My DAB radio on my bedside table (ignore the dust!) The volume goes up to 11.
As I have said elsewhere, I love my Pure Marshall Evoke-1XT DAB radio. However, over the last couple of years my experience with it hasn’t been great due to poor radio signal in my house.
With the radio sited next to my bed, every time I moved into a particular spot the signal would drop and the sound cut out. Moving it to the bedside table on the other side of my bed improved things but it’s literally on the other side of the room (I have a big bed and a small room) and I would need to step across the bed to reach it.
If only there was a way to afix an external aerial…
I wake up most mornings to Planet Rock radio on my beloved Pure Evoke-1XT Marshall DAB radio. But that’s in my bedroom, I don’t currently have a DAB radio in my study and Screamer Radio no longer works for Planet Rock.
Which got me thinking: could I somehow convince my digital music player of choice, MusicBee, to stream Planet Rock? It seems to handle pretty much everything else I throw at it.
The answer is yes; this is how in three easy steps.
1. Find the Stream URL
The first thing to find is the URL to stream Planet Rock. This one currently works for me:
Next, we need to tell MusicBee to use that stream.
File > Open Stream
That’s as simple as opening the menu and selecting:
File > Open Stream.
Then paste in the URL and click OK.
Paste the URL then click OK
This may take a few seconds while MusicBee connects to the streaming audio feed and then BINGO! you’ll suddenly be listening to Planet Rock on your PC.
Don’t go setting your watch, though, to the streamed version. It can have a few seconds delay between broadcast and it emerging from your PC’s speakers. (My PC stream is currently 1 minute 25 seconds behind my DAB radio broadcast.) This is due to the software buffering enough data to ensure continuous playback, so that if some data goes missing and has to be re-requested from the server or if there is a local data bottleneck the audio doesn’t suddenly drop out.
What’s nice is if you use the first URL (the one ending /planetrock.m3u) then MusicBee will also display the name of the track currently playing:
Now playing…
3. Save the stream as a playlist
The final thing we need to do is tell MusicBee to remember this station. It would be a bit of a hassle to have to find, copy and paste that URL every time you want to listen to the radio.
Again, that’s simple.
Right-click the name of the track
From the context-menu select: Add to Playlist > <New Playlist>.
A new playlist will be created in the Playlists panel, with the edit caret waiting for you to give it a name.
Enter a meaningful name, mine says Planet Rock DAB.
Then press Enter to save it.
Conclusion
That’s all there is to it.
While I usually listen to MusicBee using the compact player view, when listening to streamed radio I prefer the mini player view which also pulls in the current track’s artwork.
