What music, no matter when you play it or whatever mood you are in, always transports you back to a happy time or happy moment in your life?
Continue reading What music reminds you of a happy time?Tag: Music
My albums of 2017
My annual review of what I’ve most enjoyed listening to during the last 12 months, and my albums of the year.
My albums of 2016
My annual review of what I’ve most enjoyed listening to during the last 12 months, and my albums of the year.
Opeth—Sorceress
One of my favourite bands, Opeth, has a new album coming out this year, entitled Sorceress. This is the title track. It’s very heavy, very doom-y, very old-school prog.
I know that Opeth’s move from outright death-metal-style progressive metal to more 70s-oriented prog on Heritage (2011) divided the band’s fan-base. It took a while for me to really get into but I like it. But then I’ve always felt that bands should be free to do what they want, move in whichever direction interests them. And if I, as a fan, don’t like it, then fine—don’t listen to it. Listen to the stuff that you do like.
I’m really looking forward to the album being released on Friday 30 September.
Studio report
The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, where Queen recorded Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night At The Opera (1975), including “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt takes us on a tour of the studio.
Stream Planet Rock radio in MusicBee on your PC
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 out was obviously the URL to stream Planet Rock. Thankfully that is displayed very prominently on their listening online page. This is what they currently are (although I guess, they may be subject to change):
- http://www.planetrock.com/planetrock.m3u
- http://tx.sharp-stream.com/icecast.php?i=planetrock.mp3
Both work, depending on the player you use, e.g. iTunes, Windows Media Player, MusicBee, etc; I use the first one.
2. Play the stream in MusicBee
Next, we need to tell MusicBee to use that stream.
That’s as simple as opening the menu and selecting:
- File > Open Stream.
- Then paste in the URL and 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:
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: Send 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.
