Internet radio player

[bitwise]

My very old notebook, which i use to listen to internet radios, is leaving me.

As a replacement, i cannot buy another notebook just for that purpose. I was thinking of something small and compact.


Raspberry Pi is an idea because it seems to be easily available. The drawbacks are that it has no power off button and no touchscreen. I know they can be added, but i would like something that can be easily replaced: adding an external button and a TFT would be a hack from this point of view. Also, a flying button, a (more or less) flying screen and a flying power adapter is not what makes it compact.

I was thinking of something like Pipo X8, but i don't know much about it and i don't think it's easily available (in a shop, i mean) and it's not as cheap as Rasperry Pi.

A smartpad could be it, but the radio can be on 24 hours a day, so it has to be powered by mains and an RJ45 is also required.

I don't think there's a solution without compromises to this, but i posted this anyway just to see if there could be other approaches which i didn't consider.

[arkmabat]

You want a dedicated device for listening to radio streams and it must be hardwired to the internet. Am I understanding correctly? I don't have any good suggestions but I'm trying to clarify what's you're seeking for others reading.

[bitwise]

You want a dedicated device for listening to radio streams and it must be hardwired to the internet. Am I understanding correctly? I don't have any good suggestions but I'm trying to clarify what's you're seeking for others reading.

Yes, a hardwired dedicated device. But more precisely i want to "dedicate" a "commonly available" device to radio listening, so that if it breaks i can replace it without much ado.

[chk071]

Why not an old Android smartphone? No wi-fi?

[whyterabbyt]

why not an android media player plugged in to your TV? £30.

[bitwise]

Why not an old Android smartphone? No wi-fi?

Because of the battery, you can't run a smartphone continuously for long periods and even if you could, i don't know how long it would last before melting.

Currently i'm thinking of using an Android device only as a bluetooth remote if i can't add a touchscreen.

[chk071]

You could just leave the charger plugged in. Or plug it in if the battery is low.

The pros would be a very small device, it's portable, and you can either run internet radios in the browser, or in mobile apps, if ther are any for your radio stations.

A relative uses old smartphones as internet radios.

[bitwise]

why not an android media player plugged in to your TV? £30.

I have considered media players, but i cannot connect them to the TV. I need them to be independent and compact like a radio set.

[bitwise]

You could just leave the charger plugged in. Or plug it in if the battery is low.

The pros would be a very small device, it's portable, and you can either run internet radios in the browser, or in mobile apps, if ther are any for your radio stations.

A relative uses old smartphones as internet radios.

I'm afraid they can't last too long, due to a continuous use. Also it's only wi-fi. There are adapters ok, but you never know if they work with your mobile. This "plug and pray" issue moves away from the "common availability" requirement.

[whyterabbyt]

why not an android media player plugged in to your TV? £30.

I have considered media players, but i cannot connect them to the TV. I need them to be independent and compact like a radio set.

You dont need to leave it connected to the TV, that'd just be if you need to use the UI. You said it can be on 24 hours a day, not that you needed a screen 24 hours a day...

[BertKoor]

Old mobile phone (android) is the most obvious choice. No adapter required. Connect the headphone 3.5mm stereo jack with a cable that has RCA on the other side to your hifi. Works well even with a broken screen. The only other thing in a phone that fails over time is the battery. Just connect to the charger, and that is no issue as well.

[bitwise]

You dont need to leave it connected to the TV, that'd just be if you need to use the UI. You said it can be on 24 hours a day, not that you needed a screen 24 hours a day...

I can control the radio remotely (it's a server too) so, during the day, the touch screen is usually not needed. But the "radio" is plugged into the wall socket and into the speakers and is not (might not be) close to the TV set, so they cannot meet.

[bitwise]

Old mobile phone (android) is the most obvious choice. No adapter required. Connect the headphone 3.5mm stereo jack with a cable that has RCA on the other side to your hifi. Works well even with a broken screen. The only other thing in a phone that fails over time is the battery. Just connect to the charger, and that is no issue as well.

I'm talking about an ethernet port, i don't know if old android phones have one.

[BertKoor]

I'm talking about an ethernet port, i don't know if old android phones have one.

No, they only have wifi. It does not need much bandwidth. Radio is something like 128 kilo-bits per second (12 kilo bytes per second) while bad wifi gives you at least 5 mega bits per second (5000 kbps, so enough for hundreds of parallel streams)

So what's actually the issue, apart from it's a different setup than the old notebook?

[bitwise]

I'm talking about an ethernet port, i don't know if old android phones have one.

No, they only have wifi. It does not need much bandwidth. Radio is something like 128 kilo-bits per second (12 kilo bytes per second) while bad wifi gives you at least 5 mega bits per second (5000 kbps, so enough for hundreds of parallel streams)

So what's actually the issue, apart from it's a different setup than the old notebook?

My fault, but i'm one of those that "If i could avoid wifi waves, i willingly would". In this case, since i can choose, i would choose to do without, expecially because they would be active 24 hours a day.

But can you keep a player running on a mobile continuously without burning it?