BBC Listen Again on WM5 Pocket PCs - A Radio Broadcast ‘How To’
BBC Listen Again on WM5 Pocket PCs - A Radio Broadcast ‘How To’ Edit by Kronalias: This was really all too difficult so I came up with the Beebotron website, which supplies the streaming realaudio links to all the BBC Listen Again programmes. It's here: Beebotron
Just choose your station, pick your programme and it plays. That's it. (Why the Beeb resolutely refuse to publish these links is beyond me... end of edit
You’ll need a browser on your device which allows you to view the HTML source of a web page – PIEPlus - a plugin for your Pocket IE - seems to do the trick. Try it out here: ReenSoft
You’ll also need RealOne player on your device. There isn’t an installer for WM5 yet, so the easiest thing to do is get the .CAB file, drag it to your device and doubleclick it there to install it. You can get the .CAB file here: home , or just google for ‘real player cab for wm5’
If you have the above two installed then off we go! It’s a bit tortuous, but stick with me…
From your pocket IE go to either the framed (awkward on a pocket pc) Listen Again site here: BBC iPlayer - Radio
Then go to the program you want to Listen Again to. Note that in the framed version you should click in the left frame to make sure you’re actually in that frame.
[ Personally, on a PDA I prefer the unframed site.
Please also note that on some sites you may see the ‘Open in RealPlayer’ logo – if you do, then just click it and avoid all the following palaver… ]
Now you need to view the source. In PIEPlus you just tap and hold on the screen and select ‘View Source’.
Look through the source HTML code for a line starting:
var Audiostream = “/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio2/r2_paige”
The exact line will differ depending on the program you want, but it’ll start with ‘var Audiostream’ and have the radio show info in doublequotes.
Copy the bit between the doublequotes. In my example it would be:
/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio2/r2_paige
Paste this into a Word document
[ NB: from now on you may see underlined text (which indicates it’s clickable). These underlines shouldn’t be there, so please just treat them as text! ]
Copy this entire line and paste it into your browser. After a moment you should see a message along the lines Download the 75 bytes file ‘afternoonperformance_wed.rpm’? Click Yes, and it will download into your ‘My Documents’ folder.
Go find it and open it with Word.
Copy the entire text, which should be something like:
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio3/afernoonperf/r3afternoonperf_wed.ra?start=30
Open RealOne player, click File, Open Location and paste the text in.
Click ‘ok’ and sit back and listen…
Finally, if you’ve found this useful then could you please just say thanks, or something like it, on this thread! Don’t need money, need recognition…..
That's a rather long way around, but if it works for you It's great. you can also just click use stand alone real player, it downloads the file and then you play it. Nice work though.
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Clicking the 'Play in Stand Alone Real Player' only works for live BBC radio broadcasts - that's why I had to jump through hoops to make this lot work for non-live broadcasts!
If you go to the listen again page of BBC it works there. Pretty sure it does anyway, I haven't got my ax with me, so I can't check, but that's all I ever listen too, works for bbc 7, 5, etc... as well from memory. I might be wrong, would be interested to know.
I think when you click use stand alone, it asks you if you want to download the file and the it automatically puts it in your My Documents. Sorry been a little while since I had the time to listen so.....
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God used to be my copilot but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him to survive.
Sort of following along the lines of my original post, I tried various types of radio software on my Ax, but none really suited me - e.g. Resco Radio is a really nice piece of software, but it won't handle rtsp streams.
My idea isn't pretty and it's not rocket science but it works...
I found the various source streams for different radio broadcasts, and put these into a Word doc (on my PC) - nothing clever, I just renamed the titles on the hyperlinks - then saved the file from Word as a Web page and dragged it (the .htm file) to the Ax. Click on that file and it'll open in PIE, and then just click the stream you're interested in. While you're in PIE make the file one of your Favourites, and you won't have to remember where it is on the Ax to open it.
I put a couple of 'awkward' streams in - e.g. Classic Gold and Classic FM, both of which take ages to start playing music if you run them conventionally - and these now start pretty instantaneously.
An example Word doc should be attached to this post (I don't think I can upload an .htm file to this site). Just open it in Word on your PC then File => Save as Web Page and drag the resulting .htm file to your ppc if you fancy trying it...
Just download This BBC playlist and CNN Playlist, drop them somewhere on your storage card and launch with WMP while you are online!
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I can't still quite figure why you want to go to the hassle of saving links, recreating asx metafiles, creating icons and launching with third party software and all that when you can simply launch stations from radio4pda/thestreamcenter via a quick callsign query. It's quick, and easy if you want to listen to other stations that you haven't yet saved.
I can't argue, if you like to have nice little icons on your Today screen! ;)
Back to the original post...
If only the author of http://dave.org.uk/streams/BBC%207.html could post RealPlayer links for all listen agains for all radio stations, you could simply bookmark that page and use it as a launcher. He seems to have done it for BBC7, but not others. He could've saved you loads of time.
BBC Listen Again still not working - almost, but not quite
Originally Posted by Kronalias
BBC Listen Again on WM5 Pocket PCs - A Radio Broadcast ‘How To’
...
Finally, if you’ve found this useful then could you please just say thanks, or something like it, on this thread! Don’t need money, need recognition…..
