Name¶

pyradio - a curses Internet radio player.

Synopsis¶

pyradio [OPTIONS]

Description¶

PyRadio is a command line Internet Radio Player based on curses, that uses external media players to perform the actual playback.

It currently supports the following players: MPV, MPlayer and VLC.

Options¶

-s, --stations [STATIONS]

Use specified station CSV file.

-p, --play <PLAY>

Play station number <PLAY>. Select randome station if <PLAY> not specified.

-u, --use-player [USE_PLAYER]

Specify which player to use (mpv, mplayer or vlc). A comma-separated list of players can be givven, thus specifying detection order.

-a, --add

Add station to list.

-ls, --list-playlists

List of available playlists in config dir.

-l, --list

List of available stations in a playlist.

-t THEME, --theme THEME

Use specified THEME.

-scd,--show-config-dir

Print config directory ([CONFIG DIR]) location and exit.

-ocd,--open-config-dir

Open config directory ([CONFIG DIR]) with default file manager.

-ep EXTRA_PLAYER_PARAMETERS, --extra_player_parameters EXTRA_PLAYER_PARAMETERS

Provide extra player parameters as a string. For more information, refer to the EXTRA PLAYER PARAMETERS section.

-ap ACTIVE_PLAYER_PARAM_ID, --active-player-param-id ACTIVE_PLAYER_PARAM_ID

Specify the extra player parameter set to be used with the default player. ACTIVE_PLAYER_PARAM_ID is 1-11.

-lp

List extra players parameters.

-U

Update PyRadio.

--user

Install only for current user (linux only).

-R

Uninstall PyRadio.

--unlock

Remove sessions' lock file.

-d, --debug

Enable DEBUG MODE.

-h, --help

Show usage information and exit.

The following options can also be set in PyRadio’s configuration file:

-s

parameter default_playlist (default value: stations)

-p

parameter default_station (default value: -1)

-u

parameter player (default value: mpv, mplayer, vlc)

Controls¶

Up/Down/PgUp/PgDown

Change station selection

j/k

Change station selection (vi-like)

Enter/Right/l

Play selected station

r

Select and play a random station

Space/Left/h

Stop/start playing selected station

P

Jump to playing station

H M L

Jump to top / middle / bottom of screen

g

Jump to the start of the playlist

<n>G

Jump to the end of the playlist
If <n> (line number) was entered, jump to it

-/+ or ,/.

Change volume

m

Mute

v

Save volume (MPV and MPlayer only)

o s R

Open / Save / Reload playlist

a A

Add / append a new station

e

Edit current station

E

Change current station's encoding

DEL,x

Delete selected station

J

Create a Jump tag

<n>^U,<n>^D

Move current station up / down
If <n> (line number) was entered, or a Jump tag has been defined, move the station there

t

Open the Theme Selection window

T

Toggle background transparency

c

Open the Configuration window

' \\y

Get into Registers, Extra Commands, Yank mode, respectively

z

Toggle "Force http connections"

Z

Display the "Extra Player Parameters" window.

?

Show keys help

Esc/q

Quit

The same logic applies to all PyRadio windows.

Note:

All windows - except the Search window - support changing the volume and muting / unmuting the player (provided that PyRadio is actually connected to a station).

Note:

When inserting numbers (either to jump to a station or to move a station), the number will be displayed at the right bottom corner of the window, suffixed by a "G", i.e. pressing 35 will display [35G].

Note:

When tagging a station position for a move action (by pressing "J"), the position will be displayed at the right bottom corner of the window, suffixed by a "J", i.e. pressing "J" on position 35 will display [35J].

Pyradio's Modes¶

PyRadio has the following primary modes:

A set of secondary modes is also available (a secondary mode works within a primary one):

The functions availabe through the secondary modes are content dependant, so you can see what command is available by pressing "?" while within such a mode. Pressing any other key will exit the secondary mode.

Config File¶

PyRadio upon its execution tries to read its configuration file (i.e. ~/.config/pyradio/config). If this file is not found, it will be created. If an error occurs while parsing it, an error message will be displayed and PyRadio will terminate.

The file contains parameters such as the player to use, the playlist to load etc. It is heavily commented, so that manual editing is really easy. The best practice to manually edit this file is executing PyRadio with the -ocd command line option, which will open the configuration directory in your file manager, and then edit it using your preferable text editor.

