S60 Multimedia Blog

December 05, 2007 Nokia Internet Radio (beta) Posted by Carol at 12:59 AM | Categories: Applications, Music

Not to be confused with the open source S60 Internet Radio which we have blogged about here in the past, the Nokia Internet Radio is a recently released application and service to round up the new Nokia Music offerings that include the Nokia Music Store and Nokia Podcasting.

First, the application can be downloaded here. While the current list of compatible devices is rather limited (only N82, N91, N95, N95 8GB), the application should work with most S60 3rd edition and Feature Pack 1 smartphones. I guess it just hasn't been thoroughly tested with the rest of the devices so no guarantees!

Which one should you download? If your device is S60 3rd edition (E65, N93, N73 etc.), choose the installation file for N91; if you have a FP1 device (N76, E90, N81 etc.) than any of the rest will do. I installed the sis file for N95 on my E90 and it worked, albeit only on the external display.

Before I go on about the application, I have to mention that the "service" part of the Nokia Internet Radio is what, in my opinion, makes this internet radio experience awesome. The Internet Station Directory makes it a breeze for users to search and discover radio stations. The directory is monitored and constantly updated, so no more need for hunting down streaming links for new stations or removing dead links. You can also add your own station to the directory.

The Nokia Internet Radio supports MP3, AAC and AAC+ codecs broadcast over the internet using the Shoutcast streaming protocol. It can make use of your packet data (use Internet instead of WAP access point) or WLAN connections. I would recommend an unlimited 3G data plan because this can get quite addictive!

Since the application is still in beta (although quite mature for a beta release), there are still some quirks, which I believe (hope) will be changed in future releases. There seems to be no way to adjust the volume unless you have a device with dedicated (hardware) volume keys, and supported screen resolutions are only QVGA and 208x176. This means that on my E90, to adjust volume, I have to open up the app on the external screen first, then switch to the internal display, and use the volume function keys...

But let's get on with the good stuff, accompanied by some screen shots:

The main menu of the application allows you to quickly access the last played station, your saved favorite stations, browse the station directory or search the directory if you know the name of the station.

These are some of the settings you can adjust, including access point selection, and configuration of optimal bit rates for different data bearers.

In the Internet station directory, you can browse by genre, language or country. A list of most popular stations is also maintained by the directory.

I guess rocking along with some of the 39 stations from Netherlands is a good consolation for not being able to join the Nokia World events going on there...

The loading of this station was so quick, I thought I took a screen shot of the buffering screen but ended up with two of the now playing screen, which displays the station name, song title and artist.

To get more information about the radio station, you can either use the down navikey to select the "(i)" icon as shown in the above screen or go to options -> station information. You will find details such as station description, genre, language, country, as well as the streaming servers used.

For me, one major advantage of using the internet radio over FM radio is that I don't have to plug in the headset (which acts as the FM antenna). I'm currently listening to a classical station through the speakers of my E90 which is somewhere in the room... I'll have to find it later.

The loading times vary depending on the stations, but so far I'm quite impressed. And after the initial loading, I haven't encountered any rebuffering. It's been about 20 minutes now. Although the downside is the huge data transfer (probably around 14MB in the 20 minutes?), but an unlimited data plan or WLAN connection will take care of that.

Hope you enjoy this little gem of an app as I have the last couple of days!

- Carol.

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Comments

Yes, it's a great app. Shame that it doesn't work properly on the inner screen on my E90. I mean I can still listen to radio stations and stuff it's just that it doesn't render properly on the large screen. Oh well... hopefully they'll fix it in the next version.

Hey Carol, great writeup on a great app! Tremendous job on the net radio app update...

Some feedback for the team from me and a few of my readers/others:

1. AWESOME that PLS links in the browser open and stream! It would be great if they could open in the 'full' net radio app though so that the browser is still usable while streaming.

2. I would love to see an Active Standby integration a la Music Player.

3. I'd like to be able to at least edit station titles. When I save something from shoutcast, "(#1 - 130/250) Blah blah..." is annoying.

That'll do it for now ;)

Used the N91 version on an E61 it works fine however the key mapping for the soft keys is really hosed. It thinks the screen is rotated! and has the left soft key text on the screen in the lower right and the right key soft key text on the upper right!

