The first thing you'll need to know is whether your Internet connection has the necessary upload speed to make your Internet radio station work properly. Many broadband Internet providers will allow for fast download speeds, although upload speeds can vary greatly from one ISP to another. To test your upload speed, visit Testmy.net/u_load.php and click the "SmarTest" link. This will download and upload a small, safe file, and let you know of your exact upload speed. The upload speed of my cable connection was 1016 kbps, which is only enough speed to support seven listeners at 128k bit rate, Shoutcast's highest possible quality. However, Shoutcast allows Internet radio enthusiasts to choose lower quality streams, facilitating more listeners.
Once you decide on a bit rate for your station and decide what you'd like to play, you're ready to download and install Shoutcast. As a broadcaster, you'll use Winamp and a plug-in called Shoutcast Radio DSP. This will send audio from Winamp to your Shoutcast Radio server. You can play any sort of audio you'd like, from music to sports talk, as long as the format of the audio is MP3 or AAC. Be aware that running a Shoutcast station can potentially clog up a lot of your bandwidth. It is advisable to choose a bit rate lower than what might provide ideal sound quality, especially if you expect a lot of simultaneous listeners. If you wish to upgrade the bit rate of your station later, you can choose to do so.
Listening to Shoutcast stations requires no special software beyond the digital audio player you probably already have installed on your computer. All the player needs is the capability to receive streaming MP3 audio. Mac users should use iTunes, Windows users will probably use Winamp, and Linux users can use XMMS. There are a plethora of stations available for listening, ranging in genre from blues and reggae to rock and electronica, as well as plenty of talk radio stations.