Nokia Internet Radio under test

Great review Ewan. Appreciated. 😊

Installed, works fine 😃 Only annoying thing is that as soon as the screensaver kicks in, it stops. Press any key and it starts again.

It's an amazing little app indeed. You mentioned that it can only handle mp3 streams, BUT it also handles aac streams. I'm listening to one right now. 😊

yes, its pretty impressive... 😊 I love it. Make aux inputs all the better.

Is there an option to manually input a URL or open a .pls file for a station that's not in Nokia's central database?

The barebones of this app has been knocking about on nokia opensource for donkeys years now !

Used to stream my favourite french dance station through the n70 into my car's aux input !

wasn't that reliable but hey it worked !

1) Watched the screensaver kick in on my N81, app still plays. guess that's the beta tag. Can I suggest you add your S60 phone type and firmware to the beta labs bug report?

2) Yes you can add in manual streams very easily

Anyone know if this will support E61 in the future?

No BBC - not much use in the UK then !

Do let us know if this changes

I couldn't see a link in the article (or rather, the "Download" link in the article points back to the review), and the application isn't under the Beta Labs, so here it is for anyone else - http://www.nokia.com/internetradio.

I've downloaded it, but I'll have to wait until I'm back in the UK to try it out.

Thanks Ewan, and Steve, as always!

This would be a godsend if it worked with Realmedia and WMA streams...
unfortunately streaming through gallery doesnt support WMA and cuts off whenever i get a call / text, or so much as open the task manager let alone another app or the menu

Guys and gals, I’ve made some VERY serious tests.

First, my generic remarks:

[LIST=1][*]Will it receive aacPlus v2 (aka aac+ v2 and HE-AAC v2 ) support some time? Right now, it only (fullY) supports the, in webcasts, very-very rarely used AAC-LC / HE-AAC streams. Sure, it does play aacPlus v2 streams too, but downsampled and in mono only, while the vast majority of these streams are stereo, even at 24 / 32 kbps, and only really the slowest (around 10 kbps) are mono. (AAC decoders can be used to decode aacPlus v2 at a much lower sound quality, as was also the case with the MP3 Pro / standard MP3 set-up.) And, of course, Music Player in the N95 already contains aacPlus v2 support (a decoder) – why not use it?

This question is particularly topical as most mainstream Windows Mobile players doesn’t really have HE-AAC v2 support as can also be read HERE and if they do, with pretty large CPU (and, consequently, battery) usage; some of the most popular ones (for example, Pocket Player) not even plain AAC support (as yet). Seamless aacPlus v2 support on Symbian could be the killer application even for some WinMo users (if you want to make the platform more appealing to them, that is).

[*]Please add HTTP RealOne support. Currently, the built-in RealPlayer only supports RTSP (as opposed to HTTP), which means it can’t stream in a NAT (the majority of mobile phone operators). As RealPlayer already has a RealAudio decoder, if it’s easily iterfaceable from the outside, doing this can’t be that hard, particularly because SHOUTcast/ Icecast also use HTTP. That is, you can just reuse most of the already-existing HTTP streaming code.

This would be just GREAT because, as has also been pointed out in the “sneak peek” of my forthcoming Multimedia Bible, Windows Mobile severely lacks HTTP RealAudio streaming (except for the Mplayer port, but it only runs on 624 MHz Xscale CPU’s, using it almost entirely and meaning about 2-2.5 hours of battery life). If Symbian wants to be better than Windows Mobile, then, this is one place where it can become better 😊

Feel free to ask for more info on all this because I’m (also) a networking engineer and know these protocols like the palm of my hand.

[*]The same stands for WMA streaming. Seamless (!) WMA streaming one of the best features of Windows Mobile. On Symbian, only CorePlayer offers it - and, as of the current version, sucks like hell at it.

Again, programmatically, it can't be complicated to implement it as, behind the curtains, it uses either RTSP (referred to by "MMS" - long gone are the days of MMS being a completely different protocol) or HTTP. You don't need to implement the former - HTTP would just suffice. And, again, you already have HTTP streaming support, which wouldn't needed to be modded.

All this, of course, requires that you have access to the WMA decoder of the built-in Music Player - just like the case with the RealAudio decoder of RealPlayer.

[*]The bug several of you’ve already reported in the previous AAS thread, that is, app’s inability to start is a real pain in the back because it necessitates removing the app altogether and reinstalling it. You can very easily reproduce the bug (if you haven’t already run into it) by just clicking THIS 24k aac+ v2 link. After you exit the radio player, upon a subsequent restart, it’ll no longer run and you’ll need to completely reinstall it. (Tested on the N95 with firmware version v20; tested with both the internal memory and the card)

[*]It doesn’t register the M3U extension, only PLS. This should be changed – after all, it’s SHOUTcast / Icecast / MP3-compliant and many radio stations use MP3.

[*]What about adding OGG support? 😉 In several countries, where aacPlus v2 isn’t (at all) used, for example, Finland, it’s still the only way to converse bandwidth (as opposed to the about two time more bandwidth-wasting MP3 streams). (I whish I Finnish stations switched to aacPlus v2 though so that they could become accessible with GPRS only.) The only Symbian networking app to play OGG streams, oggplay, severely sucks and the current version of CorePlayer sucks too at streaming.

