Radio stations

[UKenGB]

Working pretty well but a couple of points/questions:-

First of all, we absolutely need to be able to edit the manually entered radio stations. Sometimes the URL changes, or perhaps a new logo file, or you need to change the name. There's something of a kludge as if you create a new one with the same name. it seems to update the existing one, but that is very unintuitive and very inconsistent as well as not allowing a change of name. MA really needs and really should have an edit option.

Talking of station logo, it's not working. When first setting up the radio stations it did find the specified logo files as the 'more info' display for a station would place the image in the background, but in the Radio list, they're just a fuzzy blur, whereas the BBC stations added from the BBC Sounds provider are all displayed resplendent with their logos. Why can the logo files I specified not be similarly shown in the list.

That of course assumes the logo URL is still entered correctly, which I cannot check and/or update if wrong, and the logo seems not displayed elsewhere in this latest version so I have no idea why no logo file is displayed in the list. Did I mention we need the ability to edit the radio station entries. 😀

[UKenGB]

There is actually an issue trying to play some stations.

Here in the UK, there are many stations (mainly those run by large greedy media conglomerates) that try to obscure the actual URL and even if you can find it, the URL includes a numeric code that is regularly changed so what works one day will not the next (or next etc). It just needs the current number, but that is unknown - and even if it is discovered, it means the URL needs editing in MA which as we know is not possible. ☹️

However, there are some URLs for these stations made available by those who seek to circumvent this obstructive behaviour. These URLs are unchanging and just point to the current updated direct URL that works. So the use of these URLs means access to the station continues without needing to keep updating the URL being used. So ideal to use in MA. But…

They don't work in MA.

Here's an example:-

http://www.radiofeeds.net/playlists/bauerflash.pls?station=absoluteclassicrockhigh-aac

This works in VLC, every time, every day. MA though just complains and won't accept it.

When playing in VLC however, the underlying URL is exposed and that can be entered in MA which is then happy to save and play it no problem. For a few days. Then it will fail because the station's owner updates that special number just to make life difficult for those wanting to actually listen to the station.

All seems rather stupid to me as it actively prevents many from ever listening to the station and isn't that what they actually want. So it's stupidly counter-productive.

Hence the need for the above URL to avoid these shenanigans. Except they don't work in MA.

There are others, but the above is an example that illustrates the problem. Would it be possible for MA to accept and play these 'wrapper' URLs so we can access these stations? I suspect the fact it's a playlist is the issue, but it's not insurmountable as proven by VLC's ability to play them without any bother.

I'd like to recommend adding to MA the ability to play this type of URL so it can provide continued access to such stations.

[UKenGB]

Regarding the display of the radio station logo images, I notice that all the displayed BBC logos are square, whereas all my logo images are landscape, I.e. wider than the height (about 1.77 ratio). Is this the cause of the problem? Will MA only display square images of radio station logos?

Would seem rather restrictive if so, but it would explain why they have never appeared in the list.

Could this be confirmed either way, without having to try and test which in any case might prove inconclusive?

Is there ANY restriction on size of logo images that MA can display in the radio list?

[OzGav]

No there is no restriction. What exact path did you supply for the image?

[UKenGB]

I've cracked it.

For some reason the server running MA is unable to resolve the CNAME to the HA server that houses the images. My Mac does and all images are immediately accessible in Safari whatever CNAME is used (there are several for the HA server). I have just however discovered that MA's server cannot do this and requires the use of the A record name.

I have no idea why as it makes no sense to me. My local DNS is the configured DNS for that server and must be being used or it would not be able to resolve the A record name. This breaks all my network experience, but is typical these days as such fundamental rules are being constantly broken by developers who either don't understand, or more commonly deliberately break them to suit their own ends.

Anyway, this problem is out of MA's control and I can either waste extraordinary lengths of time trying to second guess how and who is wreaking such havoc on my network, or simply use the A record which works. On balance, I'll take the latter alternative.

However, that brings me back to the problem of not being able to view/edit the radio station entries. I have tried to edit the image path by creating a new entry of the same name as the one I am trying to edit, but once I enter the name, it fetches the current image path and no matter how many times I edit it to the new path that works, as soon as I press Save, it flips back to the old incorrect path. The only solution was to delete the entry and start again. This is incredibly exasperating as I only need to change 3 charaters, but it's taken hours to achieve that for this one station.

Okay, I'd be quicker next time, but this is a terrible way to have to edit just some simple textual data. Please, I implore you to expedite the addition to MA of being able to view and edit the radio staton entries. Others have requested this before and to be honest it is a terrible omission. Allowing the user to enter some data but then not allowing them to actually edit it is, well, hard to describe without being disrespectful and I am speaking from having been something of a software developer in the past, having to deal with such circumstances.

So please, can we have editing of radio station entries. With that I would have discovered this solution almost immediately after noticing the problem. Please. 🙏😉

[OzGav]

You need to upvote here https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/3279