MP3 Radio MP3 Radio Logo

MP3Radio (1.13b) Help file
This version is beta

Any spelling mistakes in this help file are deliberate and included for their comedy value.

Thanks to; Thomas Olsson (Zappo) for AMPlayer, Justin Fletcher (Gerph) for EasySockets, Chris Downs (Xeno) for his Waveform on which MP3Radio's is based and Graham Allen (Xyra) for XyUtils. Testers; Rob Kendrick (unCiscy), Chris Downs (Xeno), Keith McKillop (Asp), Graham Allen (Xyra), Jeff Haskell (Chod). Also Justin Fletcher (Gerph) and Mech for early bug reports. MP3Radio is written Philip Hardy 31/12/99-2000

What does MP3Radio do? | What do I need to use it? | Setting up your web browser to launch PLS files
The Player | Hotlist | Configuration | Problems | History | Contacting me

What does MP3Radio do?

What do I need to use it?

  • RiscPC (second generation RISC OS computer)
  • StrongARM processor
  • RISC OS 3.7 or above
  • 28.8K or above internet connection (the faster the better)

So far it has been tested on

  • OS:
    • RISC OS 3.7
    • RISC OS 3.8
    • RISC OS 4.02
  • Internet connection:
    • 33K6 modem
    • 56K modem
    • 128K iSDN
    • 10Mbit leased line
  • And StrongARMs Rev. K to Rev. T

Setting up your web browser to launch PLS files 

       audio/*          GenSound        f96     .voc   .pls

    You will find MineMap in !InetSuite.Internet.Files or Boot:Resources.!Internet.files.MineMap depending on if you use the ANT Internet Suite or not.

    For Webster XL versions 1.92f and below you should also add this line to !WebsterXL.MIMEMap.

  • Oregano (1.03js and above)
    Oregano 1.03 and above come ready set up to run playlist files however if it doesn't work check you have 'f96' in the runnable filetypes box that can be found in the Media Choices section. By default it should have: 
    adf,f96,fb1,f88,fc2,ae7,fb2,b29,fd4
    It will not work with versions of Oregano below 1.03.
  • Fresco
    You will also have to add 'f96' to the runables file located inside Fresco (if it doesn't exist create a new textfile called 'Runables' that contains a single line saying 'f96' and save it inside Fresco's directory).
  • Webster XL
    1. Open the configuration window
    2. Select the 'Helpers' section.
    3. Type 'PLS,&F96' into the writable box next to the 'New' button
    4. Click on the New button
    5. Select the entry you have just created from the list and set the action to 'Filer_Run'.

    Also for versions 1.92f and below you should:

    • Update the MIMEMap file inside Webster XLs directory as above
    • Add the following line :-
      AUDIO@X-SCPLS:&F96
      to the file WebsterXL.Fetchers.!WebFetch.MIME2Type the best place being at the end of all the other lines starting AUDIO@ (without this WebFetch types the file as data for the Browser to guess, but of course it doesn't have the information to guess this filetype from its contents.)

The player

  • Play
    Clicking on 'play' will make MP3Radio connect to the current station and start playing.
  • Stop
    Clicking on 'stop' will stop playing the current station or MP3.
  • Host
    Type the address of the station into here. Put the port in the box after the colon. The pull down menu after the port box is the hotlist.
  • Bit Rate
    This field displays the bit rate (sound quality) of the currently playing mp3 or stream. The faster (larger number) the bit rate the better quality the stream will be and the faster your connection will need to be. The Table bellow1 shows the bit rates, quality and the connection you will need to play them.

Bit rate (Kb/s) Quality Internet connection
16 Channel 5 28.8K
24 AM Radio 28.8K - 33K6
32 Mono FM Radio 56K
48 Stereo AM Radio 56K - 64K iDSN
56 Mono TV 64K
64 Stereo FM Radio 128K iSDN
96 Nicam TV 128K iSDN
112 Near CD 128K iSDN
Above 112 CD Above 128K
Quality in releation to connection speed.

  • Status line
    The central display field displays the current state of the player.
  • Visualization
    This area displays a waveform or VU bars when a song is playing. Click the mouse of the area to choose the type of visualization.
  • Station name
    The display field in the bottom right displays the current radio stations' name (if known).
  • Speed
    Displays the current download speed in k/sec along with a percentage of the speed needed to sustain the stream (currently only works with 16,24 and 32 kb/sec streams).
  • SHOUTcast logo
    Clicking on this will take you to the shoutcast directory (web browser must be loaded).

