Multicast Technologies Inc. has released its first multicast audio player, the MCT Player, as a free downloadable file on the company’s audio station, www.On-The-I.com.
The MCT Player tracks multicast traffic and features Staggered Erasure Protection, a patent pending technology developed by Multicast Technologies that corrects for missing data, which otherwise causes drop-outs in sound.
The MCT Player is being released under an open-source license, which will enable other programmers to contribute improvements to subsequent player updates. The player is based on the open-source FreeAmp player and is capable of receiving both multicast and unicast audio streams.
“Although we have patent-pending technology surrounding our player, we decided to go with an open-source license so that other programmers outside our company can make an impact and further this technology by sending us their improvements,” comments co-founder and President and COO, Jim Junkala.
Added project leader Marty Schoch, “The decision to release our technology under an open-source license makes sense because the streaming media industry has historically been dominated by proprietary protocols and formats. We will be able to leverage the efforts of programmers world-wide to become a serious competitor in this field.”
Once in distribution, the player will report back to Multicast Technologies with aggregate information on packet loss, allowing Multicast Technologies to monitor and improve the status of the Multicast Network. The player will also come later with customizable skins so that any user can change the look of the player to suit his or her tastes.