The file can also be altered while PyRadio is running, by pressing "c", which will open the "Configuration window". This window presents all PyRadio options and provide the way to change them and finally save them by pressing "s".

In any case, PyRadio will save the file before exiting (or in case Ctrl-C is pressed) if needed (e.g. if a config parameter has been changed during its execution).

If saving the configuration file fails, PyRadio will create a back up file and terminate. When restarted, PyRadio will try to restore previously used settings from the said back up file.

About Playlist Files¶

PyRadio reads the stations to use from a CSV file, where each line contains two columns, the first being the station name and the second being the stream URL.

Optionally, a third column can be inserted, stating the encoding used by the station (more on this at SPECIFYING STATIONS' ENCODING).

PyRadio will by default load the user's stations file (e.g. ~/.config/pyradio/stations.csv). If this file is not found, it will be created and populated with a default set of stations.

Tip:

If you already have a custom stations.csv file, but want to update it with PyRadio's default one, you just rename it, run PyRadio (so that the default one get created) and then merge the two files.

Note:

Older versions used to use ~/.pyradio as default stations file. If this file is found, it will be copied to use's config directory (e.g. ~/.config/pyradio) and renamed to stations.csv or if this file exists, to pyradio.csv. In this case, this file will be the default one.

Specifying a playlist to load (command line)

PyRadio will normally load its default playlist file, as described above, upon its execution. A different file can be loaded when the -s command line option is used.

The -s option will accept:

* a relative or absolute file name.

* the name of a playlist file which is already in its configuration directory.

* the number of a playlist file, as provided by the -ls command line option.

Examples:

To load a playlist called "blues.csv", one would use the command:

Managing Playlists (within Pyradio)

Once PyRadio has been loaded, one can perform a series of actions on the current playlist and set of playlists saved in its configuration directory.

Currently, the following actions are available:

Pressing "a" or "A" will enable you to add a new station (either below the currently selected station or at the end of the list), while "e" will edit the currently selected station. All of these actions will open the "Station editor".

If you just want to change the encoding of the selected station, just press "E". If the station is currently playing, playback will be restarted so that the encoding's change takes effect (hopefully correctly displaying the station/song title).

Then, when this is done, you can either save the modified playlist, by pressing "s", or reload the playlist from disk, by pressing "R". A modified playlist will automatically be saved when PyRadio exits (or Ctrl-C is pressed).

One thing you may also want to do is remove a station from a playlist, e.g. when found that it not longer works. You can do that by pressing "DEL" or "x".

Finally, opening another playlist is also possible. Just press "o" and you will be presented with a list of saved playists to choose from. These playlists must be saved beforehand in PyRadio's configuration directory.

While executing any of the previous actions, you may get confirmation messages (when opening a playlist while the current one is modified but not saved, for example) or error messages (when an action fails). Just follow the on screen information, keeping in mind that a capital letter as an answer will save this answer in PyRadio's configuration file for future reference.

Managing “Foreign” Playlists

A playlist that does not reside within the program’s configuration directory is considered a "foreign" playlist. This playlist can only be opened by the -s command line option.

When this happens, PyRadio will offer you the choise to copy the playlist in its configuration directory, thus making it available for manipulation within the program.

If a playlist of the same name already exists in the configuration directory, the "foreign" playlist will be time-stamped. For example, if a "foreign" playlist is named "stations.csv", it will be named "2019-01-11_13-35-47_stations.csv" (provided that the action was taked on January 11, 2019 at 13:35:47).

Playlist History

PyRadio will keep a history of all the playlists opened (within a given session), so that navigating between them is made easy.

In order to go back to the previous playlist, the user just has to press "\\" (double backslash). To get to the first playlist "\]" (backslash - closing square bracket) can be used.

Going forward in history is not supported.

Search Function¶

On any window presenting a list of items (stations, playlists, themes) a search function is available by pressing "/".

The Search Window supports normal and extend editing and in session history.

One can always get help by pressing the "?" key.

After a search term has been successfully found (search is case insensitive), next occurrence can be obtained using the "n" key and previous occurrence can be obtained using the "N" key.

Line Editor¶

PyRadio "Search function" and "Station editor" use a Line editor to permit typing and editing stations' data.

The Line editor works both on Python 2 and Python 3, but does not provide the same functionality for both versions:

One can always display help by pressing "?", but that pauses a drawback; one cannot actually have a "?" withing the string.

