Internet Radio : update

Internet radio, for me, has turned out to be one of the most useful developments on the interweb, along with stuff like Skype and ... put your favourite web application here.

I have two internet radios; a Noxon iRadio and a Sangean WFR-20. The radios work independently of a computer, basically looking like a sometimes rather bulky transistor radio or table radio.

The Noxon iRadio was one of the first wifi internet radios available in the UK. I bought it about three years ago. There was nothing remotely like it available in the US for another couple of years at least. Stuff like satellite radio stifled demand here, although the US market is now discovering the benefits of internet radio - 15,000 stations freely available on your dial.

Hmmm ... freely available; more about that later ...

However, at the moment, the latest firmware is getting rather long in the tooth, although there is a beta-version available, but I can't get it to upload into the Noxon. One of the advantages of the Noxon is that it's a nPnP device and it can have some of its features controled via its own internal web interface. It uses the vTuner portal for access. vTuner is a pretty basic service with no user forum or similar available. It is also not able to access stations broadcasting in WMA, a problem if you like nice quality on the BBC. On the other hand vTuner has been pretty reliable.

One of the first wifi internet radios available in the USA was the Sangean WFR-20. This is a much more substantial radio than the Noxon and has a pretty good tone too.

Unfortunately the Sangean does not use nPnP, although the latest beta-firmware is working in that direction.

The Sangean uses reciva.com as a portal. Stuff like favourites, streams and podcasts are controlled via the portal. Reciva also has the benefit of a lively support forum, although the forum software is pretty clunky and slow. Beta-firmware is available via the forums.

I also started iRadioForum.net for general internet radio chat and support. It's a bit slow taking off ... but who knows?

Internet radio does face some challenges though, in particular, geo-blocking and station flash-players.

Geo-blocking is internet radio broadcasters' response to rather dated copyright laws, sometimes just irritating - ie: BBC Radio 5 Live Premier football match commentaries blocked - but largely just plain restricting. Another problem is that radio stations will only play via a specially developed flash player application and stream, thus unavailable to internet radio devices and frequently associated with geo-blocking too. In other words, radio stations, and particularly US stations are determined to chain us to our computers.

Hopefully there will be a way around this.

The Internet Radio Forum

Living as an Englishman abroad, it's nice to have those reminders of old Blighty.

McVitie's Digestives, Taylor's Yorkshire Gold, Private Eye and the Guardian crossword ...

... and, of course, the BBC.

Isn't the interweb a wonderful thing? Now, via the wonder of internet radio, it's possible to listen to BBC Radio 5Live and hear about lane closures on the M32 or an incident on the Circle Line.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I have two internet radios, a Noxon iRadio - using the vTuner portal - and a Sangean WFR-20 - using the Reciva portal. Both have been good acquisitions.

However, finding a place to discuss internet radio problems is difficult. So I've started a forum - The Internet Radio Forum - http://iRadioForum.net/ - to make a start at focusing online discussion and problem solving.

It's very small, at the moment, but I hope in time it will grow. If you're interested, please sign up.

Steam Radio ...

Whatever happened to old-fashioned radio?

Of course, it's still around. Small boys still listen to short-wave under the bed clothes ... don't they?

For me, one of the biggest developments on the web in the last couple of years has been internet radio. This is especially true since the introduction of stand-alone, wifi devices such as the Noxon iRadio and Sangean WFR-20.

I mean, listening to BBC Radio5 in real time in New Jersey, USA, let alone any of the other 14,000 or so stations around the world. How neat is that?

The interesting question is, what's happening to real radio?

There are now a number of ways of listening to radio other than over the analogue airwaves; in N America, satellite radio; Europe, DAB - Digital Audio Broadcast; via cable/satellite on your TV and via the internet.

The main problem for these new methods of delivery seems to be quality. Currently, it seems that nothing compares to a BBC Radio3, over-the-air, FM broadcast.

Contrary to DAB/satellite claims of cd quality, bitrates are far below those found on cd. In fact, many internet stations are starting to surpass DAB stations. In addition, other means of cramming stations onto limited bandwidth means that compression technology is impinging on quality and dynamic range.

For me, internet radio seems to be the way to go. There are problems, particularly if you're mobile. In-car internet radio seems a way off yet, although I see that people are already using European unlimited 3G access via an appropriate mobile device to achieve this end.

However, quality and access is rapidly developing.

I like it.

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*See my hifi / media index here.

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WiFi 04 : Sangean WFR-20

I've had the Sangean WFR-20 a couple of days now and I'm beginning to find my way around the thing.

In many respects it compares well to the Noxon iRadio, particularly in terms of sound quality and volume, but in some areas it is either lacking or I just haven't figured how to do it.

The Sangean was quite easy to get up and going. On initial turn-on the unit first of all updated its station list, then searched for any firmware update. The menu, although tortuous, is still rather easier than the Noxon's and the display, while not state-of-the-art, looks a lot better than the Noxon's clunky blue screen. The remote though is not as competent.

The unit also found my wireless network music server - TwonkyMedia - quite easily and navigating through the tree is once again quite simple using the single knob on the front rather than figuring out which button does what on the remote. The radio happily plays the usual formats including .flac, but is not capable of playing .ogg which puts it at a disadvantage to the Noxon which can, and although it can't directly play .flac it does work with TwonkyMedia's .flac transcoder.

Where I have yet to get any success is getting the unit to play my wlan's music stream. I'm not sure if it's a deficiency on my part or the radio's but whichever, it's a big issue for me. *sorted here

The Noxon has the advantage of showing up on the local network as a network device. As such it also has a device webpage which enables the manual input of radio streams in addition to the ones already available at its web radio gateway - vTuner - the Sangean uses Reciva. This means it's possible to input the address of a local network stream, in my case operated via SHOUTcast server. As yet I haven't figured out how to do this for the Sangean, or if indeed, it's actually possible.