First of all, Kronalias, I am THRILLED to find your post! I have been searching for a way to "Listen Again" to my favorite BBC radio shows when I travel for about a year and a half now (on & off) and this is the first time I’ve found anything resembling an answer!
I have taken the steps in your post, most of which I did from my desktop as that's easier and faster. I also created a web page of my favorite audio links to make life easier when accessing the links from the Axim.
Unfortunately, once I get to the point where I have an rtsp link as you have shown in your example, I can't play the stream on my Axim. (Great documentation, though!) When I paste the link into "Open Location" in RealOne Player on my Axim, I got the error message "Incorrect or malformed protocol".
The link I am using is: rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/asiannetwork/asiansilverstreet_omnibus.ra?start=0&end=3600
It plays just fine with Real Player on my desktop PC but not on my Axim.
According to Real, the error message means the following:
Incorrect or Malformed Protocol - The requested stream cannot be provided. The URL may be incorrect or the server port may be set incorrectly.
From: http://service.real.com/help/player/...#protocolerror
(Incidentally, I couldn’t actually open the .rpm file in Word on my Axim, so I did that on my desktop. I didn't install PIE since I was using my desktop, but would that enable viewing the rpm file in Word as well as the View Source function of the IE browser?)
One other issue related to the matter of streaming audio is that RealOne Player looks a little weird when it loads on my Axim. At first, the bottom part is just solid black as if the application isn't fully displayed, but if I click on the bottom where the menu should be, it will eventually fill in properly. I also have to close the RealOne Player app from the screen in order to get back to the start menu or see the time/volume/etc. Is that the best I'm going to get with RealPlayer and do you have any other suggestions?
I've installed RealOne Player for PocketPC v.1.1 which appears to be the latest installer from Real.com. Upon installation, my Axim displays a message that the software was made for an older version of Windows Mobile, but I don't think it would make sense to use the version for WM5 that you mention in your post.
I am running Windows Mobile 2003 on a Dell Axim X50v, but in theory, most of this should work the same way for my Axim as it does for yours, right? I am a technically savvy, experienced, PC-based web designer and I am frustrated that the Pocket PC isn't as easy to tweak as my desktop, but I am slowly figuring out how to make it sort of do what I want.
Any further tips you or anyone has to offer about getting BBC Radio’s “Listen Again” feature working on my Pocket PC would be extremely welcome. I cannot tell you how happy your post has made me! So close, and yet not quite.
I understand your problems, and may have solutions, but I'm a little concerned about posting them. By the way, your 'malformed protocol' Real message is probably caused by the Real player for ppc not being able to stream a file from a non-Helix server, whereas the Real player for Windows can.
The big crunch is that the Beeb has chosen to go with RealPlayer, but Real do not support WM5.
I've seen Dave's off the record discussion with the Beeb in dave.org.uk - because of this I don't want to go public and wreck any chance of the Beeb opening up .ra streams, but on the other hand I feel the Beeb isn't paying much (any) attention to WM5 users.
I'm in a dilemma - and I'm not sure which way to go!
Incidentally, I'm replying to your post by tippytapping my Ax in bed, and I'll try to give a more detailed reply tomorrow, hopefully addressing your other points individually, from my PC.
I found that listen again on the BBC does work for me using the latest PPC realplayer on WM5. Just click on the "play in stand alone player" and when it starts to download the file answer to open the file (something like that anyway).
The only problem I found was that it wouldn't work if trying to connect when the Axim is connected to the internet through activesync (ie when docked). It works fine if you connect via wifi though. Strange that! I couldn't find any obvious setting s that were preventing from accessing via activesyc (and PIE works fine through activesync).
Anyway, have a try connecting via wifi on your network and see if that works.
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Interesting comments from CJW - what version of RealPlayer do you have on your Ax?
Here’s a slightly more considered response to post #10.
Firstly, I’m using an Axim X51v with ROM version A12, with RealOne player for Pocket PC version 2.0.0.28. I’m not familiar with other Axims or their OSs, so I guess I’ll leave any questions about setups other than mine to the experts!
When I paste the link into "Open Location" in RealOne Player on my Axim, I got the error message "Incorrect or malformed protocol".
The link I am using is: rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/asiannetwork/asiansilverstreet_omnibus.ra?start=0&end=3600
It plays just fine with Real Player on my desktop PC but not on my Axim.
The link works on my Ax – you might try dropping the ‘?start=0&end=3600’ bit (this is just a command to the rtsp server to start playing from zero seconds and continue for an hour). I’m not sure about your RealOne player being at v1.1 – try checking again (in the player tap File then About) and if it’s really at 1.1 try downloading a later version from the link in my original post.
I started this thread really just to show that you could form links using a ppc alone, but it’s a bit like jumping through hoops. It’s *much* easier to do on a PC, and there are other ways of doing it (hint: Google is your friend – try ‘bbc realaudio streams’).
I'll try the rtsp link suggestion and searching Google some more. It turns out my RealOne Player is v. 2.0.0.28. The download I got said it was for 1.1 and I hadn't looked at the About screen. Oops.
I've tried accessing the BBC Listen Again feature both while my Axim has been docked and while traveling with wifi, to no avail. I'm on a borrowed computer/Internet connection for a brief time right now (and catching up on my BBC as I write!), so I'll have to do that Google search later. I think I remember reading that section of Dave's site awhile back & you make a good point that letting the BBC know there are other listeners out there could make a difference.
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