How to connect to an Internet Radio Station!

[WoWLegend]

Hey guys! Today I have a guide that teaches you how to connect to an internet radio station, using examples and such.

Now why is internet radio station so good? Simple, Any music can be played (no restrictions from the FCC) and Most gamers prefere to listen to online radio stations while they play because it offers a mix of songs they like and new songs they havent heard of yet.

So you have probably heard of the different stations, Rage Rant FM, ETC. Well im going to teach you how to connect to them! The easy and slightly more work way.

Now, most internet radio stations are run on a program called SHOUTcast. (http://www.shoutcast.com) And this is what the guide will be based on.

The easy way:
Most radio stations offer an easy way to connect to their station offering links on their website for a browser based stream or a link that opens a file so its streams in your favourite music program. Example:http://www.ragerant.com/playing.php

That is as basic as it gets.

slightly more work way:
Now some radio stations do not offer this, but tell you how to connect via IP or DNS name with a port.
Example: http://208.98.22.210:8066/ or http://habbometal.listen2myradio.com



You go here and the radio station either streams, or you must click on a button that says "listen" on the top of the page that the IP or DNS has given you. This will open a file letting you stream it from your favourite music player!

Yes they are both simple ways. Now lets get into complexity. lets say the browser player isnt streaming, or the stream keeps skipping and buffering. But they give you no alternative! This is a little trick that is obvious, and I felt stupid when i didn't see this one for a while.

I will teach you how to take a browser only stream, sneak onto the server and play it on your own music program using the listen file i talked about earlier. lets say you go here. http://www.ragerant.com/player.php
And you would rather play it using, WinAmp or RealPlayer, ETC.
This is what you do.

1.) Go to the page of the stream.
2.) On the Browser you need to find View. From View select "view source".



3.) Now you are hit with a giant wall of text. press CTRL+F.
4.) Type param name="FileName" value into the box, it will bring you to the line of text that the IP or DNS address is. For example. if you were to follow the link above and do these steps, the line of code with the IP address in it should look like this.

I have highlighted the IP address.

5.)Copy the IP address into the address bar of your browser. Go to that address.

6.) It should bring you to a page that says Shoutcast D.N.A.S Status. Now just click on the Listen button near the top of the page and the stream will launch in your favourite music program!

This guide is based on the SHOUTcast Server stream, and other websites using other server programs may work differently.

Happy Listening!

[Flying Piggy]

Nice guide WoWlegend101 +rep

[Rflet]

Heh you used the Post Rating thing wich I was talking about (wheather you read my post or not good on ya)!

anyway back on topic, nice guide, It works well

[WoWLegend]

hey thanks guys. yeah, I got the idea from some people that wanted to know how to connect to my station, so i thought other people might want to know how to connect to their favourite station too.