To do that, one would have to use the backslash key "\" and then press "?".

To sum it all up:

1. Press "?" to get help.

2. Press "\?" to get a "?".

3. Press "\\" to get a "\".

When in Station editor, the Line editor recognizes an extra mode: Paste mode.

This mode is enabled by pressing "\p" and gets automatically disabled when the focus moves off the line editors.

This mode is designed to directly accept the "?" and "\" characters (which are normally used as commands indicators). This makes it possible to easily paste a station's name and URL, especially when the "?" and "\" characters exist in them; it is very common to have them in URLs.

CJK Characters Support

The Line editor supports the insertion of CJK Unified Ideographs [1], as described on CJK Unified Ideographs (Unicode block) [2], also known as URO, abbreviation of Unified Repertoire and Ordering. These characters, although encoded as a single code-poin (character), actually take up a 2-character space, when rendered on the terminal.

A depiction of the editor's behavior can be seen at this image:

https://members.hellug.gr/sng/pyradio/pyradio-editor.jpg

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_Unified_Ideographs_(Unicode_block)

Moving Stations Around¶

Rearranging the order of the stations in the playlist is another feature PyRadio offers.

All you have to do is specify the source station (the station to be moved) and the position it will be moved to (target).

There are three way to do that:

Specifying Stations' Encoding¶

Normally, stations provide information about their status (including the title of the song playing, which PyRadio displays) in Unicode (utf-8 encoded). Therefore, PyRadio will use utf-8 to decode such data, by default.

In an ideal world that would be the case for all stations and everything would be ok and as far as PyRadio is concerned, songs' titles would be correctly displayed. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

A lot of stations encode and transmit data in a different encoding (typically the encoding used at the region the come from). The result in PyRadio would be that a song title would be incorrectly displayed, not displayed at all, or trying to displaying it might even break PyRadio's layout.

Note

vlc will not work in this case; it presumably tries to decode the said data beforehand, probably using utf-8 by default, and when it fails, it provides a "(null)" string, instead of the actual data. So, you'd better not use vlc if such stations are in your playlists.

PyRadio addresses this issue by allowing the user to declare the encoding to use either in a station by station mode or globally.

Station By Station Encoding Declaration

As previously stated, a PyRadio's playlist can optionally contain a third column (in addition to the station name and station URL columns), which declares the station's encoding.

So, when a non-utf-8 encoded station is inserted in a playlist, its encoding can also be declared along with its other data. The drawback of this feature is that an encoding must be declared for all stations (so that the CSV file structure remains valid). To put it simple, since one station comprises the third column, all stations must do so as well.

This may seem intimidating (and difficult to achieve), but it's actually really simple; just add a "," character at the end of the line of each station that uses the default encoding. In this way, all stations comprise the third column (either by declaring an actual encoding or leaving it empty).

Example:

Suppose we have a playlist with one utf-8 encoded station:

Station1,Station1_URL

Now we want to add "Station2" which is iso-8859-7 (Greek) encoded.

Since we know all stations must comprise the third (encoding) column, we add it to the existing station:

Station1,Station1_URL,

This way we add an empty encoding, forcing

Finally, we insert the new station to the playlist:

Station1,Station1_URL,
Station2,Station2_URL,iso-8859-7

Note

Using the -a command line option will save you all this trouble, as it will automatically take care of creating a valid CSV file. Alternatively, you can change the selected station's encoding by pressing "E" while in PyRadio.

Global Encoding Declaration

PyRadio's configuration file contains the parameter default_encoding, which by default is set to utf-8.

Setting this parameter to a different encoding, will permit PyRadio to successfully decode such stations.

This would be useful in the case where most of your stations do not use utf-8. Instead of editing the playlist and add the encoding to each and every affected station, you just set it globally.

Finding The Right Encoding

A valid encoding list can be found at:

https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings

replacing 2.7 with specific version: 3.0 up to current python version.

Player Detection / Selection¶

PyRadio is basically built around the existence of a valid media player it can use. Thus, it will auto detect the existence of its supported players upon its execution.

Currently, it supports MPV, MPlayer and VLC, and it will look for them in that order. If none of them is found, the program will terminate with an error.

Users can alter this default behavior by using the -u command line option. This option will permit the user either to specify the player to use, or change the detection order.

