UPDATE: had to go hunt down a valid URL again for WXRT’s HD “New Music” stream to load into another Internet radio player. I don’t have TuneIn on my old laptop; for that I use Clementine, which is kind of twitchy but works on desktops like WinAmp did, but also scrobbles tracks via Last.fm or Audioscrobbler.

I went looking for yet another Internet radio app for the iPad, and had to track down the URLs again for one of my favorite stations:

For example, WXRT Chicago plays directly on a computer (without any login) using this link: http://www.thestreamcenter.com/STW.asp?URL=947 but I haven’t had the chance to check these links on my Roku lately… … Some have asked on this and other forums about the WXRT Chicago internet stream – but…it appears there are two streams, and only one plays on the ROKU.

The one people have been successful with is their “New Music Station” – which is a DIFFERENT station than what they play on the regular WXRT (it is a HD radio station). This is the URL for the New Music Station (edited because it’s changed again).

via Roku Forums • View topic – StreamTheWorld stations

Actually, there’s a couple more valid XRT streaming URLs. Even more info here.

WXRT:  http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/pls/WXRTFM.pls
WXRT:  http://5483.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WXRTFMCMP3
WXRT HD2 feed: http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/pls/WXRTHD2DIALUP.pls

Some players work with different ways to access WXRT Chicago’s 2 feeds. I tried this latest app today because Radio Riel put all six of their streams on it: TuneIn.

This after painstakingly (or not so painstakingly) adding all my scattered, hard to find music URLs to Clementine (desktop and laptop) and failing to save them correctly. Up to now, Radio Riel has hosted their streams on several different sites, using different kinds of URLs, some of which didn’t work with inworld radio tuners (reminds me, need to get a copy of my working list out of Second Life and update it). Music is essential for me when building or sorting inworld, and of course any socializing I do is usually has music too. It’s also becoming essential during my RL workday, and while messing about with triangles in Patterns. So that’s why I keep on searching for the perfect music app.

TuneIn is a pleasure to configure. It has a TON of streams and it suggests other similar stations. Custom URLs can be added at the bottom of the favorites list. I even found podcasts galore, including some to do with Second Life (this one was blogged by Bryn Oh in 2010). Mostly I was tickled to find a bunch of public radio shows I don’t always catch when they’re originally broadcast, such as RadioLab or On the Media. There’s a lot of other content to explore; I even found a Sci Fi podcast from Krypton Radio, which is run by people from Second Life. Much music to Tune In to, so my workdays will be a lot more pleasant.