Discovering a radio station's stream
Introduction
These notes are designed to complement the entry in the official Reciva FAQ, which can be found here. It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with that document before proceeding as this wiki page assumes you already have a working knowledge as to how to extract a stream.
Be advised that currently some AAC+ streams (especially from Stream The World and Liquid Compass) do not work on the radios. It is believed to be an issue with servers running the ShoutCast streaming software. Reciva are aware and have confirmed that they are trying to resolve the issue, although it may require a firmware update. Also be advised that RTSP over TCP streams are not supported by the radios. In this instance, asking the station to enable the HTTP plugin on their streaming servers should resolve this issue.
Tools
Selection of tools often used for stream extraction :
* Live HTTP headers (Mozilla)
* Wireshark (Free download - Techie software for network monitoring. Not recommended for casual users). (Example required as to how to use to extract stream addresses)
* URLSnooper (Free download - recommended)
* Replay Media Catcher (Shareware - Free 30 day trial - Recommended. Good for identifying flash streams)
* Your installed media players or website embedded media players (view stream properties or clip info etc)
* Source code of the webpage using a regular browser
Expiry Tokens
Some stations assign expiry tokens to their stream addresses. Any stream that you locate that has a token should NOT be added to the database with the token included. Most tokens are either 'once only' or 'time limited'. Once only tokens, as the name suggests, expire as soon as it is used so cannot be used a second time, making it pointless as a database entry. Time Limited tokens are usually assigned for a fixed time period, usually in minutes or hours. Again, this makes them pointless database entries. In all cases, a working 'non token' stream should be found if the intention is to add it to the database. In some cases, non token addresses can't be located so that regrettably makes the stations inclusion on the database impossible. If you can only find an address with a token included, you can still add that address to your 'My Streams' but be aware that you will almost certainly need to recreate the address every time you choose to listen to it.
Tokens are generally fairly easy to identify as the following address shows: http://213.200.97.110/radiogongfm/livestream.mp3?token=6da844238f5d5b902797bf67c64b958d
In the above instance it is possible to copy everything preceding the ? to obtain a working 'non expiry token' URL i.e. http://213.200.97.110/radiogongfm/livestream.mp3 This technique doesn't always work however. It depends on the station ! Check your extracted 'non token' address in My Streams or with the streamtester before attempting to add it to the database.
Streaming Providers
Many broadcasters use 3rd party stream providers to distribute their output. The majority of stream providers use their own standard syntax for each of their stations. This therefore means that it is often possible to determine the correct stream address without using any tools, by merely visiting the broadcasters "listen live" web page to see which stream provider they are using. Below are examples of some of the most popular stream providers.
NB: Bold text indicates the variables that will/may need changing in order to obtain the correct stream address for your chosen station.
Also please be advised that the protocol (http://, mms:// rtsp:// etc) MUST be included in any stream address for it to work. Rtmp protocol is currently NOT supported by the Reciva Internet radio.
Stream The World
http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/asx/WABCFM.asx
Please note that Stream The World AAC+ stream addresses (eg any STW address ending "AAC" ) currently work on new Grace and Axox models and the iRadio app ONLY.
Somtimes an alternate MP3 stream is provided - usually at a lower bit-rate
http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/pls/WJFKFMDIALUP.pls
Since Jan 2011 a new convention is used
http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/WABCFMAAC.pls (currently DO NOT work on a radio, only on the iRadio app)
If an alternative MP3 stream is provided its URL is
http://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/pls/WABCFM.pls
Cumulus
mms://live.cumulusstreaming.com/WFAS-AM
Liquid Compass
http://wmc1.den.liquidcompass.net/WREWFM
http://c1.mp3.liquidcompass.net/WDRVFMMP3
another variant
http://den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/pls/WNTPAMMP3.pls
http://edgev1.den.echo.liquidcompass.net/WNTPAMMP3
Please note that Liquid Compass AAC+ stream addresses (eg any Liquid Compass address ending "AAC") currently DO NOT work on a radio.
Live365
http://www.live365.com/play/356176
http://www.live365.com/play/mtishows
Note: This is for the Professional free stations only. The Live 365 station ID is required. View the Stations page source code on the Live365 site to locate this figure (it's around halfway down).
