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I get down with internet radio. There are very few local radio stations I like to listen to. Don’t get me wrong, I cohost a local Indie Rock show on WRPI Troy 91.5 every Wednesday 11am-1pm EST. WRPI is a college radio station in Troy, NY that airs award winning political broadcasting, video game music, jazz, indie rock, classical, jam bands, reggae, whatever the RPI community can cook up. WRPI, like most modern radio stations, offers a RealPlayer and Windows Media stream of thier live broadcast. How do I listen to these streams on a Mac?

What streams work with my Mac?

MP3 and Quicktime internet radio streams work out of the box with a Mac. RealPlayer and Windows Media do not. Just a little extra work is needed to run Windows and Real Media on a Mac.

A Brief Mention of Bit-rate

Bit rate is how many bits are travelling over my connection per unit of time. kbps=Kilobytes per second. If I am connecting to the internet via broadband connection, Cable Modem or DSL, my Mac can handle 24-128kbps streams. If I connect using a 56k modem, I can listen to 24-56kbps streams.

Using iTunes to Listen to Internet Radio

iTunes has built-in Internet Radio Stations in the Library. If Radio is not visible in iTunes, simply Select iTunes:Preferences (Cmd+,) from the menu bar. Check Radio in the General Tab of iTunes Preferences.

Select Radio, under Library in iTunes.

Here I can browse through Apple approved Internet Radio streams. Click on a Genre, then Select a Radio Station with an appropriate bit rate for my internet connection.

Select Advanced: Open Stream (Cmd+U) in the menu bar to specify a MP3 or Quicktime internet radio stream for iTunes.

iTunes will save these connections in my library.

Finding Stream Addresses

Radio-Locator is a free search engine for radio stations. I can search by genre and even go directly to a radio station’s website to view their streams.

When I find a stream in an internet browser, I can click a stream link and select Open with the appropriate program, most likely iTunes. Or simply Ctrl-Click and copy the link address in whatever internet browser I am using. Paste the address to the MP3 or Quicktime Stream in iTunes.

Flip4Mac

Microsoft abandoned Windows Media Player for Mac years ago. Flip4Mac is a third party freeware substitute by Telestream, Inc. that allows Mac users to play Windows Media in Quicktime Player. Why there is no iTunes support is beyond me.
To open a windows media stream in Quicktime Player:

Install Flip4Mac

In Quicktime Player, Select File: Open URL and enter the address.

Quicktime Player will save previous streams I have visited in the Open URL window. Just click the arrow.

Widgets

RabbitRadio is a sleak widget that connects to many popular radio station streams.

RealPlayer

Free RealPlayer is annoying. Use RealPlayer as a last resort.

RealPlayer is still a leading streaming method for internet radio stations. Weary of advertising, I gave Real my junk email address and downloaded the free player. Yes, they still hide the Free Download button on the main site. RealPlayer needs to be installed to listen to real streams on websites and widgets. Download and Install the latest version of RealPlayer. Open RealPlayer in Applications. The first time I open RealPlayer, I need to configure RealPlayer. Make sure I only associate RealPlayer with Real files, not Quicktime, MPEG, or AVI. This is annoying, I have to restart all my browsers to finish the installation.

To open a stream in RealPlayer, click a link to the realaudio stream in any Internet Browser. To manually open the stream in RealPlayer, Select File: Open Location (Cmd+L). Enter the address.

What did you learn in this post?
Or did it leave you with further questions?


Comment here to Ask Steve Blue!

Written by Steve Blue
steveblue@iuseapple.com