{"id":21900,"date":"2016-10-24T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=21900"},"modified":"2016-10-23T10:13:37","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T14:13:37","slug":"bob-recommends-radio-tray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/bob-recommends-radio-tray\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob recommends Radio Tray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader,\u00a0Bob Chandler (VE3SRE), who leaves the following reply to our WiFi Radio Primer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"radiotray\"<\/a>I have been streaming online radio<\/span> using a PC for a number of years using a really simple programme for the GNU\/Linux operating system called “Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span>“.\u00a0 \u00a0Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span> is a tiny programme written in Python that uses the Gstreamer “back end”.<\/p>\n

This programme is so small, that you can turn that old 1990’s vintage Pentium II laptop that’ gathering dust in a broom closet into an internet radio<\/span>.\u00a0 \u00a0Just choose a very “lightweight” distribution of GNU\/Linux.<\/p>\n

For instance, on an old “original” Asus EeePC netbook, with a 900 MHz. Celeron processor, 512 MB RAM and a little 4 GB solid state hard drive, I installed the “Debian” distribution but used the lightweight “JWM” window manager for the GUI.\u00a0 \u00a0JWM isn’t pretty, but it works great!<\/p>\n

You can get “Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span>” using the package management system of just about any GNU\/Linux distribution.\u00a0 \u00a0I know for sure it’s in the “repos” for Ubuntu, Debian, Arch and Fedora along with all of the derivatives.\u00a0 \u00a0 Unfortunately, it’s not available for Windows and MacOS.\u00a0 \u00a0But, the GNU\/Linux OS is “free as in freedom and free as in free beer” as they say!<\/p>\n

All of your radio<\/span> station “bookmarks” are stored in a simple “bookmarks.xml” file that makes it a breeze to copy your bookmarks from computer to computer.\u00a0 \u00a0 Over the years I’ve accumulated a thousand or more (I’ve lost count) internetradio<\/span> stations in Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span> is capable of handling just about any streaming format.<\/p>\n

My online “dx challenge” is finding the “real” stream URL of the station that’s often buried inside of browser based “Flash” players.\u00a0 \u00a0 But, since these days most radio<\/span> stations outsource their audio streaming to one of about half a dozen streaming audio providers, once you’ve figured out the provider’s URL pattern for one station, you’ve figured them all out.<\/p>\n

I’m able to figure out the “real” stream URL about 90% of the time.\u00a0 \u00a0Some are easy, while some require a bit of detective work.<\/p>\n

That also means that I don’t depend on streaming aggregators, since stream URL’s are changing all the time and sometimes it takes the aggregator a while to do an update.\u00a0 \u00a0I can just update a station that I’m interested in myself.<\/p>\n

Here’s the website for “Radio<\/span> Tray<\/span>”<\/p>\n

http:\/\/radiotray<\/span>.sourceforge.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I also wrote a blurb about radio<\/span> tray<\/span> on my own (very much neglected) website a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/ve3sre.com\/wordpress\/radiotraysoftware\/<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks, Bob! I was not familiar with this app–seems like a simple addition to\u00a0any PC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader,\u00a0Bob Chandler (VE3SRE), who leaves the following reply to our WiFi Radio Primer: I have been streaming online radio using a PC for a number of years using a really simple programme for the GNU\/Linux operating system called “Radio Tray“.\u00a0 \u00a0Radio Tray is a tiny programme written in Python that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,998,4652],"tags":[5553,999,5552,4724],"class_list":["post-21900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-web-radio","category-wifi-radio","tag-bob-chandler-ve3sre","tag-internet-radio","tag-radio-tray","tag-wifi-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-5He","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42627,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/form-follows-function-in-the-tom-bihn-travel-tray\/","url_meta":{"origin":21900,"position":0},"title":"Form follows function in the Tom Bihn Travel Tray","author":"Thomas","date":"April 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've been reading the SWLing Post for long, you no doubt know that not only am I radio geek, but a pack geek as well. 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In particular I was able to sideload my directory of English Language broadcast stations from over 100 countries using their \"Favorites\" menu. It now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sangean-WFR-28-Front.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sangean-WFR-28-Front.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sangean-WFR-28-Front.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Sangean-WFR-28-Front.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46287,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/the-reciva-internet-radio-station-aggregator-closing-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":21900,"position":2},"title":"The Reciva Internet radio station aggregator is closing down","author":"Thomas","date":"November 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE: Click here to read about a procedure to extend the life of your Reciva WiFi radio presets before Reciva closes on April 30, 2021. 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