Getting Shoutcast to Work

Tai'lahr · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:37 am

Shoutcast is an integral part of most Uru parties. Most of us take it for granted. Hit the url link, push the Listen button and we're Ctrl+4ing the night away. This thread is for everyone else - whether you've never used Shoutcast, or have, but now have a new system or program and can't get it to work. I can't answer the technical questions, but post them here, and hopefully someone else can. I'll simply begin with the basic instructions provided by Lord Chaos:

Lord Chaos wrote:

You can use the media player of your choice to listen to the stream. Here are specific instructions for the three major ones, in order by ease of use. The URL you use for it is: http://radioktdn.zapto.org:8025

Itunes 7: Pull down the "Advanced" menu. Select "Open Stream" and enter the URL above in the window that opens. Once the stream starts, you can add it to your playlists. Itunes will display song information as it come through the stream.

Winamp: Pull down the "File" menu. If you don't see a "File" menu, choose a different skin because not all skins have the full menus. Select "Open URL" and type the URL above. It should be added automatically to your list of streams. Song information will be displayed.

Windows Media Player: Pull down the "File" menu, and select "Open URL." Type the URL above in the little window and hit Enter. You won't see song information, and I don't know if you can have WMP remember the location.

A Note on the URL: If you enter the URL into your Web browser you will see a page that shows the status of the Shoutcast server. Along the top of that page are buttons for various purposes. One of them is "Listen." Click on that to run your default media player. You can also see a list of songs that have been played, along with the current song.

Note: he used his own station as an example, but it doesn't broadcast except for events, so to find a station for testing, go to the Shoutcast website. The site also includes additional instructions for using Winamp to listen.

Note about Windows Media Player in Win7: it doesn't recognize pls files.

Marten advised that if you tweak the address enough to remove the pls, you can then access the music by using "Open URL" and when he gave me Ktahdn's rel.to address (http://rel.to/ktdn), it worked just fine. But that could get tedious, so he helped me find a program to get around the issue: Open PLS in WMP - simply download and install it, then forget about it; the next time you click on a Shoutcast Listen button, it will tell WMP to open it and play.

Lord Chaos · **Joined:** Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:57 am **Posts:** 1327

Note that some of these programs, such as Winamp and Windows Media Player, are rather coy about displaying the File menu. It's there but you may have to dig to find it in newer versions.

Also note that entering the music URL in your browser will get you the Status page. It has Listen link at the top, which may work. Or it may not. Don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Enter the URL directly into your media player and you'll get it.

Most problems seem to be with the URL. It must be entered exactly Note the colon : before the port number.

Edit: typo, noticed after all these years.

janaba1 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:32 am

I'd like to introduce a tiny little but great and reliably working music streaming
application, which I am using since there is music provided by our great D'niJs ...

It really and only does what it says, it streams Shoutcast and other internet
and radio broadcasts, just give it the url say yes please do your job and it
does that right away ... You can with two clicks add the desired station to
your favorites, so you have to add it only once ...

This is how it works:
Copy the url from here or any other you like to listen to - Go to 'File' - click 'Open Url'
- the app has grabbed that url already from the clipboard so you only have to click 'Ok'

[spoiler=Some explanatory images]

--> when LC like in this case isn't online you get a message like this

I'm posting this so that you know this isn't an error at all, but just telling the
stream's not available atm lol yet you can still add it to your favorites to try
again later or whenever with one click ... [/spoiler]
It also offers about 30 languages to choose from and you could even record the
stream even if the song you're desiring to have has started already e.g., it will
snatch you the whole regardless (just tell it beforehand in the settings where
to save those etc.) ... AND it even displays song information ...

But first and foremost you don't have to install that tiny prog (3,06 MB zip)
as there is a portable version available and I'm running it for years already
and it still works perfectly now with Win7 Home Premium x64 ...

What is obviously the best is that it isn't overloaded with functions nobody
needs in the moment you're anywhere in-game, it is most easily to setup
and use and it doesn't stress your computer CPU at all ...

