of data to keep the delay in the audio as low as possible, having it set to buffer no more than 16kb results in the audio being delayed only around 10 seconds when you're listening using a computer. The fact that SHOUTcast buffers much more audio results in its audio being delayed a couple of minutes.
Last updated on August 1, 2009 by Gordon