rblog

I recently purchased a subscription to Rhapsody and have greatly enjoyed listening to music on my computer. But I wanted to see if there was a way to listen to the Rhapsody stream on my home stero system. For free of course. I don't have Microsoft Media Center, but I do have TiVo. The good news is that it can indeed be done. And, it isn't even that painful.

The basic idea is that I set up one computer in my house as the "broadcast server". This computer has to be connected to Rhapsody, be running the Shoutcast server, WinAmp + plugin, and TiVo desktop. The computer plays the Rhapsody stream, the output of the soundcard is captured by the WinAmp plugin, and broadcast to the local network by Shoutcast. TiVo then finds this playlist and plays the stream over my stero system (which is wired to the TiVo player). A home network is assumed, including an ethernet connection for TiVo. For me, this is a wireless connection, mostly 802.11b. Also, I did all this on Windows (sorry Linux folks).

How to make this work? As always, complicated scenarios should be approached one step at a time. There are probably better sources of information the web, but the following worked for me (and I will try to include reference links). In particular, the thread that helped me the most was:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132883&highlight=shoutcast

1. WinAmp
* Install WinAmp, available at: http://www.winamp.com
The version I used was version 5.09
* Test to make sure that WinAmp is working - start playing some radio station.

2. Shoutcast
* Download and install Shoutcast from: http://www.shoutcast.com/download/serve.phtml
Remember, you will need to install the server software, so use the above link. I am on Windows, so I downloaded and installed: SHOUTcast WIN32 Console/GUI server v1.9.5
I used the all the defaults - e.g. a GUI install, with the Server (GUI version) and the DNAS Config files and README
* Start Shoutcast Server. Choose ShoutCast DNAS (GUI) from Start menu. This will start the server, you can then Hide the Monitor if you don't want to look at it.

3. Configure the Shoutcast plugin for WinAmp
* Detailed instructions available at: http://www.drs2006.com/manuals/faq/serverfaq2.html
My only deviation from the documentation was that I did not need to use any particular password
* Test your connection from the Output tab by pushing the "Connect" button. You should see the Status information on the top of the dialog box start to display streaming stats.
* Now, go to the Input tab and make sure that you see non-zero input levels. If your input levels are zero, the most likely problem is that the Volume Control on your system is not set to use the mixer or wave mixer as input. Find the Volume Control icon in the system trap, right click and open the Volume Control. Click on Options -> Properties. Choose the Recording radio button. Make sure that Mixer or Wave Out Mix is checked. Push OK. You should now see the Recording Control dialog. Make sure that the Mixer (or Wave out Mix) is the one that is checked (the check mark in the Select box). Check your input levels again.

4. Test WinAmp/Shoutcast
At this point, you should be broadcasting the WinAmp station you chose in Step 1 above. Go to some other computer on your network and point a browser at http://:8000. This should display a Shoutcast DNAS status page, with a listen link in the top/middle. Push it and see if you can hear your WinAmp stream. If so, you are broadcasting.

5. Setting up a TiVo playlist
* Install the TiVo Desktop, version 2.1 available at: http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp
* Now you will want to publish your Rhapsody stream. This is a little more complicated that publishing an mp3 file. To do this, create a file named rhapsody.m3u (a good place to put this file is in My Documents\My Music). The file should contain:
#EXTM3U
http://192.168.1.102:8000

Replacing 192.168.1.102 with the IP address of your music server - I tried the computer name but it didn't work. Also, #EXTM3U may or may not be necessary.
* Using TiVo desktop, choose "Music and Photos" and then push the Add Music button and navigate to the .m3u file you created above. Add it.
* Make sure that your TiVo server is running (you can start it from the TiVo desktop application in the Server menu). You can also check to see if it is running using icon in the System Tray.

6. Accessing the Playlist from TiVo
* Go to TiVo and select Music and Photos from the main menu
* Give TiVo 10 seconds to find your server and you should see something like 's Music on . Select that. If you cannot see this, then test your TiVo's network connection and, most importantly, verify that the TiVo server is running on your machine. This is the biggest source of problems as the TiVo server seems to crash often under these circumstances.
* After selecting this server, you should now see "rhapsody" (or whatever you named your .m3u file). Select it.
* You will now see the ip address that was inside of the rhapsody.m3u file. Select it.
* You will now see the source and you can press OK to play it.
* Wait about 20 seconds - which is the latency of the broadcast. The music should start to play. You may need to adjust the volume.
* NOTE: You may see an error dialog on the music server from TivoServer.exe indicating that the program has abnormally terminated. Do not close these dialog boxes - in fact, it is best to ignore them. As far as I can tell, the music will play on TiVo. However, it is important to note that the next time you try to connect to your music server you will need to restart the TiVo server - but you don't need to worry about that until you try to reconnect.

Invite a friend over - ask him/her their favorite song. Get it on Rhapsody and 20 seconds later it will be on your stereo. Way cool demo.

Random notes:
* Obviously this will work with any streaming subscription service, I just happen to use Rhapsody.
* TiVo Series 2 is required, ancient TiVos do not support music sharing
* Rhapsody must be controlled via the computer where is running (or you can use Remote Control software). For me this is no problem as we have a computer in the room where the stereo is located.
* You have to be running all the software - e.g. you can't quit WinAmp - that will kill the stream. But, if your computer is located in the same room as the stero, remember to turn off your speakers - as the streams are NOT in synch.