[Rhythmbox-devel] Radio URL Handling

[F C <frankc24 gmail com>]

I know that I am not subscribed to the mailing list, but I have just a
couple of suggestions regarding Rhythmbox.  I am not a developer, but I
would like to contribute to improving this magnificent media player!

The first suggestion is that whatever method is used to handle URL/URIs
(Location) for Internet radio stations should be designed to handle
addresses with special characters like equal signs (=) and question
marks (?) as many good radio stations are linked from database-driven
web-sites and that makes it difficult for less technically savvy (or
otherwise clever) users to add their favorite radio stations.  For
example, Chronix Radio (based out of Denver, CO) has uses the following
link from Shoutcast.com:

http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=8524&file=filename.pls

The above URL does not work with Rhythmbox, but a Google search revealed
the following URL for the same station, which does work with Rhyhtmbox:

http://205.188.234.38:8018/

A Reggae radio station, BigUpRadio, has the following URL, but it will
not work with Rhythmbox:

http://66.28.68.70:8005/listen.pls

Upon trying to play the URL listed above, the status bar says
"Buffering..." but it will not play any music.  The URL works fine with
XMMS and RealPlayer 10.  Simply removing "listen.pls" from the URL
allows the music to play, though.

Thank you for your time and I wish you all the best in your continued
development of Rhythmbox!

Frank C.