Mutterings - 31.3.05 Help Section

Former_MSE_Andrea

Specifically for help on this week's mutterings if you're having problems.

ok, people... heads up first I suppose.

The MMM mp3s are now going to be 'streamed'. This is done in order that you can start listening to the file w/o having to download it first.

What is it with those .m3u files?
A .m3u file is simply a popular 'playlist' file that can contain a list of files or URLs. Think of it as a portable bookmark folder for mp3 or other audio files and resources.

I think .m3u was originally introduced by winamp and has since been adopted as the most popular type.

What happens next would depend on the type of musical software registered to handle .m3u files on your system is. For "older" installs such as win98/se/2000, the windows media player was NOT capable of mp3 playback. So if you only have a 'fresh' install and you need a player for streaming audio, here are a few options I can give:

microsoft windows media player 9 series:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/player.aspx

winamp:
http://www.winamp.com/

foobar2000:
http://www.foobar2000.org/download.html

Of those, foobar is the smallest and fastest player but it lacks 'bells and whistles', no visual flares or cpu usage and confguration is not the most user friendly

winamp is a decent and powerful tool, also low on cpu (with older skins) but also highly customisable and extremely popular

media player is the standard microsoft offering, latest generation and so forth.

What to choose? It is like buying a car. A matter of preference There is no official MSE recommendation.

REAL PLAYER PROBLEMS
unfortunately, RealPlayer's latest offering does not appear to like .m3u files for streaming whereas their older versions used to be fine. Solution: install one of the above programes. However, due to RealSched, it may be difficult to get all filetypes away from it. If .m3u remains associated with RP, then ... righ-click on the .m3u link from the email and select 'save as' on your desktop (for example). Once the file is there, righ-click it and pick 'open with' and select a different programme. If you select 'pick other', you can tick a box '[x] always use this program' to make the association permanent.

A useful resource on streaming questions:
http://www.shoutcast.com/support/docs/docs.phtml?filenumber=130&language=english&layout=normal&prevlayout=normal

in particular:

L2. I'm having problems tuning in with RealPlayer

Answer: RealPlayer does not support the full gamut of SHOUTcast stations. For
optimal listening, download and install the Winamp audio player for Windows
(http://www.winamp.com) or one of the other recommended players listed in
the shoutcast.com online documentation.


L3. I've installed Winamp but RealPlayer keeps stealing SHOUTcast.
How do I get Winamp to play SHOUTcast tracks?

Answer: RealPlayer is more aggressive at positioning itself than Winamp for
control of streaming media. The problem is RealPlayer performs poorly at
tuning in SHOUTcast channels. The solution is to disable Real's SmartCenter
by right-clicking on the real icon in your system tray (bottom right hand
corner of the Windows screen) and select Disable Smartcenter. Install the
latest version of Winamp once you've done this, and Winamp will have control
of the stations again

If you like your RealPlayer (somebody has to ), then download and save the .mp3 file and ignore the .m3u.

Best regards,
D.

Fran

Hi Andrea,

I have come here for help.....




(from the link in MoneyTips email)

GrahamB

Me to...I need some help. Windows 'Media Player' reports that it can't play the file, which I note has an '.m3u' extension?????? Thats not listed in the supported file extensions shown in 'Media Player'!

sra

Nope

I get nothing from either the stream or the download

The dial-up lasts for a couple of seconds
The broadband gives an error

I'm using a freshly installed Windows Media Player on a freshly restored system

hansi

Im not getting anything except some symbols on the screen.

villaneme

It seems to be working now.
It played for 7:17 mins, though. There seems to be something missing as Martin was in the middle of a sentence at the end.

coda

ok, people... heads up first I suppose.

The MMM mp3s are now going to be 'streamed'. This is done in order that you can start listening to the file w/o having to download it first.

What is it with those .m3u files?
A .m3u file is simply a popular 'playlist' file that can contain a list of files or URLs. Think of it as a portable bookmark folder for mp3 or other audio files and resources.

I think .m3u was originally introduced by winamp and has since been adopted as the most popular type.

What happens next would depend on the type of musical software registered to handle .m3u files on your system is. For "older" installs such as win98/se/2000, the windows media player was NOT capable of mp3 playback. So if you only have a 'fresh' install and you need a player for streaming audio, here are a few options I can give:

microsoft windows media player 9 series:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/player.aspx

winamp:
http://www.winamp.com/

foobar2000:
http://www.foobar2000.org/download.html

Of those, foobar is the smallest and fastest player but it lacks 'bells and whistles', no visual flares or cpu usage and confguration is not the most user friendly

winamp is a decent and powerful tool, also low on cpu (with older skins) but also highly customisable and extremely popular

media player is the standard microsoft offering, latest generation and so forth.

What to choose? It is like buying a car. A matter of preference There is no official MSE recommendation.

REAL PLAYER PROBLEMS
unfortunately, RealPlayer's latest offering does not appear to like .m3u files for streaming whereas their older versions used to be fine. Solution: install one of the above programes. However, due to RealSched, it may be difficult to get all filetypes away from it. If .m3u remains associated with RP, then ... righ-click on the .m3u link from the email and select 'save as' on your desktop (for example). Once the file is there, righ-click it and pick 'open with' and select a different programme. If you select 'pick other', you can tick a box '[x] always use this program' to make the association permanent.

A useful resource on streaming questions:
http://www.shoutcast.com/support/docs/docs.phtml?filenumber=130&language=english&layout=normal&prevlayout=normal

in particular:

L2. I'm having problems tuning in with RealPlayer

Answer: RealPlayer does not support the full gamut of SHOUTcast stations. For
optimal listening, download and install the Winamp audio player for Windows
(http://www.winamp.com) or one of the other recommended players listed in
the shoutcast.com online documentation.


L3. I've installed Winamp but RealPlayer keeps stealing SHOUTcast.
How do I get Winamp to play SHOUTcast tracks?

Answer: RealPlayer is more aggressive at positioning itself than Winamp for
control of streaming media. The problem is RealPlayer performs poorly at
tuning in SHOUTcast channels. The solution is to disable Real's SmartCenter
by right-clicking on the real icon in your system tray (bottom right hand
corner of the Windows screen) and select Disable Smartcenter. Install the
latest version of Winamp once you've done this, and Winamp will have control
of the stations again

If you like your RealPlayer (somebody has to ), then download and save the .mp3 file and ignore the .m3u.

Best regards,
D.

JasonW_2

Can the link to the mutterings be posted on the site every week, cos so far I still havent got the email this week yet.

Fran

Jason you can read the tip on the Main Site

Allexie

I've changed my default media player from RealPlayer to WindowsMediaPlayer and now the stream plays just fine.


However MSE Dimitar mentions WindowsMediaPlayer 9 series....just looked at mine and it says v 10.00.003646

sra

Media player 10 is the most recent version

I still can only get the first few seconds no matter what I do