Alternatively, if you go to the Live365 website and search for the station of your choice, you will see something similar to the following in your browsers address bar. EG The station "MTI Radio" produces a page address of http://www.live365.com/stations/mtishows .If you copy that and then replace the word "stations" with "play" that will give you http://www.live365.com/play/mtishows which invariably will also work on a radio as long as the stream is for a Professional "free" station. Any station that requires a login or paid subscription will not work with either of these address syntax.
NB If your intention is to add a Live365 station to the database you must test your address in a media player or My streams before submission. This is because an incorrect Live365 address will often trigger an automated audio response (often relating to a need to login) which will confuse the automated stream tester into believing that it is a valid stream.
ShoutCast
http://208.99.70.54:8025/listen.pls
Note: Wherever possible you should try and use the DNS name for the stream if you can locate it. The stations website will often provide you with the DNS name for the stream. The above address is as presented by Shoutcast from their directory and was obtained by viewing the clip info in a media player such as RealPlayer or WinAmp. However this is not ideal as it is IP specific. Should the broadcaster change IP address, this link fails and the radio will be unable to connect. If submitting a Shoutcast address to the Reciva database, always insert "/listen.pls" to the stream address as this will make the station available for those users who listen via the website and not with a radio. The radio will play the stream with or without listen.pls. You can often spot Shoutcast addresses as they will either be similar to the above eg http://208.99.70.54:8025 or will appear similar to http://www.streamingserver.com:8000. If in doubt copy the address, paste it into a media player such as Realplayer, WinAmp or VLC but not Windows Media Player and add "/listen.pls" as a suffix to the address. If it plays, it will be a Shoutcast stream.
Akamai
http://mfile.akamai.com/12345/live/reflector:54321.asx
Note: See the official Reciva document for a more detailed "how to" guide for Akamai stream addresses. Do Not update the database with the expanded address as displayed in tools such as URLSnooper as the url string changes. The above syntax should be created and used instead, based on the information provided by the tools and incorporated into the address as per the Reciva guide.
Clear Channel use Akamai. Do NOT update the database with any extracted streams for Clear Channel stations as they supply Reciva with their station information and additional mechanisms are in place to allow access using a radio. Further information is located here.
Citadel
MP3 stream
http://citadelcc.ic.llnwd.net/stream/citadelcc_WABC_AM.m3u
Old version - might be obselete from April 2010
http://citadelcc-wabc-am.wm.llnwd.net/citadelcc_WABC_AM
CrystalMediaNetworks
http://cmn-ice.spacialnet.com/kblx
Securenet systems
http://stream1.securenetsystems.net/KWAM
Abacast
http://madison.wm-live.abacast.com/newwest-kwxxfm-64
mms://jeff.wm-live.abacast.com/radiofm-kvoxam-32
Abacast is often used when broadcasters have limited bandwidth - and want to have the listeners share the content with each other using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology. Abacast offers this with its own player plug-in. The P2P does not work with Reciva radios - therefore hunt for a version of the stream that is available for direct connection.
Note: The 64 refers to the bit rate. Usually Abacast will broadcast in both 32 and 64kbps so it's worth trying both. Often URL Snooper or similar is required to obtain the correct suffix as the words represented in these examples by "newwest" and "radiofm" are very much variables.
Surfnetwork
mms://nick9.surfernetwork.com/wrnj
Streamaudio
http://uni2.cox.streamaudio.com/KRMG_AM
http://uni2.sa.streamaudio.com/WBYR_FM
If the station appears to be streaming in an unsupported AAC+ format, try the syntax below as a 'hidden' alternative mp3 stream
http://1.ice1.sa.streamaudio.com:8000/kmyz_fm.mp3
StreamOn!
AAC+: http://kcee.streamon.fm/listen.m3u
Vorbis: http://kcee.streamon.fm/ogg.m3u
Warpradio
mms://wm02.warpradio.com/WYSL-AM
Infomaniak
MP3: http://broadcast.infomaniak.ch/radiovitamine-128.mp3
AAC+: http://broadcast.infomaniak.ch/radiovitamine-64.aac
The station's name ("radiovitamine" in the above example) in most cases can be found by looking at the source code of the webpage or using a tool like URL Snooper or Replay Media Catcher.
The number part of the URL refers to the stream's bitrate. It's worth trying different values (commonly used bitrates are 32, 64, 96, 128, 160, 192, 256).
Submitting a new stream to the Reciva database
See the add station wiki page for more information.
There's a link to the official Help on this on radios101