Generally, I'm very pleased. The unit does 90% of what I want very well indeed. However, the .ogg codec issue and the inability to play music streamed on my wlan are a significant downside.

Internet radio devices still have a way to go.

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*See my hifi / media index here.

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Stuff : 04.06.2008

A week has zoomed by. Unfortunately dogged by illness ... get well soon, Linda. Anyway:

• The Sangean WFR-20 has turned up from Sangean ... about the same time as Amazon said they'd send me another one. Hopefully I won't end up with two. However, so far it seems good, sounds good, although it would be nice to be able to configure favourites through a web interface like the Noxon iRadio. On the other hand 11,500 stations on Reciva should be enough for anyone. I have yet to sort out what to do about podcasts.
• Went to go cycling this evening. The heavens thought differently though. Right on cue the skies opened so given it was quite dark too it was decided to go home and watch Giro d'Italia videos instead.
• Feel free to comment on my articles ... please.

WiFi 03 : Music Server

Despite the disappointment with the Sangean WFR-20 so far, one of the past year's best buys has been the Noxon iRadio.

Apart from its obvious use as an internet radio, it also has a talent for playing music streamed across your wlan and can even act as a music server along with your digitised music collection.

The free server software associated with the iRadio has the rather odd name of TwonkyMedia but is quite easy to set up and doesn't really need any further explanation from me. However, as with streaming, a large percentage of my collection is in .flac format, a codec the iRadio cannot play.

When streaming music across the wlan this problem is dealt with by the ShoutCast server which transcodes all formats into either .mp3 or .aac which the iRadio recognises. However, when using it as a server the raw files are broadcast out and when the iRadio encounters a .flac file ... silence.

There used to be a TwonkyMedia transcoder application, but examining the latest version - 4.4.5 - it's not clear if transcoding works with it, and the files don't seem to be available on the website any more.

However, I'm still using TwonkyMedia 4.4.2 which seems perfectly adequate and the .flac transcoder files are archived here and just need unpacking and placing into your Program Files/TwonkyMedia/cgi-bin folder for the iRadio to be able to play .flac files. HTH.

That still leaves the question of .ogg and .ape formats. There are instances of people getting .ogg to play over the iRadio. As for .ape I'm not so sure. However, I only have very few files in these formats, and it's not really worth the effort at the moment unless a solution falls into my lap.

To be honest, the server navigation on the iRadio is pretty clunky but it does work. Sound is surprisingly good through headphones given a reasonable source file.

When my hifi is permanently set up I intend to move on to something like SqueezeBox to provide a link to my digital collection and leave devices such as the iRadio, and hopefully, the Sangean to provide internet radio facility around the house.

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*See my hifi index here.

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WiFi 02 : Streaming

There are a couple of choices when it comes to using your WiFi internet radio to play your music collection; running a music server and streaming audio. The Noxon iRadio can do either.

I use streaming to play a random selection of my music library across our home wifi network. It's possible to listen to the stream via a computer on the wlan as well as a device such as a wifi radio.

Probably the easiest way of doing this is to use WinAmp and its associated SHOUTcast software.

Installing WinAmp is straight forward enough. There are possibly better music and media players, but WinAmp is reasonably easy to set up as a streaming application.

In addition you need the SHOUTCast DSP plugin for WinAmp and SHOUTcast Server. Both come with instructions on how to associate with WinAmp. The plugin is activated from WinAmp's options menu, but the server requires a little setting up via a .txt file. The settings are all fully explained in the file, but do require careful reading.

The advantage of streaming in this way is that you can play any music file format you like - or at least have the WinAmp codec for - despite the fact that the iRadio will only play a limited number of formats. For example, the iRadio will not play .flac or .ape files, but WinAmp/SHOUTcast transcodes the stream into an .mp3, or in my case, AAC+/48kbps format for the iRadio to play.

The disadvantage of streaming is that it is not possible to effect a choice of what's played through the iRadio. The music is directed by WinAmp's playlist. However, it does mean that from time to time you rediscover the little gems hidden away in your music collection.

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*See my hifi index here.

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WiFi 01 : Noxon iRadio

I remember when I was a lad ... Eeeeeee ... you were lucky, mate!!!

Under the bed-clothes with a short-wave radio listening to the cqs from around the globe. I wasn't nearly as keen as some of my friends who had qsl cards printed and sent them off around the world and in turn received cards from scores of exotic locations.

Well, in a way internet radio lets you do this too. And the Noxon iRadio has turned out to be one of the best gadgets I have ever had the fortune to have used with a computer. Well, I say computer, but actually all the iRadio requires is an internet connection. In my case, a wifi connection. It really doesn't need a computer at all!

Now, I have no idea if the iRadio is the best ever device in this genre. There may well be better devices. There are certainly more specialised devices such as the SqueezeBox which is more of a HiFi device and which may well fit into my future plans.

But it is actually quite hard to find this type of device in the USA. They do exist, but are around double the price at least. Certainly nothing in this price range!!!

Maybe the encroachment of satellite radio here mitigates against it, but you can't help wondering if a device which enables you to connect to virtually anything that interests you for free compared to a satellite subscription, might meet some resistance in the US retail market.

Anyway, my iRadio enables me to listen to maybe around 6000 radio stations around the world, many of them in quality stereo.

I just need to give a plug for BBC 5Live International, SomaFM and Lounge-Radio in particular. And just to say it is also great for listening to podcasts, especially Mark Kermode's film reviews.

But the radio connection is just one aspect of the iRadio's talents. Next WiFi articles will explain how to stream your music collection over your domestic wifi network and how to us the iRadio with a music server.

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*See my hifi / media index here.

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