Tried the Internet Radio app out on my N82 using WLAN/WiFi, audio quality was suprisingly good and only buffered after first selecting the station.
Nice write-up Carol, good to see you back here on the blog. =)

I tried it on an N80, the N91 version installs fine and shows up on the menu, but it still doesn't run. Nothing happens when I click it's icon.

Hi, thanks for your comments! I'm sorry if you are having some problems with the application on E90, E61 and N80, but as I've mentioned these models are NOT officially supported yet. I will still pass on the feedback.

Hi, the IR is a great app for WLAN phones, I use it on a N81.
One essential thing is terrible: importing own stations e.g. from shoutcast.

It is possible now, to enter a station by typing, but what about a config import from e drive?

@sven You can also go to shoutcast in the S60 browser and 'tune in' to any stations. IR will automatically open the PLS files and you can save them to your favorites list that way.

The N91 version works perfectly on E65, thank you!

Cannot get it to work with AAC+ stream (pro-fm.net). Launching the application makes my N76 really hot under the camera lens, actual listening makes it even hotter, it hasn't been this hot ever. Luckily i don't have unlimited data plan, my phone might melt :)

Apparently, not all S60v3...no love for the E70. At least not my US E70-2 (firmware 2.0618.07.10).
So it goes.

Both SIS files installed/uninstalled without error, but neither ran.

Hi,
like notpeter mentioned, IR doesn't work with E70. I tried with E70 version 3.0633.09.04.

Application installs nicely but when I try to start the application screen goes white for a second and then returns to menu.

I tried to install IR to device's memory and to memory card neither works.

Cheers,
Teppo

@notpeter and @teppo, I believe it's not working for the E70 because the screen resolution is 352x416 which is currently not supported by Internet Radio. (This is also why it doesn't work with the internal screen of E90, but works fine on the external screen.)

Again, I have to stress that aside from N82, N91, N95, N95 8GB, there is no guarantee that the other devices are supported. I will keep everyone updated when the list of supported devices grows!

This application is great BUT when playing aac+ stations it appears to only be decoding the aac part of the stream i.e. the quality is not aac+ Let's hope they fix this soon.

WOW.. I never seen such a great application in my life.

Nokia Guys you are proved it again.. you are Number 1 in the world.

Works not bad on E65... Congratulations!

at last my n91 is useful again but didn't work on my n95

great app my n91 is useful again but i can't load it on my n95 pls help thanks

Very cool app...

...no Pandora tho...is that b/c of the Flash on Pandora.com?

I love this app. Works great on my N95.
Please check the AAC+ decoding, only AAC part is decoded. This happens on S60 Internet Radio also.
Thanks Nokia!

Hi!

Was trying to install Internet Radio on my N95 8gb, however installation stops right in the middle. I’m getting message “Unable to install”. Did any one had that problem? Can someone help me, please?

Thanks!

Hi serge.
upgrade yor firmware for free.
lately some s60 s/w installers are having some strange problems.
and please set the date-time attributes of the phone right.

cheers.

Hi Subhasis!

I’ll try that as soon as I back everything up. What do you mean by setting date/time attributes? Certain time zone or date?

Thanks!
Serge.

I agree that it is a great application, it perfectly works on my N95 8GB. Hope in the nearest future it will be able to support not only special radio stations but regular (m3u etc. which are supported by WMP and AMP players). Thanks.

Just installed the N95 version to my E51 and it works ok.

Thanks for the tip!

I love this app. Works great on my N95.

my n95 keeps going into hibernation, so the stream stops. any ideas please

This application was removed and no longer available.
Any suggestion where i can find and download the application?

This App. was removed from download.
Any suggestion where I can find it and download it?

App. was removed
any suggestion where could I find t and download it?

lalkopa, The Internet Radio app hasn't been removed but it looks like there is some website redesign ongoing. If you find the main link not working, you can search for Internet Radio on the site and that should lead you to the new links.

Anyone having problems manually adding stations? I've tried using that feature to add some stations but the app does not offer any option to save stations. Unfortunately I cannot add the stations I want via the search-and-add function either because these stations don't come up in any of the results.

Great app my n91 is useful again.

This is a great feature if you want to do infowars radio on your phone. In the US, it works on the N75 well but battery life is a concern.

S60 Open to new features

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