I listen to BBC Radio 6 Music pretty constantly and usually use my Raspberry Pi running Volumio with Web Radio. Put it on today and had a message play over the top of the stream telling me they were ending support for this device.
It seems to be a common theme for the BBC forcing you to use their App. The cynic in me assumes this is purely so they can data mine everyone.
Does anyone know of any other way to access Radio 6 on Volumio? I don’t really want to have to use the BBC Sound App and airplay. I like to have the radio on in the background while using my phone for other things which would constantly interrupt airplay.
I suppose this post is part request for help but also part rant - sorry.
There are quite a number of threads on here about the upcoming BBC changes. I am sure that a BBC sounds plugin is possible … just waiting for someone to step up into the breach
From a personal perspective, BBC Sounds is quite a complex beast, with catchup, podcasts, sounds etc. etc. I would be quite content with live streams.
Btw, hi haydiddly & welcome to the Volumio Community
I have just found this after pulling my volumio device out of storage. I have been listening to BBC on the radio shortwave software on linux, and I seem to remember being able to use custom urls for radios, so I’m going to look at that. If I’m succesful I will post back here
Hi there.
An old thread but as it’s the same topic…
It seems the BBC is changing their live streams again. I’ve started receiving periodic interruptions from the BBC saying they will stop streaming their services using the current format by mid-2023.
They are going to move to HLS and DASH formats.
Will this be something that Volumio will be able to access?
If you are in the UK you can have a HiDef feed by changing the URL as described below. What I’ve done is to create new web radio links for the BBC stations and then add them to my favourites.
The above streams are restricted to the UK. For the international stream when available,
replace /uk/ with /nonuk/ and /sbr_med/ with /sbr_low/ or /sbr_vlow/. Different bitrates are available by replacing /sbr_med/ :
/sbr_vlow/ = 48k /sbr_low/ = 96k
UK only: /sbr_med/ = 128k /sbr_high/ = 320k
Hi,
I’m running Volumio 3.251 on a Raspberry Pi.
I use it a lot for streaming radio. I live in the UK so stream BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) radio a lot. Yesterday I was listening to BBC Radio 4 when the stream was interrupted (by the BBC) to say that the stream I was listening to would be discontinued this year. If I was listening via a smart speaker or other device I should contact the manufacturer. Or alternately I could listen through the BBC Sounds app.
Doe anyone know anything about this, will I have to use another means of streaming BBC radio.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Relying to my own post, I found this on the BBC website.Does this mean anything to anyone?
Why am I hearing a message advising the stream I am listening to will stop working mid-2023?
The BBC uses several streaming technologies to deliver BBC Sounds. If you are hearing a message informing of this change, you are listening using Shoutcast. The BBC will stop supporting Shoutcast by mid-2023.
Why are we making these changes?
Shoutcast is an older streaming technology and many connected radio devices in the UK no longer use it for BBC streams. Ending support for Shoutcast will enable us to focus on the two most popular technologies currently used – HLS and DASH. As well as delivering better value, it will allow us to understand more on how our content is consumed. This forms part of our strategy for BBC Sounds and is important to help us improve the services we offer to our listeners.
We informed manufacturers and other service providers of this change in May 2022.
I hear the message – what should I do?
If you are using an internet radio or smart speaker, please contact the manufacturer. It might be possible for the device to be updated to use another of our supported streams.
If you can hear the message when listening to BBC services via the web or mobile phone, please listen on BBC Sounds instead
Streamer device
A Streamer is a Hi-Fi separate that can be connected to an existing Hi-Fi system that uses an internet connection to play media including radio stations and podcasts. It’s recommended that prior to purchasing, to check if a particular device is supported. You will need to speak to the manufacturer and/or retailer about this. We also recommend that the device supports either DASH or HLS audio streaming formats. Search online for ‘Wi-Fi streamer.’
What audio streaming formats do the BBC Support?
We recommend that a device supports the DASH and HLS formats. You may wish to check with the manufacturer and/or retailer whether it supports these formats (and whether they support BBC Radio content) prior to purchasing.
It means the BBC want to do a data grab by forcing people to sign-in to an app. Bauer tried it earlier in the year. The deadline passed but after a brief outage I’m still getting Planet Rock and the local commercial station through my internet radios and Volumio.
Write to your MP. Mention, undermining privacy, poor DAB reception, forced obsolescence and adding to the mountain of e-waste.
I had been wondering about this also. I use volumio io to play either one of three things. Most of which is BBC 6 music, some Spotify and the occasional podcast. I’d love it if I could continue listening to the BBC on my volumio speaker but if a solution can’t be found I may have to look elsewhere.
I’d certainly not minding to “sign in” as I’m in the UK and pay my licence fee. Especially if it gave me the full range of options BBC sounds offers.
Thanks
I think that’s correct. I can log onto BBC Sounds from the Netherlands and listen to their streams on that website, but the links don’t work in my browser or via Volumio or VLC.
Here is a list of URL links for BBC Radio stations: https://gist.github.com/bpsib/67089b959e4fa898af69fea59ad74bc3
The first section in the list is for HLS streaming which will be carried forward. The other two sections are Shoutcast streams that will be discontinued.
Note the comment in the HLS section. Streaming up to 320K is supported in the UK, but outside the UK is limited to 96K.
The above streams are restricted to the UK. For the international stream when available, replace /uk/ with /nonuk/ and /sbr_med/ with /sbr_low/ or /sbr_vlow/.
Different bitrates are available by replacing /sbr_med/ : /sbr_vlow/ = 48k /sbr_low/ = 96k
UK only: /sbr_med/ = 128k /sbr_high/ = 320k
Thanks for this, I’ll check them out. I suppose in the on line world things are always changing. We should also remember that some things that the BBC broadcast,they only have the rights to broadcast domestically.
Access to the BBC Sounds platform is one of the reasons I run LMS on my Volumio device in my home office. The BBC Sounds plug-in for LMS gives me a nice list of latest editions of programs I’ve subscribed to and works nicely for catching up with editions of shows that I’ve missed.
