[Nick_G]

BBC stations are now listed in iTunes, and this includes the 'HD Sound' stream of Radio 3!

Copying and pasting the urls shown by iTunes into VLC works fine so in theory they should play on any internet radio device that supports AAC.

A very nice surprise!

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

BBC stations are now listed in iTunes, and this includes the 'HD Sound' stream of Radio 3!

Copying and pasting the urls shown by iTunes into VLC works fine so in theory they should play on any internet radio device that supports AAC.

A very nice surprise!

Try this one for BBC Radio 3 HD:

http://pri.kts-af.net/redir/index.pl...0&clicksrc=xml

When I load this up on the Squeezebox it shows the target url to be:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r3_aaclca.pls

I'd be interested to know if either of these urls work with standard internet radio devices.

[ronanflood]

The R3 .pls stream works on my Logik IR100 running the beta Reciva firmware; shows as 319kbps AAC. I didn't try the other link.

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by ronanflood

The R3 .pls stream works on my Logik IR100 running the beta Reciva firmware; shows as 319kbps AAC. I didn't try the other link.

Excellent!

Looks like the BBC have released these streams for internet radios at last then as they have suggested that they would. This must be a very recent development as I'm sure they weren't listed in iTunes before.

For now I'm sticking with the iPlayer versions for the Squeezebox as these standalone streams don't seem to contain the dynamic metadata that displays 'now playing' or programme info.

I'm surprised that the BBC haven't produced a press release about this as freeing up these streams has been much requested amongst users with standalone internet radios.

[Willum]

Just sent a message to Vincent Lo about this, as the 320K stream above is not listed on his AAC Radio Feeds page.

Works a treat on Winamp.

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by Willum

Just sent a message to Vincent Lo about this, as the 320K stream above is not listed on his AAC Radio Feeds page.

Works a treat on Winamp.

It is actually, but it's listed as 256k for some reason.

[CYNIC mode]Re: the lack of publicity on this - could the BBC be keeping a low profile about this so as not to deflect attention from DAB?[/CYNIC mode]

[vinnielo]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

It is actually, but it's listed as 256k for some reason.

Sorry, I've been out for most of the day. I had it listed as 256 this morning because I hadn't yet made a graphic for 320k!
I'll get it fixed soon!

[Colin_London]

A bit of experimentation has revealed the following:

Radio 1 (128kbps AAC)http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r1_aaclca.pls

Radio 2 (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r2_aaclca.pls

Radio 3 (320kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r3_aaclca.pls

Radio 4 (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4_aaclca.pls

Radio 5 Live (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r5l_aaclca.pls

6 Music (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r6_aaclca.pls

Radio 1xtra (128knps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r1x_aaclca.pls

Radio 4 Extra (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4x_aaclca.pls

Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r5lsp_aaclca.pls

Asian Network (128kbps AAC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/ran_aaclca.pls

By the way, the BBC does list webstreams for use with internet radios - just not obviously.
WMA steams are listed here and here.

[Colin_London]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

I'd be interested to know if either of these urls work with standard internet radio devices.

Yes - the AAC webstreams work with my Nokia mobile phone (via its WiFi connection).

These webstreams are the same quality as were available through the Flash wrapper in iPlayer, except for 5live & 5live sports extra which, bizarrely, are 128kbps Stereo AAC streams despite the fact the stations are mono output from the studios (they are 96kbps AAC mono via iPlayer).

[lnp]

Tried four of the links in post #8 with my Siesta Flow and they work fine. No cut outs in the short time I tried them. Cannot understand the need for secrecy in the first place from the BBC.

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

[CYNIC mode]Re: the lack of publicity on this - could the BBC be keeping a low profile about this so as not to deflect attention from DAB?[/CYNIC mode]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/help/radio3hd.shtml

What do I do if it doesn't work?
This is an experiment so it may not work for everyone. If it doesn't work for you, return to the Radio 3 home page and listen to the normal audio, accessed from the top right corner of the page.

Why do I occasionally lose the stream?
This live stream requires more bandwidth than the original stream. If your bandwidth drops because someone else is using your internet connection, the stream may falter and start to buffer. Buffering is an automatic process when the computer stores extra data (filling the buffer) before playing the audio. Having more audio data in the computer's memory than are actually needed at each precise moment compensates for momentary delays in transmission from the source. If the stream fails completely either go to the normal stream as above, or restart it from the Radio 3 in HD link.

Also with the recent online problems with the royal wedding
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/weight-traf...230359940.html
It could be the server capacity is limited and they are being cautious, hopefully soon will no longer be experimental.

Notice Absolute will be doing more HD sound concerts in June
http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6969.17

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/help/radio3hd.shtml

Also with the recent online problems with the royal wedding
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/weight-traf...230359940.html
It could be the server capacity is limited and they are being cautious, hopefully soon will no longer be experimental.