For everything else by all means use Winamp/WMP etc., but I thought for
the non-techies and those who like it simple and less laggy etc. it might
be of interest and so I have to do my thumbsup to Tai'lahr, as I believe it
was a great idea to bring this up here ...

Please, have a look and if you like it download it here ... Enjoy ...

Lord Chaos · **Joined:** Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:57 am **Posts:** 1327

Thanks for the link, Jana. I know you've mentioned this at parties but I always forgot to look it up.

For those interested in the download, note that the big DOWNLOAD buttons you see on the page are not for the Screamer Radio application. To get Screamer Radio itself, you need to click on the smaller Download link in the list of options in the sidebar to the left. The other buttons go to media converters and the like.

Update: I've installed this, and it works well. It does just what it says it will do, and does so quickly and easily. You can even save custom URLs, such as Radio KTDN, to its database for future use from the "Favorites" menu. Slick.

Marten · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:30 pm

Tai'lahr wrote:

Lord Chaos wrote:

A Note on the URL: If you enter the URL into your Web browser you will see a page that shows the status of the Shoutcast server. Along the top of that page are buttons for various purposes. One of them is "Listen." Click on that to run your default media player. You can also see a list of songs that have been played, along with the current song.

If you find that the above instruction does not work for you, here are some troubleshooting tips (not guaranteed to solve every problem):

Issue: I don't see the Listen button

If the Shoutcast page has a white background, look for the link that says "Stream #1" and click that first.

Issue: I clicked the Listen button, but my browser downloaded a "listen.pls" file and nothing else happened.

For the Listen link to work:

Windows Media Player doesn't!

See the next two items for instructions on how to address these issues.

Issue: I only have Windows Media Player

There are two possible solutions. Pick one.

CDYNE PLS for Windows Media Player

My browser won't automatically open the PLS file in my PLS-compatible media player

You'll need to tell your web browser that it is OK to always automatically open PLS files. This varies by browser; here are a few common ones.

Internet Explorer: When prompted to open or save the listen.pls file, uncheck "Always ask before opening this type of file" and then click Open.
Firefox: When prompted to open or save the listen.pls file, check "Do this automatically for files like this from now on."
Chrome: On the Chrome download bar, click the arrow next to the listen.pls file and select "Always open files of this type."

If the PLS file opens in a media player but not the one you prefer, you'll need to track down the default application designated for PLS files in your operating system.

Nev'yn · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:49 pm

[quote=Theremin] Marten has just been promoted to Technical Editor of the Newspaper.

[/quote]

@Marten: Now, I know why you received that promotion several years ago! Lol!!!

Mac_Fife · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 6:12 pm

Marten wrote:

1. Install another media player such as WinAmp, VLC, iTunes, QuickTime, or Media Player Classic

VLC may no longer work unless you also use a SHOUTcast plug-in (although I haven't tried it recently): AOL tried to impose license conditions that prevented SHOUTcast from being incorporated in any open source product, as well as forcing the product to promote an adware supported SHOUTcast browser toolbar, so VideoLAN removed the built-in SHOUTcast support from VLC version 1.1.0. More here: http://www.videolan.org/press/2010-1.html

Marten · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:11 pm

Do not worry, newer versions of VLC still work with Shoutcast stations.

The Shoutcast module in versions of VLC prior to 1.1 provided an integrated directory of public Shoutcast internet radio stations.

The removal of this feature does not prevent VLC from playing Shoutcast streams, it only removes the integrated listing of Shoutcast stations, and replaces it with an alternative list of Icecast stations.

And, just to be 100% certain that only the directory is affected, I just tested it. :lol:

Mac_Fife · **Posted:** Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:12 pm

Marten wrote:

Do not worry, newer versions of VLC still work with Shoutcast stations.
...I just tested it. :lol:

Good! I've got VLC on two PCs here but hadn't managed to test it today, so thanks for that!

Getting Shoutcast to Work

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