BBC Radio 3 new URL no longer 'sticky'

It would be helpful if you said what streamer model  & also what county you live.  It sound like you are not using a Naim streamer for this  ...... The Naim streamers get iRadio (vTuner) from the preset Naim BBC HLS streams in UK,   outside UK Naim have the regular preset BBC WMA or MP3 listed.  

Thanks Mike.  The answer is in the word 'Foobar'.  Using my 'Qute is no issue at all: as you say, they pull it down direct from vTuner.  The issue occurs when I am using my DAC-V1 via the PC.  The stream comes from Foobar via USB.  Load Foobar with the URL and it works fine at the time, but if you come back to it some time later (hours or the following day), it seems to time out or something like that (you try deciphering the error message!!).

It would be so much more sensible if it could simply reside in a play-list and be usable whenever you wanted it like any other radio URL.

As I say, this makes no sense at all, and a solution would be gratefully received.

Tim

MusicRoom posted:

Thanks Mike.  The answer is in the word 'Foobar'. 

As I say, this makes no sense at all, and a solution would be gratefully received.

Tim

......  err OK Tim,   I'm not that familiar with Foobar so will back out,   hopefully someone with the experience can come in.

All's gone quiet on this one.  Surely I'm not the only one who is experiencing this problem?  Am I doing something wrong?  Will someone with Foobar please put this:

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/med.../bbc_radio_three.pls

in a playlist and let me know if it still plays the following day without having to go through a browser to refresh it?

Actually, I would also be MOST grateful if someone could confirm that the above is the latest URL for BBC Radio 3.

I'm determined to crack this!

Tim

I just happened to put Ubuntu on an unused PC (something to play with), and experimented by putting the same BBC Radio 3 URL into the Linux player Rhythmbox.  Played fine; but more to the point, it played fine the following day (??!!)

Obviously the question has now has changed from why is the URL not 'sticky' into "what the devil is Foobar/Windows 10 doing to the URL that Linux isn't?"

I shall attempt to contact the Foobar people and see if they can throw any light onto the subject.  Anyone out there with a bit of 'techsavvi' who might hazard a guess?

Tim

Just tried this in JRiver in Windows 10 and it does the same thing.  There is obviously something 'Windows' that stops it working properly.  MOST frustrating!

Tried to contact the Beeb about this and, after a good long search, finally found a way of emailing them.  Bless them, I then got an automatic reply saying that they will not respond to the query.  Do you ever get that feeling that you are batting your head against a brick wall?!

I suspect that I am running out of options.

Is there no one at Naim who could give it a try?

Tim

Hi,

The URL I use in a MPC player on a RaspberryPi (through an unused TV input) which does play in foobar is http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/s...bbcmedia_radio3_mf_p

The address I have loaded into vTuner, for a HLS level playback from Dublin, Ireland, using a DNS Proxy service, to make my Naim player 'think' it is in the UK.

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/medi...bc_radio_fourfm.m3u8

However this URL does not play in foobar

Simon

Thanks Simon.

Unfortunately the first of your two URL's is the 128kb MP3 stream and the other seems to play something other than Radio 3.  Good of you to jump in but unfortunately the quest continues.  I refuse to give up!!

Time to make myself a bit of a nuisance I think.  Who do you think I can harangue?

Tim

Finally got a reply from the Beeb; despite being told that I would not get one.  Credit where credit is due.  They said this:

Thank you for getting in touch.

 I understand the URL format of Radio HD stored in the playlist is not consistent every time you get back to access.

 The changes in URL are a security token to ensure that the user is in the UK. This updates every few hours which is why the stream is getting cut off. A smart client that understands these tokens will re-request the stream from time to time to stay up to date. This is why a new request needs to be made to the original URL after a while.

 I know this is inconvenience, however hope this helps to explain why this is happening.

Very much as I suspected in fact.  Whereas I fully understand and appreciate why this is being done, it is certainly not compatible with any of the major media players.  I can only suppose that they consider this to be inconsequential.  It would be most helpful if the likes of Foobar and JRiver were to investigate what is meant by a "smart client".  Would it be possible for the software to store the original URL separately and to invoke it each time the playlist requests it?  Not difficult I would think?

Tim