STEVE please tell me you can patch SHOUTcast 2 if the mp3 keys go down?
The MP3 keys are just that (keys) so they can't "go down". They're just like oldschool shareware registration keys -- sctrans2 runs them through an algorithm and if the key is valid, the MP3 encoder gets enabled. There's no "phone home" mechanism or anything of the sort. So if you've already purchased an MP3 license key, you won't be impacted.
The bigger problem will be whether or not DNAS2 starts rejecting listener connections when/if yp.shoutcast.com gets shut down and DNAS2 is unable to reach it. Presently DNAS2 will not operate in public mode without being able to validate its auth hash with yp.shoutcast.com. So station admins may find that they need to switch their streams to private mode before that happens, or risk DNAS2 suddenly refusing all listener connections.
DrO has carefully avoided the subject of SHOUTcast on the winamp.com forums so far, and I personally contacted him to ask whether a new build would be released prior to the shutdown and/or how these issues would be handled, but haven't heard back. The rumors that have been going around since yesterday (both about an acquisition by Microsoft, and about AOL having planned to make a closure announcement about SHOUTcast next week) likely explain why he's been unable to comment about it.
I expect that once AOL makes any forthcoming announcements, all of the technical elements will be cleared up by DrO prior to the shutdown date. If any changes are required on our end (within CC) to ease the transition, we'll make them and push out an emergency update.