I wanted to reach out with a feature suggestion for TeamSpeak 6. The current screen sharing functionality is truly impressive offering crisp visuals and superb audio quality. While there may still be some minor bugs to iron out, it performs exceptionally well overall.
That said, I believe an audio-only streaming option would be a fantastic addition. This could allow users to share music or other audio content with friends without the resource intensive demands of full screen sharing. It would provide a lightweight alternative for scenarios like group listening sessions, enhancing the platform’s versatility.
I hope you’ll consider this request for future development. Thank you for your ongoing efforts to improve TeamSpeak.
I’m honestly not entirely sure what the concrete benefit of an audio-only streaming feature would be compared to the existing options.
In TeamSpeak, we already communicate directly with each other in channels. Adding separate audio streams on top of that might become redundant or potentially clutter the channel experience.
For shared music listening, there are already bots specifically designed for that purpose, and they tend to be lightweight and efficient. And when it comes to sharing audio files, you can use the channel chat or the channel’s file browser.
Maybe there’s a specific use case I’m not considering. In what scenario would integrated audio-only streaming offer a clear advantage over the current solutions?
Audio-only streams would require significantly fewer system resources compared to full screen sharing, allowing users with lower-end systems to participate in audio sharing without performance issues.
2. Simplicity
For users who just want to share audio (e.g., music, podcasts, or live events), an audio-only stream would be a more straightforward and intuitive option compared to managing bots or uploading files. It reduces unnecessary complexity.
3. Better Quality Control
A dedicated audio stream could offer better sound quality and stability since it would focus purely on audio without the added complexity of transmitting visual data (which can sometimes cause performance issues).
4. Enhanced Group Listening
Users could easily listen to shared audio together in real-time, creating a shared experience. This could be ideal for scenarios like group listening parties or collaborative music sessions, where syncing audio content is key.
5. Less Distraction
In scenarios where only audio is needed (like listening to music), a dedicated audio stream would keep the focus on the content and prevent distractions or visual clutter that might occur in a full screen share.
6. Lighter than Bots
Unlike bots, which require additional setup and may require users to manage permissions, an integrated audio stream would be easier to use and manage directly within the TeamSpeak interface.
7. Improved Network Efficiency
An audio-only stream would use much less bandwidth compared to video or screen sharing, especially useful for users with limited internet bandwidth or those in areas with network congestion.
8. More Flexible Use Cases
Audio-only streaming could cater to various use cases, such as sharing live music mixes, audio from games, radio broadcasts, or even just chatting with music in the background, without the need for external tools.
9. No Need for External Tools
For people who want to share their music or audio content with others without third-party applications (like Spotify or YouTube bots), this feature would provide a more seamless, integrated solution.
10. Streamlined Channel Communication
If the channel is used for casual audio sharing, an audio-only stream keeps everything organized in one place, without adding the complexity of chat bots or file sharing.
If I’m being honest a lot of the bots, are very dated and the quality isn’t the greatest to just be able to stream anything you want already puts Teamspeak above others, because they offer a very flexible settings compared to others simplifying it, having audio only streams would make those bots obsolete and would draw even more people to Teamspeak, and another reason would be privacy, unless you own the bot you don’t know if it’s actually listening to you or not. There is nothing more reliable then friends hosting it, or your own machine, plus a lot of these (music bots) are locked behind a paywall.
We’ve discussed this within the team before (last year), but I’ll bring it up again internally to see if it is something we’d like to pursue. I personally liked the idea of audio-only streams for music, which is what sparked the discussion in the first place.