[*]I’ve created a demo web page where you can test the different stream types, M3U extension etc. It also links to some link repositories. It’s available HERE. [/LIST]

Second, in addition to my past tests (see THIS), some additional 24 kbps + GPRS power usage tests taking over an hour total:

A 24 kbps 44 kHz stereo aacPlus v2 stream playback (of course, as there is no aacPlus v2 support, only in mono and 22 kHz):

24 kbps 24 kHz mono MP3 stream playback:

Both via the built-in speakers (unlike with the prev. test, where I utilized A2DP too) at moderate volume.

As can clearly be seen, AAC and MP3 playback consume approximately the same power AND the results are pretty similar to those published earlier. (Don’t forget that these are 2G results, not 3G ones! A 3G connection would have had about 600 mW more power usage.)

Hope this is also read by the Nokia engineers so that they can really think about implementing / doing what I’ve stated.

Unregistered wrote:No BBC - not much use in the UK then !

Do let us know if this changes

To my knowledge, BBC only uses RA / WMA(?). This is why I'm pushing HTTP (!!!!!) RA and WMA streaming that much - they can't be that hard to implement as

1, the RealAudio / WMA decoders are already present
2, HTTP streaming is already supported and needs to be only slightly modded / extended (for example, during the initial handshaking with the remote Windows Media Encoder / server so that it notifies the player isn't able to receive streams over RTSP (MMS)).

I noticed that the E90 does not appear in the list of supported phones. Does anyone know if it's possible to install a version intended for another phone, or should I just wait..?

Cheers, Ian

Responding to a question earlier in this thread... Yes, it works on E61, but it's not officially supported. You need to download the version for the N92 (I think).

Because it's unsupported, the buttons for "options" and "back" are in the wrong place, but once you get used to it, that's not a problem.

Overall, a great app -- even if it's not one for the audiophiles. I've found it works better than the catalogue Ineternet radio apps available for S60.

Am I missing the download link? The application is also missing from Beta Labs here:

http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/applications

Download URL appreciated. Been waiting for this for some time now. Why so long to catch up with say the N800 which has much more advanced streaming options by default.

Thanks!

working very well with a nice pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I especially appreciate the ability to choose bandwidth and access points on the fly (wifi, 3g etc). Did anyone notice that 3D ringtones affect audio reverb? - i had luminosity with forest reverb and there was a noticeable impact on Internet Radio audio - so switched off 3D and audio back to normal.

David from London on an N95

The Nokia Internet Radio works on the E90. Just download the file "InternetRadioSisApp31_loc.sis", I think is the one for N810.

Impressively, the radio continues to play when you�re navigating around the application, and also in the background while in other apps.

www.moodio.fm converts any "regular" type of audio stream (shoutcast, realaudio, windows media, etc.) to 3GPP. You can even add your own stations and it's free. You should be able to listen to the BBC stations with this.

I've tried the internet radio streaming with the nokia n95, and it works fine.
Try http://bbcradio.mobi
It has a whole list of all bbc radio channels, including bbc sports, and bbc news. All the bbc radio channels can be easily streamed over any internet connection, through pc or mobile/pda.

Does anybody know what channels one could add to this application. I've been trying to add pls channels but sadly they don't work....... pls are MP3 radio streams that I thought it would work with this application

Nice Application but doesn't work with GPRS or 3G connection. Only works with wifi, would appreciate any help.

Regards

the Nokia Internet Radio works a treat! it was just what i was looking for to play .pls files from di.fm, and the best thing about it, is its free! 😃

i have a Nokia E65 and i'm on the Three(3) network in the UK

desertrat wrote:Impressive that Nokia are actually starting to think. I am very not impressed that the builtin Realplayer stops playing when switching to another app - multitasking anyone?

Actually, if you switch from realplayer during it's 'Loading....' phase, it seems it doesn't notice and so will continue playing, even though it's in the background.

Hope this is the right place... I tested Nokia Internet Radio today on the drive home using the 3g/GPRS EDGE connection. It cuts out periodically (say for 25% of the journey) and I think the reason is the negotiation between 3g masts. I believe Nokia Internet Radio is designed for static use so is similar software to the Radio Players for IPhone Touch or a PC. Somewhere I heard that there exists a custom radio player software especially adapted for on the move 3g type use, it has a much more generous buffer etc. Anyone know more?

For the E90, there is currently nothing on the official site.
However, you may try this:
http://www.nokiasymbianthemes.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/just/InternetRadioSisApp31_loc.sis

cedesguin wrote:For the E90, there is currently nothing on the official site.
However, you may try this:
http://www.nokiasymbianthemes.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/just/InternetRadioSisApp31_loc.sis

This URL seems not to work atm...does it for you?

Max.

I've downloaded and installed the Nokia internet radio (version for the N95) on my E90. Everything works great: I start the radio on the front side of the phone. Then I open the phone to adjust the volume.

Other versions of the Nokia internet radio don't work (e.g. the version of the N95 8gb)...