Extension 'm3u'? iTunes Playlist? Whatizzit?

709709
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I've found an online radio site that I'm interested in listening to. Trouble is, when I click any of the streams, it downloads a file to my desktop with the extension 'm3u'. The icon shows as an iTunes playlist, but when I open it in iTunes (4.0.1) nothing happens.



The site made some mention of WinAmp on the front page. Is this a WinAmp file? If so, is there any way to play a WinAmp stream on a Mac?



Thanks for any help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    rhoqrhoq Posts: 190member
    .m3u is the common extension for streaming audio - such as on-line radio webcasts.



    iTunes connects to streams very well. If it wouldn't connect, there migth have been a problem with the actual stream.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Hmm. Curious. I'll poke around a little more and see if it's just that one site. Thanks for the info.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I thought m3u was also the extension of a Winamp playlist in general, not sure though.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    rhoqrhoq Posts: 190member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    I thought m3u was also the extension of a Winamp playlist in general, not sure though.



    It's possible, afterall - everything seems to be coded with PCs in mind, but I have never had a problem with SoundJam & iTunes in MacOS 9 or iTunes in MacOS-X playing streams from a .m3u playlist file.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    .m3u just means 'playlist'. It can be a playlist consisting of streaming mp3 sites, or local files. Open it up in BBedit (or Textedit) too see the format.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Post the link here and we'll see if it works for others.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Good idea torifile.



    Here's the link to the first radio stream:



    http://www.soulwax.com/radio/playlists/radio01_high.m3u
  • Reply 8 of 14
    vandewaalsvandewaals Posts: 450member
    Hmm...weird.



    It dl's as an iTunes playlist for me too. When I click on it after, iTunes opens and the radio station is added to my Library, but it doesn't play. Even double clicking on it in the Library is useless. Perhaps the stream IS broken somehow?
  • Reply 9 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by VanDeWaals

    Hmm...weird.



    It dl's as an iTunes playlist for me too. When I click on it after, iTunes opens and the radio station is added to my Library, but it doesn't play. Even double clicking on it in the Library is useless. Perhaps the stream IS broken somehow?



    Same here. Strange. The playlists that I've got that work are .pls files. somafm.com and wunc.org's playlists both work fine and give me all the track info. I'll try it on a PC and see if the .m3u file works.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Well, it doesn't work on a PC either. Using musicmatch jukebox it does the same thing as iTunes: just show up in a playlist and playing it does nothing. It seems that something is awry with that stream.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    wjmoorewjmoore Posts: 210member
    This is the contents of the m3u file:

    Code:


    #EXTM3U

    #EXTINF:-1,Radio Soulwax - 1 (Powered By URGent)

    http://cleo.rug.ac.be:8000/soulwax-1





    As you can see it is just meta data and an URL (in this case). Putting the above URL in directly gave me a connection refused error so I assume that is why it won't work (on any platform).



    WM
  • Reply 12 of 14
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Try this: www.crossroadsmusicprogram.com
  • Reply 13 of 14
    rhoqrhoq Posts: 190member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by VanDeWaals

    Hmm...weird.



    It dl's as an iTunes playlist for me too. When I click on it after, iTunes opens and the radio station is added to my Library, but it doesn't play. Even double clicking on it in the Library is useless. Perhaps the stream IS broken somehow?



    I just tried to open the stream with WinAMP on my PC at work - it will not connect. The host must not be working properly.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Well damn. I was looking forward to hearing some of their 'live' stuff.



    Big thanks to everyone for their help.
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