Streaming CBC through iTunes

veekee · Sep 6th, 2009, 12:24 PM

I just got an Airport Express and realized it will only stream through iTunes...so what about that pesky CBC live stream that doesn't stream through itunes?

There's another topic on this site about how to stream via saving the stream as a quicktime link, but that feels too complicated, especially when the media player doesn't actually load on cbc.ca but it streams anyway. I figured this out via a helpful note on the Vancouver streaming page regarding a stream they offer for itunes...a quick replacement of city name, and ta-da: instant streaming of any city feed you want!

You can stream CBC through itunes by hitting Advanced>Open Audio Stream in iTunes and then entering:

http://asx.abacast.com/cbc-r1nameofcity-96.pls

ie: http://asx.abacast.com/cbc-r1halifax-96.pls

perfect for streaming CBC audio to your airtunes.

just thought i'd share!
-vikki

chuckster · Sep 6th, 2009, 12:48 PM

Thanks so much!

i4detail · Sep 6th, 2009, 08:37 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by veekee
	I just got an Airport Express and realized it will only stream through iTunes...so what about that pesky CBC live stream that doesn't stream through itunes? There's another topic on this site about how to stream via saving the stream as a quicktime link, but that feels too complicated, especially when the media player doesn't actually load on cbc.ca but it streams anyway. I figured this out via a helpful note on the Vancouver streaming page regarding a stream they offer for itunes...a quick replacement of city name, and ta-da: instant streaming of any city feed you want! You can stream CBC through itunes by hitting Advanced>Open Audio Stream in iTunes and then entering: http://asx.abacast.com/cbc-r1nameofcity-96.pls ie: http://asx.abacast.com/cbc-r1halifax-96.pls perfect for streaming CBC audio to your airtunes. just thought i'd share! -vikki

Great Tip: I'm a CBC fanboi from way back; I've taken and linked to this tip over at the macanuck blog, if you don't mind...

rgray · Sep 7th, 2009, 08:20 AM

This tip, essentially, was (first?) posted at Spacebeast back in May of this year.

Here are the instructions as I 'simplified' them for my (mostly senior) clients:

	Quote:
	There is a relatively new way to stream CBC - now in iTunes! In iTunes, press 'command-u' (by menu, iTunes>Advanced>Open Audio Stream...), and enter or copy/paste the following link, no arrowheads <http://icy1.abacast.com/cbc-r1ottawa-96> for Ottawa and hit OK.. or, say: <http://icy1.abacast.com/cbc-saintjohn-96> for Fredericton (I tried entering fredericton instead of saintjohn but no feed - they are the same feed anyway, mostly - YMMV) or you can enter any city that has a feed, but I can't get a definitive list - for instance, Freddy appears on the CBC Listen To page (which isn't working for me at all. A new generic 'album' icon/info will be loaded in iTunes in LIBRARY>Music which survives quits and restarts so you only have to 'command-u' once (per feed)........

These feeds are far and away the best CBC has done so far, 'cept they're not done, strictly speaking, by CBC - they are done by Abacast about whom I know nowt.

OK. About that 'generic' iTunes 'album' icon?

First thing I did was grab my fave CBC logo and try to add the 'artwork'.... iTunes isn't letting me.... ? ?

Any solution???

rgray · Sep 7th, 2009, 08:38 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by rgray
	OK. About that 'generic' iTunes 'album' icon? First thing I did was grab my fave CBC logo and try to add the 'artwork'.... iTunes isn't letting me.... ? ? Any solution???

... and don't get me started on how come this adds in the 'Music' area and not as a (Duh!!!) 'Radio' - or - how come I can't just move it there - or - how come I can't add artwork to 'Radios' ...

WTF?

EDIT: ... and who the hell gets to decide the "No Artwork Available" status - blocking that is just about the stupidest 'feature' of iTunes

kfraser · Sep 7th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Many thanks for the tip, it's great to be able to listen to CBC in iTunes.
Has anyone figured out a way to make this work for radio 2?

i4detail · Sep 7th, 2009, 01:42 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by rgray
	OK. About that 'generic' iTunes 'album' icon? First thing I did was grab my fave CBC logo and try to add the 'artwork'.... iTunes isn't letting me.... ? ? Any solution???

Not that I've been able to find; there's probably an XML file buried inside iTunes that you can modify and change one line to read albumArt: True or something like that, but a quick Google turns up no obvious answer.

If it makes you feel better, none of the radio streams have album art as far as I can tell....

Manatus · Sep 7th, 2009, 01:47 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by kfraser
	Many thanks for the tip, it's great to be able to listen to CBC in iTunes. Has anyone figured out a way to make this work for radio 2?

R2 doesn't seem to work because it's an .ogg stream, and iTunes won't stream those (although Quicktime and VLC player will).

Ontario radio stations streaming live on the internet - Canadian Web Radio

polywog · Sep 7th, 2009, 01:53 PM

I've got CBC Radio Jazz streaming via http://atl2.fla.abacast.com/cbc-jazzhi-192 and CBC Radio 3 Here

Great stuff.

Paddy · Sep 7th, 2009, 10:21 PM

While iTunes doesn't allow you to add CBC to the radio section, you can add a "radio" playlist with all your favorites in it - from both the radio list and the music list. That makes it a whole lot easier/faster to get to the radio station you want.