BBC sounds, alternative connection?

Related to , but not the same as previous posts on sq from the bbc and streaming changes.
I missed a Bob Harris show when he stood in for Johny Walker recently, so decided to listen again via the bbc sounds app. I am developing a headache! The life is just sucked out of the music. Flat as a very flat thing, bass extended to the point of booming muddyness and high trebles artificially enhanced with the mid range just hidden somewhere.
Is there a url that can get these listen again programs?

You can get on demand via the Naim app on Naim streamers. Does the Auralic do the same thing?

Ah I havenā€™t looked for that on the Auralic devices. I will try later, thanks. Is it possible to read the URL for that from the Naim streamer?

I canā€™t see how youā€™d find the URL, which is not saying itā€™s impossible.

Thanks. I think the listen again service may not use a direct url. The recorded content is issued in some kind of container format, different to the live streams. I know that the browser based BBC listen again service has been stopped, so the Naim one may be something that is legacy and continues to work. Auralic uses both Tunein and Vtuner so I shall have a play with those this afternoon.

Update.

There is no way available on the Auralic radio streams to connect directly to BBC listen again.
The Bluetooth connection though seems to be variable according to playing device. Both the Android phone and my desktop pc with aptx can give a decent sound to the Auralic. The iPad I was originally using is just not up to hifi quality. Reading the internet it seems that apple donā€™t include any high quality bluetooth on either the ipad or iphone, although it does so on apple macs.

I would still like to trace that aac source that Naim uses. Is anyone at Naim able or willing to provide where that comes from?
Thanks

Maybe @Stevesky can help here.

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Hi,

BBC Ondemand requires an agreement with the BBC to use. We have such an agreement in place and hence the feature works and will keep on working in the future.

Regarding the URLā€™s, the BBC expose a live directory of the Ondemand content that is imported into the database. The streams are HLS that contain AAC streams - typically at 128kbit. At one time BBC Sounds had the advantage that they used a higher bitrate for ondemand/timeshifting.

Regards

Steve Harris
Software Director
Naim Audio Ltd.

4 Likes

I was under the impression that any thing other than ā€œliveā€ radio, Internet radio did not work on Naim hardware now and features such as playback were not supported?
See BBC Radio 4

Thanks for this, works on my MuSo Qbā€™s very well. Which I never newšŸ˜€. Will it work on 272? I canā€™t try as out of service whilst decorating.
Does this have ongoing support on these devices or is it likely to fall away in the near future? (Accepting these are now all legacy devices)

Hi @ErnN

No plans for the feature to get discontinued. We are planning a software update for the older products this year to ensure they are compliant with various streaming service provider changes coming up.

Best

Steve Harris
Software Director
Naim Audio Ltd.

6 Likes

The on demand stuff all works fine. Why not try it, as you have a 172?

Great news, and positive news about longevity. I am off to experience the new 222 next month after my great experience of the 272.:ok_hand:

BBC Sounds ā€˜On Demandā€™ is a great feature, but the direct connection from my Mu-Soā€™s to the shows (predominantly 6 Music) is better.

I stopped using on demand because I kep getting not available errors. Iā€™ll try again but I was under the impression that on demand was no longer supported.

I was recently searching for a way to hold some broadcasts offline on my mobile device.

Thereā€™s a project on GitHub called get-iplayer. Simple perl script with a few basic module dependencies. Took about 5 minutes to setup on my Ubuntu laptop. I believe it runs on Windows too, with a couple extra modules.

This script can be used to get a complete list of all BBC TV and radio content available, filtering by name/wildcard etc. You can then download broadcasts by their program number, PID or iPlayer URL.

Have used it to grab a few radio shows for offline listening.

It does have some limitations, such as it wonā€™t index PodCasts, but in the main a very handy tool.

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That could be interesting if they hold them longer than the normal 4 weeks for recent broadcasts. On the Auralic disabling the BT allows the ipad to automatically select airplay. I believe all newer ipad and iphones now run airplay 2 that gives a minimum of cd quality but will also transfer 24/96 files that are stored. Apple doesnā€™t allow apple music to play at hires via airplay for some reason but Iā€™m not an apple music subscriber.

BBC On Demand still not working

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I donā€™t have a Naim streamer so perhaps someone with the same streamer as you could comment.

Well I just now tried it on my NAC N272 and all the on demand from the BBC worked just fine.

What streamer are you using and what in particular are you trying to stream? Also which country are you in?