Radio Paradise Update

[Cebolla]

The lack of excitement is probably due to no link to the actual FLAC stream. It only seems to be available indirectly via their app.

 

BTW, free FLAC streaming in hi-res 16/192kHz and with absolutely no interruptions is also available via similar eclectic radio station - JB Radio2. They too have decided not to provide a link to the FLAC stream on their website, but you can easily find it on their icecast server's status page:

http://209.126.66.166:10999

[Cebolla]

According to BillG on the RP Listener forum, the RP iOS & Android apps use a proprietary mechanism in order to access and play the FLAC source files directly from their online server, rather than connect to a true FLAC internet radio stream. Apparently they intend providing software for Linux hosted devices (such as the Raspberry Pi) in order to do the same processing of the RP FLAC files. However, you are going to have to wait until next year for that.

http://www.radioparadise.com/rp_2.php#name=Forum&file=showtopic&topic_id=24790

[Cebolla]

On 11/7/2017 at 10:24 PM, #Yoda# said:

 

On 11/7/2017 at 9:14 PM, Man in a van said:

NoJB-Radio flac seems to have stopped since this last weekend.

This seems to be correct, unfortunately.

 

JB Radio2 broadcasts on IceCast and a quick search on the IceCast directory reveals that the FLAC stream has been moved to a new server, status page at:

http://199.189.87.9:10999/

 

Sorry, I did notice the change a couple of days back and seeing the recent activity on this thread has reminded to post the info here.

 

 

 

On 11/7/2017 at 10:24 PM, #Yoda# said:

Even if the FLAC signal obviously was only a 16/96 FLAC container for an upsampled original 320 kbps source, it attested that a FLAC based internet radio is possible and largely failure-free receivable. 

 

Couldn't agree more, though I believe the FLAC stream actually operates at a resolution of 16/192kHz, so even more overkill!

 

 

On 11/7/2017 at 10:24 PM, #Yoda# said:

Anyway, I'm listening to JB Radio for several years now and the 320 kbps AAC stream is still available. I'm permanently switching between JB Radio2 and Radio Paradise when I'm listening to music by the way, the catalogue is almost congruent, a suitable song for me is available on one of them nearly always. 

 

Ditto - I find that the only difference between RP & JBR2 is that JBR2 behaves as a true jukebox, with absolutely no interruptions - so no DJ.

[Cebolla]

No worries, Ronnie. Thought it best for you to join the dots yourself, as JB Radio2 have stopped providing the official link on their website. No need for any Linux wizardry, BTW, if you open the linked m3u playlist file.

 

All's well here mate, it's getting bloomin' cold though. Yeah, I know - you just can't resist saying it in that lovely Stark accent of yours, "Winter is coming". Just make sure it's all worth it, by sending us some snow in time for Christmas!

 

John

[Cebolla]

Hi Thomas,

 

If you are running the MinimServer UPnP media server, you could try using its http network stream support to list internet radio streams as if they were music file tracks in a playlist. It'll accept either the radio stream's URL or the URL to a playlist file (.m3u or .pls) containing the radio stream's URL. The URLs need to added as standard entries to an M3U playlist file, which will allow MinimServer to process them via its normal support for M3U playlists. For example, a single entry (two rows) in the M3U file for an internet radio station stream:

#EXTINF:-1, JB Radio2 (Flac)
http://199.189.87.9:10999/flac

 

If your network audio file player cannot play the stream directly, then you can configure MinimServer's optional MinimStreamer package to manipulate the stream in order to provide additional stream information and/or even transcode the stream to another audio file format. For further info, see MinimStreamer's user guide:

Routing network streams via MinimStreamer

 

[Cebolla]

On 1/14/2018 at 3:41 PM, bobbmd said:

what about those 2 .org sites i asked about -VLC and ICECAST are they safe sites?

 

On 1/13/2018 at 11:15 PM, bobbmd said:

what about ICECAST it that 'safe'

 

16 hours ago, bobbmd said:

i think i once had icecast and discarded it

 

Hi bobbmd,

 

The Icecast (server) software is what RP uses to broadcast its internet radio stream, so it just simply requires you to use an application that can receive such streams (eg VLC, TuneIn, etc). Icecast streaming is a very common method used for broadcasting internet radio, so it's very likely that if you are using software or a hardware device that can receive internet radio, it also supports Icecast.

 

You most definitely don't need to go to the icecast.org site to get your own Icecast server, unless you want to start broadcasting your own internet radio!

 

Incidentally (& coincidentally, given the posts mentioning FLAC), going to the icecast.org site should be as safe as going to the FLAC site. They are both part of the suite of projects run by the Xiph.Org Foundation.  

 

John

[Cebolla]

On 14/01/2018 at 4:04 PM, #Yoda# said:

I've never used ICECAST, but VLC is open source and they are updating the software frequently and closing known security flaws quite fast.

 

As far as I know, you can use Roon Internet Radio to playback the RP stream if you insert the direct server link: http://stream-dc1.radioparadise.com/aac-320 at "Add Radio Station".

 

You are certainly receiving Icecast from RP, go up a level on your link to see its Icecast server page:

http://stream-dc1.radioparadise.com/

[Cebolla]

On 1/16/2018 at 3:04 PM, Superdad said:

Speaking of front end/user software for internet radio, does anyone here have some favorites?  I don’t mind—and kind of prefer—if it is web page based, but it needs to be sortable, comprehensive (all the world’s stations listed) and informative.

 

SHOUTCast is the only one that comes to mind, though I have not looked for a while.

