Listening to B.Radio

[Paul Nieland]

It has been long time since I wrote, but I'm trying to listen to Beethoven Radio.

I use an Apple Macintosch computer and use Apple's turbo webbrowser Safari. And I can't use the 'listen live' button on the website.
I don't want to install Internet Explorer from Microsoft, and then install the Mediaplayer from Microsoft... IE is to big and slow (and I know, you PC users don't have any other choice and you don't know anything else).
I installed the Mircosofts Mediaplayer, but I can't use it on the Listen Live button on your website because you want me to install Internet Explorer
But then again I think iTunes is better (iTunes is also available for the PC).

There are other webbrowers for the PC, but Microsoft dit a very good job to (almost) eliminate the competition.

You can say: Try the 14 day free trail RealOne Player...

I have tried that, but I can't download the trail version because they want me to fill in my CreditCard number, but I don't have a CreditCard.
Why can't I download the trail version without a CreditCard? Do they want me to pay when the trail is over? :confused:

Is there any way without installing Internet Explorer to listen to Beethoven Radio again on my Mac?
Or is this indeed the end of Beethoven Radio for me.

[Nicole Marie]

Hi Paul-

There is no way to listen to Beethoven through the Listen Live link without downloading IE. One of the requirements of that stream is IE for the Adsertion stream to work.

As for the Real One pass, yes they require a credit card #. That's a Real requirement and not ours.

Nicole

[EJA]

Frankly, Paul, having run Mozilla, Netscape Navigator on Linux, and IE on XP, I find IE to be hands down the best browser, the fastest browser, and the most capable browser. I've never used a Mac, but I think you should give IE a try.

[Paul Nieland]

Thats the problem, on the Mac IE is slower than Apple's own browser Safari. Thats why I don't use IE anymore. I also used Netscape for a time and Mozilla, and some other browsers.
I have no problems on the whole internet using Safari on the Mac, except here...

Mircosoft already announced that they will not continue there IE development for the Mac because most Mac users switched to Safari, they will provide from time to time bugfixes for the current version.

These are some words from MS.
Who can make the best webbrowers for the computer users?
Thats the one who makes the OS.
IE is the best for Windows users, because both are made by one company, we know how Windows works and thats why we can tune IE for the best.
The same is with the Mac, Apple makes the OS and they can tune there webbrower for the best on there OS.

[lliam]

Paul, go to this site,

http://www.webgrid.co.uk/index.html

it's one of the best freeware sites on the web. There's about 20+ different browsers (No IE), do a trial of some or all the browsers, you might get lucky.

Hope you can find a browser to suite your machine and b.com. I like the mac machine the only reason I didn't buy one is because of the compatibility problem.

[bernieb]

Paul--the latest Windows Media player will work just fine with the current Safari browser (v1.1.1). You must not have pop up window blocking enabled when you try to bring up the adsertion window.

I have to say, though, that the loss of the ability to get Beethoven Radio with iTunes has more or less ended my listening to it.

Bernie B.

[Nicole Marie]

Hi Bernie-

Just to clear up... The closing of iTunes was not a move on our part. IM Networks, the company that streamed Beethoven to iTunes/Shoutcast, announced they were closing US Operations. We had to find partners that are cost effective for us and we have not be able to find a company that will stream us to iTunes at a price that works.

We wanted to find an alternative for our MAC users. The best we could do was the Listen Live stream and Real. We understand it means down loading programs and making adjustments some may not like. There is no easy answer and until we can find another provider that works best for MAC users, this is where we are at.

[Nicole Marie]

<small>[ 12-30-2003, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]</small>

[bernieb]

Hello Nicole,

I fully understand about IM Networks shutting down and I don't want to dwell on the issues of the replacement, suffice it to say that listening with iTunes was very convenient.

I do want to make it clear that, contrary to the notice that comes up when first clicking on the Listen Live button on the BR home page, Safari on a Mac works so long as the latest version of Windows Media player is installed.

Bernie B.

[Paul Nieland]

Originally posted by Bernie B.:
Paul--the latest Windows Media player will work just fine with the current Safari browser (v1.1.1). You must not have pop up window blocking enabled when you try to bring up the adsertion window.

I have to say, though, that the loss of the ability to get Beethoven Radio with iTunes has more or less ended my listening to it.

Bernie B.

Thanks for this tip, can you also give me the URL or can I download it from versiontracker. Last time I went to search for the MediaPlayer I ended up searching website after website, they linked me to another website and that website linked to another... Few days after that, my mailbox was stormed with Spam!

