How does IRadio work (or supposed to work)?

Following the last 48 hours of IRadio out/in/out, my basic understanding of IRadio has been demolished. I have two questions relating to this:

  1. I was under the impression that Vtuner allowed the streamer to locate the internet connection of a channel of interest. For example, from new with no favourites selected, Vtuner would guide me through to find BBC Radio 3, which I would add as a favourite. From then on and for ever more Vtuner had no involvement on me selecting Radio 3 from my favourites.
    It would seem that this assumption was false, so ā€œhow does it workā€ when it does?

  2. If Vtuner is so critical to all Naim streamers and Naim knew that from the start, what is their recovery situation should Vtuner go bust and vanish? There must be, within Naim, a plan to deal with this, how long would it take to fully implement?

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When you choose a radio station, vTuner selects the URL which the station has provided to them which provides the stream from the server used by that station.
Internet radio stations sometimes change the URL they use, and if they fail to inform vTuner, you will be directed to the old URL and you will get silence.

If vTuner ceased to function I donā€™t know what Naim would do, but with 2nd gen. streamers there is always the option to play them on a portable device (probably the same one you use for the Naim app) and use Airplay or Chomecast to cast it to your streamer.

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Hi Chris and thanks for a reply.

I get jour comments regarding question 1) but once the URL for BBC Radio 3 is in the favourites and it does not change why is Vtuner necessary?

Regarding question 2) simply saying ā€œget your radio from somewhere elseā€ is not an acceptable response and Naim will know that!

Paul

There are other providers of radio services such as the excellent Airable.

However adopting other options would take time and effort for Naim to implement.

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True. And thatā€™s their job as a manufacturer. Itā€™s clear that relying on a single providers has let them and their customers down. Not a great endorsement for a high end provider of streaming equipment!

Not working here this morning.

Nor Working in Hove

Surely not practical to support two providers.

Many suppliers previously suffered a hit with TuneIn Radio (especially in UK) caused by events that were unseen and unexpected, and had to then seek alternatives.

Exactly my point, a statement level system is dead over this situation
Martin

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Yep not working again, not great in the holiday season with the rain beating down. Was looking fwd to listening all day inside with the log burner gping. Thanks for making sure that doesnā€™t happen!

Actually the recovery position is very simple. Just build in the ability for the user to directly enter the URL of the radio station via the Naim app. There are many ways to find URLs should Naim not choose to provide a utility themselves. Indeed if owners are looking for a station and need help there are those of us on this forum who would be willing to assist. The situation is only more complicated when station providers such as the BBC restrict access on some arbitrary or commercial basis.

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Surely this is a downside of all internet sourced services?

If the selected provider of that service (vtuner, Tidal, Spotify, X et al) goes down (which it will) or eventually fails/is superseded (which carries some degree of probability given enough time) then the whole service is gone. Either for the duration. Or forever.

Come The Apocalypse itā€™s not internet radio thatā€™s going to be carrying the emergency messagešŸ˜‰

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But has it failed , has it permanently shut down this vtuner or repair it ? Holy God

Itā€™s called redundancy (the dictionary definition, not the pejorative term). Any mission-critical system uses it.

And do you have two different and unique power supplies to your home?
Maybe you have installed a generator.

Surely more mission-critical than a radio provider!

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Apocalypse found in a book dreamed up in old times.

some of you seem to live in a first generation streaming world. It is anoying but even to my qb I can get the same radio stations using airplay. Vtuner has something to explain to their customers meaning Naim and other companies that pay for what they claim is a fantastic service.

Santapocalypse perhaps?

The radio providers service is its mission. Therefore, itā€™s mission-critical for them.

Personally, I donā€™t give a ratā€™s you-know-what if vTuner goes down temporarily, but it reflects very poorly on their business professionalism.

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No Radio streaming for the past 3 days in Scotland UK. Very frustrating. Any ideas?