 

Thanks.

 

SHOUTCast is the other main internet radio streaming medium, so is a rival to Icecast (with a more commercial outlook and more popular due to better marketing). I assume all you were doing is accessing SHOUTCast's default internet radio station catalogue page. It's certainly much better presented than Icecast's default catalogue page.

 

Of course you'll never find Radio Paradise in SHOUTCast's catalogue, as RP is streamed using Icecast.

 

What you need is an application that looks up the catalogues of both Icecast and SHOUTcast. One such application is TuneIn, which is available via a web browser, as well as specific software for Windows, iOS and Android. The Android version is particularly good as it allows you to select a particular stream, if varying quality streams are available for a particular internet radio station.

[Cebolla]

Having been spoilt by LMS's support of Radio Paradise's proprietary mechsnism for obtaining their FLAC streams, I missed the announcement of this bog standard Icecast provided OGG FLAC internet radio stream, added about a month ago:

http://audio-3.radioparadise.com:8000/flac

 

So just requires the streamer to support OGG FLAC or the supporting media server to transcode to 'normal' FLAC, PCM, etc, as required.

 

Apparently it's still experimental. Let's hope it's a success and becomes a permanent feature - source:

https://radioparadise.com/community/forum/topic/24857/3845173

 

NB: looks like our very own @left channel has already been playing with it!

[Cebolla]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

Does anyone here know if there is a way to play a RadioParadise stream with HQ Player (>NAA on NUC)?  HQ Player of course can handle FLAC, but I do not know if/how it can be made to playback a realtime stream.  I would LOVE that as it would enable me to play my favorite station on my main system instead of just on my desktop system.

 

TIA,

--Alex C.

 

I'd be very surprised if Miska didn't provide HQPlayer with support for OGG FLAC 'endless' streams - I remember him even mentioning OGG FLAC as example of such:

 

Why don't you create an m3u8 playlist file containing a single line of the stream's URL and see if HQPlayer can actually play it?

It would certainly save you the hassle of using foobar2000 as the go between.

[Cebolla]

I've had the stream being directly played by a Chromecast Audio for the past 6 hours and it's still working!

[Cebolla]

30 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

I've had the stream being directly played by a Chromecast Audio for the past 6 hours and it's still working!

 

Oops - looks like I've jinxed it - it's no longer working. The Icecast server's still up, but no streams are mounted

[Cebolla]

54 minutes ago, Superdad said:

In HQ Player I dragged a single local track into the player window just so I could use the save playlist function to create an m3u8 file and see its format.

Then I opened that file in a text editor, could see the single track, and then added some Radio Paradise FLAC stream URLs that I found.  Here is exactly everything that is in the file--saved with m3u8 extension;

 

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:404,Bill Evans - Peace Piece
/Users/AJC/Music/06 Peace Piece.aif
http://stream-tx3.radioparadise.com/rp_192.ogg
http://audio-3.radioparadise.com:8000/flac
http://audio-3.radioparadise.com:8000/flac

 

But when I open that playlist, once the Bill Evans track shows up.  The URLs don't.  

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong?

 

You should have just replaced the single track's file location with the stream's URL, after changing the #EXTINF directive to infinite runtime (-1) and a more appropriate title, ie:

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1,Radio Paradise

http://audio-3.radioparadise.com:8000/flac

 

However, the stream is currently not available - you could try this working OGG FLAC stream instead (Rondo Classic - Klasu):

http://stream.iradio.fi:8000/klasu.flac

[Cebolla]

You mentioning dragging the m3u8 file into HQPlayer's window reminded me of another post by Jussi actually confirming that HQPlayer does indeed support OGG FLAC streams and it mentions a far simpler method - just drop the stream's link on the HQPlayer window!

 

No idea why the m3u8 file doesn't work for loading the stream and unfortunately I don't have HQPlayer to hand to test with. I got the method from point 3 of bogi's stream from foobar2000 to HQPlayer guide doc, as linked in that thread:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gkUNvSlgV_n82izd4vggyPQRhVB4tkB4vF0kx6YUZTg/pub

 

Perhaps it does literally need to be a single line, with just the URL. So you need to remove the #EXTM3U & #EXTINF lines.

[Cebolla]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:35 AM, Cebolla said:

Oops - looks like I've jinxed it - it's no longer working. The Icecast server's still up, but no streams are mounted

 

Looks like the Radio Paradise FLAC stream is working again. Had it playing for a couple of hours with no issues.

[Cebolla]

On 5/25/2019 at 12:24 AM, left channel said:

The FLAC stream does not contain any meta data, and it may not be possible to do so.

 

On 5/28/2019 at 3:51 PM, left channel said:

Main Mix:  http://stream.radioparadise.com/flac
Mellow Mix: http://stream.radioparadise.com/mellow-flac

 

They'll also provide "an API endpoint you can use to grab the current now playing metadata + the time until the next song starts"

 

17 hours ago, left channel said:

For those working on custom apps, the api to add metadata to these streams has been posted on the RP forum:

 

Odd that a separate mechanism is required to obtain the metadata to identify the current track being played, given that the OGG FLAC streams should themselves be able to carry the appropriate metadata - presumably one of the reasons for Icecast servers having to use the OGG container for FLAC streams, instead of just pure FLAC.

 

Here's an example of a similar OGG FLAC internet radio stream (tested using  foobar2000, VLC & MusicBee players on Windows) that does contain the appropriate metadata and therefore no need for an API:

 

AI-Radio

http://ai-radio.org/44.flac