Working with Internet Radio Stations in Media Center

Working with Internet Radio Stations in Media Center

Tired of your own music collection and hankering for something new? Try to resist the urge to download "pirated" songs from an online file-swapping service, and instead try tuning in the fresh sounds of Internet radio.

These stations run the gamut from commercial radio stations that take their programming right off the airways and stream it live over the Net, to tiny operations that are little more than a solitary music enthusiast with a PC, a Web connection, and arguably too much time on his hands.

The result is a musical mish-mash of global proportions , and an endless opportunity to sample new sounds and styles. All you have to do is locate these virtual radio stations on the Web, and add them to your Media Center music collection. There are various ways to accomplish this task, and we'll take them in turn .

In general, there are two places in Media Center where you can access Internet radio: My Music and Radio.

Adding Internet Radio Stations to My Music

Until the 2004 version of Media Center came along, with its support for FM radio, My Music offered the only means of accessing Internet radio stations from within Media Center. The process is fairly simple, but not very intuitive, and it does require that you leave the Media Center interface and do all the dirty work using Windows Media Player. Here's how it's done:

  1. In Windows Media Player, click on the Radio Tuner button.

  2. Select a station by clicking on one of the links, such as Featured Stations, Find More Stations, Search, or one of the categories listed on the left side of the screen (see Figure 16.3).

    Figure 16.3. The Radio Tuner in Windows Media Center allows you to locate hundreds of Internet radio stations from all over the world.

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  3. Find a radio station you want to play, and then double-click the radio station link to view details. Click on Play or Visit Website to Play.

  4. After you hear the station start playing, open the File menu in Media Player, highlight Add to Media Library, and click on Add Currently Playing Playlist.

  5. Type in a name for the new playlist, and click Save. The streaming radio station is now stored under Playlists in Media Center's My Music (see Figure 16.4).

    Figure 16.4. This view of My Playlists in My Music shows the entry "WKSU Folk," which actually consists of a link to a streaming audio station.

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Adding Internet Radio Stations to Radio

Although the process previously outlined is reliable, storing a radio station as a playlist doesn't make as much sense as simply saving it as a preset in the Radio section of Media Center. However, there are a few things to consider before you can make this work.

caution

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Make sure that the Internet radio station you selected is actually playing in Windows Media Player. Some stations use their own custom player, leaving Windows Media Player out in the cold. In such cases, you won't be able to store it as a Media Center playlist.


First of all, if you don't have an FM radio-capable tuner card installed in your Windows XP Media Center 2004 PC, you may well be wondering, What Radio section? As described in Chapter 15, "Radio," you must have the latest version of the operating system and a working FM tuner card for the Radio menu item to automatically appear in the Media Center main menu. There is an exception, however. If you add an Internet radio station preset in a format that Media Center recognizes, the Radio menu will magically appeareven if you don't have a radio tuner card.

Unfortunately, adding a streaming radio station using the My Music playlist process previously outlined won't have any effect on the Radio features of Media Center. For a radio station to show up in the Radio menu (and to make the Radio menu itself show up, if you don't have an FM tuner), the station must be stored as a Media Center radio preset, not as a playlist.

The easiest way to accomplish this task is to access a Media Centercompatible streaming audio service, such as Live365.com. This service is available from the Online Spotlight menu in Media Center, and the process of adding a radio station preset in this fashion is fully described in Chapter 23, "XP Media Center and Your Internet Connection."

Unfortunately, relatively few Internet radio stations have gone to the trouble of providing the Media Center integration necessary to add a radio preset as smoothly and simply as Live365.com has done. The selection is likely to increase as the Media Center audience grows. And in the meantime, Live365.com boasts a massive library of streaming audio stations to choose from. But what if you want to add an Internet radio station that doesn't support Media Center's Radio presets?

Creating Internet Radio Presets from Scratch

There is a workaround that allows Media Center owners to create their own Internet radio station presets, but beware: It's a tricky process, and one that Microsoft doesn't support for consumer-grade customersonly developers. If you're feeling reckless, and ready to dig in "under the hood" of your Media Center, here's how to do it.

First, you need to copy the Internet address of the radio stream that you want to add to your Radio menu in Media Center. The easiest way to do this is to use your browser to find a Web link that causes the radio station to start playing in Windows Media Center when you click on it. After you've tested it, right-click on that link and select Copy Shortcut. Then open a blank Notepad file (choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, Notepad) and paste the shortcut there for safekeeping.

Now all you need to do is create the MCL file. Here's a sample MCL file, which creates a link to the Rudolph Radio streaming radio station:

 <application name="Rudolph Radio" url="http://www.radiorudolph.com/rudolph.asx" <capabilitiesrequired directx="false" audio="true" video="false" intensiverendering="false" console="false" 

All you need to do is copy the preceding into a Notepad window, substituting the name of the station in quotes in the name line, and the link to the radio stream (which you previously copied into another Notepad window) in quotes in the url line. When you're done, the file should look something like what's shown in Figure 16.5.

Figure 16.5. This MCL file for the Rudolph Radio station is actually a series of simple statements that tell Media Center where to find what it needs.

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Now you need to save the file to the correct folder on your Media Center machine, making sure that you use a filename that ends with the .mcl suffix. The correct folder is as follows :

 C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Media Center\Media Center Programs\Radio 

Now when you open Media Center and select Radio, you'll see the new radio station link that you created listed under Internet (see Figure 16.6). Just select the preset you created and press the Play button on the remote control. And as sweet music fills the air, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Figure 16.6. The preset for Rudolph Radio is flanked by a hand-made preset for RadioMargaritaville.

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The Absolute Minimum

In this chapter, we discussed ways to truly customize your music experience in Media Center. As you get ready to try these things for yourself, remember the following:

  • Use playlists to create audio programs of multiple audio files. In a few minutes, you can create a playlist that you and your friends will enjoy for hours.

  • If you prefer not to venture outside of Media Center any more than is absolutely necessaryor if you just like the feel of the remote control in your handyou can download the Playlist Editor for Media Center.

  • Internet radio stations offer a refreshing break from tedious commercial radio stations, and from your own tired music collection. You can add streaming stations to My Music by saving them as playlists in Windows Media Center.

  • It's a bit more complex, but you can also write .MCL files that will allow you to create custom presets for streaming audio stations and have them appear in the Media Center Radio interface.




Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
Absolute Beginners Guide to Windows XP Media Center
ISBN: 0789730030
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 159
Authors: Steve Kovsky

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