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Change iTunes handling of external radio stations Apps
I often like to add internet radio stations to my iTunes play list. If you use one of the built-in radio stations from iTunes, you can just drag and drop a station into a play list and nothing is added to the library. However, if you would like to add a radio station from outside of iTunes, then you often have to deal with the .pls file associated with the station like any other MP3 file, including having to add the file to the library. This is a real bother for me and I would like all radio stations to act the same manner and NOT be added to the library.

Solution:
  1. Add some random station from the built-in stations to a play list.
  2. Open/play the radio station you would like to add.
  3. Do a "Get info" on the station playing, click "edit URL" and copy the URL.
  4. Do a "Get info" on the built-in radio station you added to your play list, click "edit URL" and replace the URL with the one you copied in the previous step.
  5. Delete the file associated with the radio station you were adding as well as its reference in the library.
Done. When you play the radio station you added, the name of the station appearing in the Song Name column should rename itself to match the new station. If it doesn't, you can always fix it in the "Get info" dialog.

Oh, and don't worry: This transfusion has no effect on the built-in station back in the iTunes Radio section.
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Change iTunes handling of external radio stations | 4 comments | Create New Account
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Change iTunes handling of external radio stations
Authored by: darrylizer on Apr 09, '03 01:02:59PM

I don't understand this hint. What's wrong with "Open Stream" (command-u) in the Advanced menu?



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Change iTunes handling of external radio stations
Authored by: Arakageeta on Apr 09, '03 02:06:23PM

You know, I never saw the "open stream" menu item. I came up with this hint because whenever I click on a web site's "Listen to our mp3 stream" link, a .pls file is always downloaded to the desktop and added to the iTunes library when it is played.

Can you add a radio station to a playlist using the "open stream" ? Is anything added to the library?



[ Reply to This | # ]
Change iTunes handling of external radio stations
Authored by: Rathalister on Apr 10, '03 01:42:31AM

You can delete the .pls file and the stream will stay in iTunes. You can put it to a playlist or where ever. Once the stream is opened the .pls file is unnessary.



[ Reply to This | # ]
I don't find that to be the case...
Authored by: jiclark on Aug 06, '04 09:00:01PM

...the only way I could add streams and have them work once the .pls file is deleted from my Library is to use this hint's technique.

FWIW, I'm using iTunes 4.6 under 10.3.4



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