Notice Absolute will be doing more HD sound concerts in June
http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6969.17

Hanssolo, I wasn't referring to secrecy about the BBC Radio 3 HD stream per se, as this has been well publicised. I was referring to the fact that they haven't mentioned that any internet radio device can now receive this stream, as well as the other AAC streams. The previous method, using the Radio 3 website or the iPlayer, had to negotiate the Flash 'wrapper' that the streams were embedded in so that the vast majority of internet radios couldn't access the streams directly. Not any more.

It does make me wonder, after telling the public for years that DAB is the way forward, that there may be a connection with their silence on this matter. I only discovered these direct streaming links yesterday by chance. Then again, perhaps a press release is imminent. We shall see.

[Breizh]

Just checked and these AAC feeds are also available at these bit rates abroad

[catherine91]

Originally Posted by ronanflood

The R3 .pls stream works on my Logik IR100 running the beta Reciva firmware; shows as 319kbps AAC. I didn't try the other link.

It works on my Philips Streamium NP1100/05 as well; I didn't try the other one either. My radio doesn't give info about bitrates or codecs.

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by vinnielo

Sorry, I've been out for most of the day. I had it listed as 256 this morning because I hadn't yet made a graphic for 320k!
I'll get it fixed soon!

Excellent work Vinnie

Do you know when these streams became available? Perhaps they had been available for several days before yesterday?

[vinnielo]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

Excellent work Vinnie

Do you know when these streams became available? Perhaps they had been available for several days before yesterday?

I don't, no. I was tipped off about your post on here!

[Nick_G]

Originally Posted by vinnielo

I don't, no. I was tipped off about your post on here!

Oh OK then!

As we were away last week with no internet I didn't know whether I was a bit late reporting this but it seems that this is a very recent development.

Great to hear that these streams work overseas too. Hopefully this won't be temporary.

[tvstudies]

What is the cost of this to licence fee payers?
What are the international audience paying to listen to the content paid for by threat of legal action by British licence fee payers?

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by tvstudies

What is the cost of this to licence fee payers?
What are the international audience paying to listen to the content paid for by threat of legal action by British licence fee payers?

Guess they could be included in the new $10 pm international iplayer or the pay section of itunes?,
http://www.techwatch.co.uk/2011/03/0...uotes-a-price/

Future profits from the global iPlayer will be reinvested back into the BBC to help make great, original programmes for UK licence fee payers.

in a similar way to radio one over sirius pay radio, whereas Worldservice will be free?

[2Bdecided]

Originally Posted by tvstudies

What is the cost of this to licence fee payers?
What are the international audience paying to listen to the content paid for by threat of legal action by British licence fee payers?

I don't think you need a TV licence to listen to the radio.

But it's a fair point. The BBC intentionally makes its UK radio content available abroad, and mostly pays for this out of the TV licence. It even pays for a cache of UK content in the USA to take the load off its UK servers (or it did - don't know about now).

That said, the BBC has commercially funded websites aimed at foreign audiences - these are the ones that a foreign audience is most likely to find. Their UK-facing services aren't promoted abroad - and if you access them, there's a pop up which tries to bounce you to the local (foreign!) service instead. Most people who abroad who choose to use the UK-targeted services are probably UK citizens travelling, or ex pats.

I wouldn't like them to geolock Radio 4 etc, because it's nice to listen when I'm travelling abroad. I have paid my TV licence! Whether it's economically viable to make people who haven't paid a UK TV licence pay, I don't know. It's only ~£60 per year to buy a UK IP proxy service which allows you to circumvent their iPlayer TV geolocking, and would presumably circumvent any radio geolocking they tried.

Cheers,
David.

[Adam792]

Originally Posted by tvstudies

What is the cost of this to licence fee payers?
What are the international audience paying to listen to the content paid for by threat of legal action by British licence fee payers?

Why do people get so riled by this?

For example I could listen to the German, French or Dutch public radio stations on the internet, and some of them via satellite - and I don't pay their licence fee.

It's good to be able to have access to each others' PSB, especially for expats and language learners.

Besides, you don't have to have a licence fee to listen to the radio anyway - the BBC offer it as kind of a 'bonus' service.

[ronanflood]

These AAC+ streams are now appearing in the standard Reciva station list alongside the Beeb's WMA live streams, so that's another "official" release.

[Nick_G]

I've just emailed Mike Dean about these streams too. The more lists they appear on the better!

[Nick_G]

After a week (perhaps more) there is still no announcement from the BBC about these streams. Are they just temporary tests, or permanent? Will they continue to be available overseas?

This is potentially an important development, especially if the plan to roll out 'HD Sound' to the other stations is carried through. It's a much easier way of accessing arguably the best quality sound that the BBC has to offer.

I see that when the trailers for the Proms are on (good timing that these streams have launched ahead of Proms season) there is an 'HD Sound' logo shown on the screen. How many people watching will realise that this is a reference to the internet stream though?

So come on BBC - can we have a statement please?

[ronanflood]

Originally Posted by Nick_G

After a week (perhaps more) there is still no announcement from the BBC about these streams.

I found a reference to one of these streams in March on the Sonos forum where apparently RadioTime was using them, so that makes it even longer without the Beeb saying anything; unless they did back then and we've missed it?