Example:

pyradio -u vlc

will instruct PyRadio to use VLC; if it is not found, the program will terminate with an error.

pyradio -u vlc,mplayer,mpv

will instruct PyRadio to look for VLC, then MPlayer and finaly for MPV and use whichever it finds first; if none is found, the program will terminate with an error.

Note

The default player to use can also be set in PyRadio’s configuration file, parameter player (default value is mpv, mplayer, vlc).

Extra Player Parameters¶

All three supported players can accept a significant number of "command line parameters", which are well documented and accessible through man pages (on linux and macOs) or the documentation (on Windows).

PyRadio uses some of these parameters in order to execute and communicate with the players. In particular, the following parameters are in use by default:

Note

The user should not use or change the above player parameters. Failing to do so, may render the player unusable.

PyRadio provides a way for the user to add extra parameters to the player, either by a command line parameter, or the "Configuration Window" (under "Player:").

This way, 10 sets of parameters can be inserted and made available for selection.

Using The Command Line

When the command line parameter (-epp or -extra_player_parameters) is used, the parameters specified must be of a specific format, and will be added to the list of parameters and made default for the player for the current session.

The format of the parameter is the following: [player_name:parameters].

Where:

Example:

pyradio -epp "vlc:--force-dolby-surround 2"

Note

When a parameter is passed to mpv or mplayer, PyRadio will use the default player profile (called PyRadio).

For mpv and mplayer a profile can be specified (vlc does not support profiles). In this case the format of the parameters part of the command line is: [profile:profile_name].

Where:

Example:

pyradio -epp "mpv:profile:second_sound_card"

Using The Configuration Window

When the user uses the configuration window (shown in the following image), he is presented with an interface which will permit him to select the player to use with PyRadio and edit its extra parameters.

[pyradio-player-selection.jpg](https://members.hellug.gr/sng/pyradio/pyradio-player-selection.jpg)

Each of the supported players can have up to 11 sets of extra parameters (the first one is the default).

The user can add ("a") a new parameter, edit ("e") an existing set and delete ("x" or "DEL") one.

Changing Parameters' Set

When all desired parameter sets are already defined, using the -ap (--active-player-param-id) command line parameter can activate the set that corresponds to the number specified. The number to use for any given set can be retrieved using the -lp (--list-player-parameters) command line parameter.

While PyRadio is running, the user can change the parameters' set used by the player using the "Player Extra Parameters" window, by pressing "Z".

If playback is on, changing the player's parameters will make the player restart the playback so that the new parameters is used.

Note

Any changes made this way will not be saved but will be in effect until PyRadio terminates.

Player Connection Protocol¶

Most radio stations use plain old http protocol to broadcast, but some of them use https.

Experience has shown that playing a https radio station depends on the combination of the station's configuration and the player used.

If such a station fails to play, one might as well try to use http protocol to connect to it.

PyRadio provides a way to instruct the player used to do so; the "Force http connections" configuration parameter. If it is False (the default), the player will use whatever protocol the station proposes (either http or https). When changed to True, all connections will use the http protocol.

When the selected player is initialized (at program startup), it reads this configuration parameter and acts accordingly.

If the parameter has to be changed mid-session (without restarting the program), one would press "z" to display the "Connection Type" window, where the parameter's value can be set as desired.

Note

Changes made using the "Connection Type" window are not stored; next time the program is executed, it will use whatever value the configuration parameter holds. Furthermore, changing the configuration stored value, will not affect the "working" value of the parameter.

Player Default Volume Level¶

MPV and MPlayer, when started, use their saved (or default) volume level to play any multimedia content. Fortunately, this is not the case with VLC.

This introduces a problem to PyRadio: every time a user plays a station (i.e restarts playback), even though he may have already set the volume to a desired level, the playback starts at the player's default level.

The way to come around it, is to save the desired volume level in a way that it will be used by the player whenever it is restarted.

This is done by typing "v" right after setting a desired volume level.

MPV

MPV uses profiles to customize its behavior.

PyRadio defines a profile called "[pyradio]" in MPV's configuration file (e.g. ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf). This profile will be used every time playback is started.

Example:

volume=100

[pyradio]
volume=50

MPlayer

MPlayer uses profiles to customize its behavior as well.

PyRadio defines a profile called "[pyradio]" in MPV's configuration file (e.g. ~/.mplayer/config). This profile will be used every time playback is started.