Hotlist

  • Using the hotlist
    MP3Radio has a simple hotlist feature to provide easy access to you favourite stations. You can access the hotlist by clicking on the menu button (above the play button) in the player button. If you select a station from the menu MP3Radio will update the window with the details of that station. You can then click 'play' to start to play it.
  • Adding a station to the list
    Bring up the hotlist menu and click on 'Add station'. Enter the radio station's details, including the bit rate if you know it, in the dialogue box that appears then click on 'Add'.
  • Removing a station from the list
    Bring up the hotlist menu. Click on the station you want to remove using ADJUST then click on 'Remove station' using SELECT. MP3Radio will remove the station from the hotlist file and rebuild the hotlist menu.

Configuration

    MP3Radio's choices window can be opened by clicking MENU over the iconbar icon and clicking on 'Choices...'. The options available are:
  • Buffer
    This controls how large the buffer will be (in kilobytes) when MP3Radio starts to play the radio station. A large buffer will provide more time for you to 'catch up' with the server should there be any problem with the connection. A smaller buffer will create less of a delay before starting to play the stream.
  • Re-Buffer
    This does the same as above except it controls how large to buffer will be made if the original buffer runs out.
  • Use DMPA
    AMPlayer has problems playing streams with very low bit rates (below 24 kbit/sec). I have provided support for DMPA to play these streams. It isn't yet fully implemented (at the moment it will open in a task window). DMPA will also slow the computer down a lot.
  • File Buffer
    This is how much of the buffer (in kilobytes) AMPlayer will take and use at a time. A smaller buffer will mean AMPlayer will have to take chunks of the file out of the buffer more often but there is less chance of it using the whole of the buffer.
  • Display Visualization
    Controls wether the VUBars or Waveforms will be displayed.
  • VU Speed
    Controls how often the visualization is updated and how much processor time is used. The higher the number the less often VUs will be updated.
  • VU Type
    This controls what type of visualization is used. Currently you can choose from stereo VU bars, stereo waveform and mono waveform.
  • Re-connect if connection is closed
    If this is ticked and a server closes your connection to it MP3Radio will automatically reconnect and continue playing.
  • Display iconbar text
    If this is ticked MP3Radio will display its current status under the icon bar.

Problems

  • AMPlayer 1.26 does not like doing this! It will only play streams with a bit rate of over 20ish kbit/sec. Streams with a lower bit rate will either be silent or play as a squeal. However bit rates this low are of extremely bad quality and are not very easy to listen to anyway. I have started on support for DMPA to play these streams but it is not yet fully implemented.
  • Because of a bug in AMPlayer you should *RMReinit AMPlayer before you play a mp3 with a high bit rate (e.g. 128kbit/sec) after using MP3Radio otherwise strange and scary things may happen. MP3Radio will do this before playing a new station or MP3 anyway.
  • This program uses PipeFS to store the stream. PipeFS uses the RMA to store data so this program can cause RMA fragmentation. If you can think of a better way to store the stream short of writing a new filing system please let me know.
  • I have one report of PipeFS refusing to work after playing a stream for a while. However no one else has had this problem and I can't recreate it.
  • MP3Radio doesn't yet read the header of a stream and instead just dumps it straight into AMPlayer. Which I'm sure it doesn't like but seems to handle okay :-)