But I wil first search some Mac sites for the latest version, but to be honest, I don't like mediaplayer, its from microsoft. I bought an Mac to get away from that. ....
As I said before, it's also impossible for me to get an trail version for the real player.

[Paul Nieland]

Originally posted by Bernie B.:
I fully understand about IM Networks shutting down and I don't want to dwell on the issues of the replacement, suffice it to say that listening with iTunes was very convenient.

I fully agree with that.

[bernieb]

Hi Paul,

You can download the Windows Media Player installer from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/software/macintosh/osx/

When listening to BR via the "Listen Live" button, you will not see Windows Media Player, just the adsertion window. Just be sure to turn off pop up window blocking before you click the button--you can turn it back on once the adsertion player window is established.

Bernie B.

[Paul Nieland]

Hello Bernie,

Thanks, I will give it a try.
Over here its just 15 minutes in 2004

Happy new year to you all at B.Com and for all Mac users best wishes for a better support in a windows world.

[mark]

Nicole,

I still do not understand why Beethoven Radio is no longer on IM Tuner as it was for a long time. I am STILL using the IM Tuner program to listen to many, many different stations, including over 30 classical stations! They are still very active in the U.S and I refuse to PAY for a service just to listen to 1 station.

[debsguy]

Originally posted by Nicole Marie:
Hi Bernie-

Just to clear up... The closing of iTunes was not a move on our part. IM Networks, the company that streamed Beethoven to iTunes/Shoutcast, announced they were closing US Operations. We had to find partners that are cost effective for us and we have not be able to find a company that will stream us to iTunes at a price that works.

We wanted to find an alternative for our MAC users. The best we could do was the Listen Live stream and Real. We understand it means down loading programs and making adjustments some may not like. There is no easy answer and until we can find another provider that works best for MAC users, this is where we are at.

I appreciate the fact that BR wants to offer an alternative for its Mac users (MAC stands for Media Access Control...not Macintosh, by the way). However, Adsertion is a buggy, low quality alternative. Mac users are not willing to put up with blatant ad-laced music players that supply low quality sound and inadequate buffering. You have a great classical station. I hope you can come up with a provider who streams to iTunes. If you ever use iTunes for launching internet radio stations, you'll understand immediately why many Mac users don't want to waste their time with inferior alternatives.

[Nicole Marie]

Hi Birch-

Thanks for the post. We are looking for an alternative for our Mac users but at this time we have not been able to find a business that works for us. We are still looking.

As for the ads in the Adsertion player, we need them to stay in business. We get paid for those ads and it's a major source of income for us. It's radio and we need to make money, the way you do that in radio is to sell ads. And given we are a dot com we can also double that income with banner ads. We think it's a small price to pay for a great radio station. But to be fair we also limit those ads to 30 seconds each so you are not swamped by them. We hope you understand.

[bobabbate]

Hi. I just re-discovered beethoven.com again for the first time since it fell off the iTunes list. Although I was able to follow the guidance provided in this posting and get the online stream to work in Safari, I won't be sticking around long. The audio quality of the 22Kbps stream is not very good, and the Adsertion streaming window is pokey and not user friendly at all. I've always loved your station but until you find a way to allow Mac users to stream it directly through iTunes it's just not worth the trouble.

By the way, other stations stream just fine by providing a simple mp3 streaming link on thier website. I listen to WFUV.org and Radioio.com regularly. I just choose the stream mp3 option and the station plays through iTunes without any problem. And they're not a part of the iTunes tuning service either.

I hope you folks can work this all out. Good luck, I'll check back once in a while.

[Nicole Marie]

Mark-

If other US stations are still on iTunes that means they did not have deals with IM Networks. We did. IM Networks closed all US operations, we were one of those stations. Other US stations may have other deals with other companies. Ours was with IM Networks and when they were bought out, that was it.

We are looking around but we have not found a company that meets our business needs. We need to find a provider to stream us to iTunes. Once we find a company that can do that based on our business model we will be back at iTunes.

[monkeymd2b]

I haven't been able to listen in a long time and my attempt to listen via itunes resulted in failure to connect so I read this thread and was disappointed again I tried the adsertion and since I have a short attention span, I gave up waiting for the stream to connect after 1 minute - I have high speed internet and like other faithful mac users here, I miss the quick connect of itunes to radio stations. Hmmm...I guess I'll just listen to my classical collection on my ipod instead...I'm getting tired of listening to the same 462 songs over and over again. Usually I buy new cds only after hearing the songs on b.com and really liking them but I guess those days are over...for now

<small>[ 03-08-2004, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: monkeymd2b ]</small>