also got MusicCast on my yamaha streaming amp. probably not the same as yours but can you not just listen through DAB?

Oh, well, I thought, I’ll just go onto BBC Sounds on my Android phone and cast it to the amp. What?!?!?!. That’s changed too. The facility to cast or send it to any other device has been taken away.

*Checks*

No it hasn’t. At least not on my, or MrsIHN’s, Android phones. We use it regularly.

Edit – we cast to Chromecast, fwiw

The Sonos app supports BBC sounds. Don’t know about other set-ups though. If it didn’t I would probably get a DAB tuner as it has to less faff than internet radio.

Idk if this is of any use but I can say “hey google play bbc radio 4/2/6” on the little round thing in the kitchen, and it plays. And I’m *pretty* certain I can make that play via a bluetooth speaker

I have the same issue on Bose SoundTouch which streams BBC via TuneIn. I can use Airplay from the Sounds App, BUT Airplay isn’t supported on stereo pairs, and lack of built-in support also breaks the physical buttons on the SoundTouch that I use to turn the radio on and tune it to one of six presets (old skool but convenient).

Turns out BBC removed / removing content from TuneIn because they weren’t able to glean listener data from the service. And we all know data = £££.

Tossers.

scuttler
Full Member
Turns out BBC removed / removing content from TuneIn because they weren’t able to glean listener data from the service. And we all know data = £££.

This! That said, other internet radios I use (Roberts, some Google one etc) don’t get the “this content is going away” message, which suggests they have complied with the BBC’s requirements. So, as above, it may be Yamaha to blame on this one unfortunately.

The BBC makes all their radio stations available as really high bit rates

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_fourfm.m3u8
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_two.m3u8

I’m listening to these a lot and I don’t get any interuptions. I do use bbc sounds too but sometimes this is just easier using VLC.

Chromecasts I use a lot for bbc radio as well, they aren’t gapless but for radio streams it doens’t matter.

I think your issue is Yamaha MusicCast I’m afraid. It doesn’t look like Yamaha are interested in developing the software to respond to the evolving streaming landscape.

This is an issue across a whole raft of ‘smart’ devises from streaming amps to wifi fridges – manufacturers making no commitment to support them and not being required to. We have a ‘right to repair now’ but an unsupported smart devise isnt ‘broken’.

As a comparison – I buy power tools from a manufacturer noted for being quite a bit more expensive than the rest – one of the reassurances they give is they’ve continue provided spares and repairs back-up for 10 years after the date of last manufacturer (not the date of purchase but from the last day a product comes off the assembly line) . I’ve got stuff I bought nearly 10 years ago that is still in production so even if they cut that line tomorrow they’d still be supported for the next decade.

Which did a survey of smart devises recently and found the majority of manufacturers offer no or next to no commitment to support the devices the sell even though the added features are sold at a considerable premium – Samsung will support its smart tvs for two years – not two years from the date you buy it, not two years from the date of last manufacture – two years from the release date of the devise – so there will be TVs (or frisées, or washing machines, ore various smart and streaming audio gear etc) on shelves in the shops that the manufacturers may already have ceased providing updates and support for – if they ever even offered it.

Or could just buy some speakers, a boring amp and then update how you connect to that

I listen to my internet radio on an amp I prevented from being thrown into a skip 25 years ago

Max BBC sounds streaming rate is 320kbps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/about-bbc-sounds-and-our-policies/codecs-bitrates

Bluetooth aptX codec is 356kbps. So if your bluetooth receiver is relatively modern, you’re lossless from BBC sounds to your amp.

Got a similar message on my Monitor Audio alarm clock radio a few years ago. Cursed myself that I didn’t buy the DAB version just because I lived somewhere without signal at the time.
Anyway, come the deadline I just found BBC listed elsewhere on internet radio.

Hoping that will be the case again as we have a few MusicCast devices. The receiver in the evening room would just need the DAB aerial connecting, but the stand alone soundbar we use in the kitchen would need it Bluetoothing to from an app rather than just a button press on the remote as we currently do which is much simpler. Same again for the stand alone speaker in the craft room.

Didn’t really trust any manufacturer to support stuff for as long as I kept it, so went with the one with consistently good hardware so still got a good media player and sound bar.

Bigdean, I followed instructions like these: not the same, but similar. Solved my signal issues. Well worth a try!

DIY : DAB Antenna

@bluerob sincere thanks!! Never heard of Radioplayer but I’ve now added it as a service in the app, retuned my favourites, and my beloved buttons still work. Let’s hope it has some longevity!

Edit: it’s a BBC partnership so hopefully has legs – https://radioplayer.co.uk/about-radioplayer-uk

I don’t remember having to do anything to add Radioplayer as a service to the SoundTouch app, but once it’s there, select it as a source from the “hamburger” drop-down menu and search for “BBC <whatever>”.

Radioplayer’s site says for Bose “ Add Radioplayer in the Bose app under Music Services, then play any station.”

This all started several years ago for Alexa users. BBC coming off TuneIn, saying you must use the BBC Sounds skill instead. It still doesn’t support multiroom or stereo 👎🏻