History

  • 31/12/99, Started to mess around with PipeFS with no intention of writing any sort of application.
  • 13/1/00, Version 1.00a
    • Version string begins.
    • Not publicly released though it has spread further than I wanted.
    • Fixed numerous WIMP/interface bugs and oversights.
    • Changed all occurrences OSCLI to SYS "OS_CLI"
    • Redesigned choices window adding visualization options.
  • 14/1/00, Version 1.01a
    • Implemented new choices options and corrected the behaviour of old ones
  • 16/1/00, Version 1.02a
    • Corrected 8 more bugs/oversights.
    • Changed the behaviour of the VU selection icons in the choices window
  • 19/1/00 Version 1.03a
    • Minor changes to menus
    • Bug fixes
    • Window stays on top of the stack when using direct redraw
    • Window no longer centralises all the time
  • 31/1/00 Version 1.04a
    • Due to members of my family who can't tell the difference between a floppy and hard disc I lost the source code to this version! Changes are the same as bellow
  • 3/2/00 Version 1.04a2
    • Fixed Hotlist
    • Added add and remove to the hotlist
    • Window now comes to the top of the stack when a PLS is run
    • Immediately stop playing an mp3 before another is loaded
  • 5/2/00 Version 1.05a
    • Templates altered slightly
    • Memory management improved
    • Error handling improved slightly
    • Saves configuration to Boot:Choices if available
    • Displays artist and track title when playing a local mp3
    • Reinitialises AMPlayer before playing a new mp3 or stream. This is to get round bugs in amplayer that could cause RISC OS to melt down (or just simply affect playback quality) when playing low bit rate mp3s or playing a high bit rate mp3 after a low bit rate one.
    • Bug in 'remove item from hotlist' fixed
  • 7/2/00 Version 1.06a
    • File handling changed from BASIC commands to SWIs
    • Mulitasking error box for non fatal errors
    • Kiwi Software link added, E-Mail link added
    • Some menu code changed to use Kiwis menu lib.
    • xyUtils heap manager dropped
    • All occurrences TIME replaced with SWI OS_ReadMonotonicTime
    • Changed floating point variables to integers where they wern't needed (woops)
    • VU Type detection re written
    • Supports ID3 tags for local mp3s
    • Fixed removing and adding of stations to the hotlist
    • Templates changed to look nicer
    • Window automatically opens if an mp3 is playing when run
  • 14/2/00 Version 1.07a
    • Shows download speed in player window with a percentage of speed needed
    • Hotlist changed to include more information about the stations
    • You can no longer set the buffer to negative values (oops)
    • Choices now opens in the centre of the screen
    • E-Mail link in info window
    • xyUtils Menu code dropped in favour of the Kiwi menu library
  • 21/2/00 Version 1.08a
    • Shows download speed in kilobytes per second and gives a percentage of the speed needed (only works for 24k/bit streams at the moment).
    • New icon (Thanks to Rob Kendrick)
    • Displays status under iconbar icon
    • Waveform meters improved. Now solid instead of dots
    • Can no longer set the values in Choices to negative numbers
    • Hotlist menu appears in the correct position
    • Toggle size button removed from the player window
    • New hotlist menu
    • Allows you to edit new hotlist entries
    • Template altered to be more style guide compliant
  • 3/3/00 Version 1.09b
    • MessageTrans style choices file
    • Preliminary support for DMPA
    • Download speed % support for 16kbit and 32kbit streams
    • Templates altered (Style guide stuff)
    • Bug in waveform meter redraw fixed
    • Can now turn iconbar text off
    • Direct draw vu bar removed
    • Bug in ID3 tag handling fixed
    • Player window opens in the centre the first time it is opened
    • Pull down menus (Hotlist and choices window VU bar selection) now open i the correct place
    • Add URL window now closes when 'Add' is clicked with SELECT or RETURN is pressed in the window
    • VU menu in choices window stays open when selected with ADJUST
    • Options 'Add URL' and 'Remove URL' in the hotlist menu changed to 'Add station' and 'Remove station'
    • Fixed bug in the updating of the Bit Rate display field. It wouldn't change if AMPlayer didn't stop before a new track stated.
  • 12/03/00 Version 1.10b
    • Bug fixes in file handling
    • VU Bar redraw fixed and improved
    • Show elasped and remaining time when playing an MP3
  • 12/03/00 Version 1.11b
    • Playlist run type now defined in the boot file
    • VU Bars improved and fixed again
    • Remaining time counter fixed
    • Volume control added
    • Link the the SHOUTcast directory now a button
    • Configurable user agent string
    • Instructions on how to set up Webster XL to run playlist files in help file (thanks to Andrew Pullan)
    • Fixed bug in selecting the VUBars from the menu in the choices window. It used to cause a 'no such function/produce' error.
  • 27/03/00 Version 1.12b
    • Now shows how large the buffer is when buffering as well as a percentage
    • Now keeps the volume at the right level when a new song is played
    • Bug in updating the iconbar icon fixed.
  • 30/05/00 Version 1.13b
    • Half term and I've got a bit of time!
    • Plays more streams like those on mp3.com and SWR3
    • Few small template fixes
    • Default buffer size increased slightly.
    • Works with Oregano 1.03 js
    • Bug in updating of the ticks in the VU menu in the choices winodw fixed.
    To Do:Minimised window.

Contacting me

New versions of MP3Radio can be downloaded from http://www.kiwisoft.co.uk/ or http://www.philspages.co.uk/

My e-mail address is philip@kiwisoft.co.uk

1it would have been opposite but Browse doesn't support floating objects. Get yourself a decent browser kids.