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Internet Radio

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  • 30-03-2012 11:25am
    #1
    Usjes
    Registered Users Posts: 326 ✭✭


    Hi,

    I was wondering if someone out there could give me a better understanding of how exactly internet radio works. I have a Roberts Stream83i standalone internet radio. The problem is that every couple of months it looses the ability to play certain stations. My understanding is that occasionally radio stations will update the format of their transmission and that the standalone radio may then need a firmware update to be able to play the new format. So my question is: can radio stations update their format arbitrarily? Or is 'internet radio' a standardized protocol which will recieve regular controlled updates to the protocol which stations can then elect to upgrade to or not?
    Basically this Roberts is effectively an unusable piece of crap as it will be unable to play stations for weeks at a time (or indefinitely) depending on when a firmware update becomes available. In registering a complaint I would like to know if the manufacturer (Roberts) can reasonably claim that it is not their fault because the radio stations are arbitrarily changing their transmission format. Or are any changes to the format well controlled and should Roberts be able to upgrade their firmware in advance ?

    Thanks,

    Usjes


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    #2
    Torqay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,835 ✭✭✭Torqay


    Usjes wrote: »
    So my question is: can radio stations update their format arbitrarily?

    Radio stations can change their format and or streaming URL as they see fit.


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    #3
    Usjes
    Registered Users Posts: 326 ✭✭Usjes


    Torqay wrote: »
    Radio stations can change their format and or streaming URL as they see fit.

    Just to be clear about terminology, I understand URLs can change but are you sure that formats can actually change arbitrarily? If this is the case then how can internet radio possibly be expected to work? If the BBC can decide to change the way their transmission is encoded at a whim then how can a decoder, hardware or software, possibly keep up and by extension how can any company claim to sell a 'internet radio' when there is, in effect, no definition of what 'internet radio' is?
    I could understand how this would work in a 'closed system' eg commercial TV broadcasting where the company who owns the broadcast is the only one selling the decoder but in the case of free to air (or in this case free to net) radio broadcasts this doesn't make any sense


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    #4
    Torqay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,835 ✭✭✭Torqay


    Well, stations can choose their audio format (most commonly MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media Audio, RealAudio, AAC) as they see fit. If your radio doesn't support a format, it's up the manufacturer to update the firmware with the codec required (which they may not do at all if it is a proprietary format), there isn't really anything you can do about.


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