Example:

volume=100

[pyradio]
volstep=1
softvol=1
softvol-max=300
volstep=1
volume=50

Note:

Starting with pyradioR v. 0.8.9, mplayer's default profile will use its internal mixer to adjust its volume; this is accompliced using the "softvol=1" and "softvol-max=300" lines above. The user may choose to remove these lines from the config (to activate system-wide volume adjustment) or add them to the config (in case the profile was created by an older PyRadio version).

Displaying Station Info¶

When a connection to a radio station has been established, the station starts sending audio data for the user to listen to.

Well, that's obvious, right?

Yes, but this is just half of the story.

The station actually also sends identification data, audio format data, notifications, etc. Part of this non-audio data transmitted by a station is the title of the song currently playing; this is why we can have this data displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Now, not all stations send the whole set of data; most send their name, website, genre and bitrate, for example, but some may ommit the website or the genre.

PyRadio can receive, decode and display this data, and even help the user to identify an unknown station. This is the way to do it:

After a connection to a station has been established (after playback has started), just press "i" to display the station's info.

The window that appears includes the "Playlist Name" (the station name we have in the playlist) and the "Reported Name" (the name the station transmitted to us) among other fields (an example can be seen here: https://members.hellug.gr/sng/pyradio/pyradio-station-info.jpg . If these two names are not identical, the user can press "r" to rename the station in the playlist using the "Reported Name". This way an unknown station (when only the URL is known) can be correctly identified (after being inserted in a playlist with a dummy station name).

Copying And Pasting - Registers¶

PyRadio takes the concept of registers from ivim (https://www.vim.org), and adapts their function to its own needs. So this is how it all works.

There are 36 named registers (name is a-z, 0-9) and one unnamed register.

Named registers

are actually files that contain stations and can be opened and edited as regular playlist files. There are some differences in handling them: they are accessible either individually or using a special window, they are automatically saved, and writing errors are ignored. The later means that registers should not be regarded as normal playlist files that can be safely saved and used forever; this is true as long as there's no problem with writing to them; if a writing error occurs they may get overwritten or emptied. To permanently save a register, on would rename it to a normal playlist file.

The unnamed register

holds just one station (the one that has been copied or added to a register or deleted from a playlist), and it is the one used when pasting to a register or a playlist. One can see its contents by pressing "\u".

To copy a station to a register one would press "y" and:

To clear a named register, one would press "\c" either in the "Registers window" or while editing the register.

To clear all registers, one would press "\C" either in the "Registers window" or while editing a playlist or a register.

To paste the unnamed register to a playlist or register, one would press:

Pyradio Themes¶

PyRadio comes with 6 preconfigured (hard coded) themes:

dark (8 color theme)

This is the appearance PyRadio has always had. Enabled by default.

light (8 color theme)

A theme for light terminal background settings.

dark_16_colors (16 color theme)

dark theme alternative.

light_16_colors (16 color theme)

light theme alternative.

white_on_black or wob (256 color b&w theme)

A theme for dark terminal background settings.

black_on_white or bow (256 color b&w theme)

A theme for light terminal background settings.

Furthermore, three 256-color system themes (these are actual files saved in the themes installation directory) are also available: brown_by_sng, pink_by_sng and purple_by_sng.

The visual result of an applied theme greatly depends on the terminal settings (e.g. foreground and background color settings, palette used, number of colors supported, real or pseudo-transparency support, etc.)

Pressing "t" will bring up the Theme selection window, which can be used to activate a theme and set the default one.

Note

Themes that use more colors than those supported by the terminal in use, will not be present in the Theme selection window. Furthermore, if a such a theme is set as default (or requested using the "-t" command line option), PyRadio will fall-back to the "dark" theme, (or the "light" theme, if the terminal supports 8 colors and default theme is set to "light_16_colors"), and will display a relevant messages at program startup.

The Theme selection window will remain open after activating a theme, so that the user can inspect the visual result and easily change it, if desired. Then, when he is satisfied with the activated theme, the window will have to be manually closed (by pressing "q" or any other relevant key - pressing "?" will bring up its help).

The use of custom themes and theme editing is not implemented yet; theses are features for future releases.

Using Transparency

PyRadio themes are able to be used with a transparent background.

Pressing "T" will toggle the transparency setting (it is off by default) and save this state in PyRadio's configuration file.

Setting transparency on, will actually force PyRadio to not use its own background color, effectively making it to display whatever is on the terminal (color/picture/transparency). The visual result depends on terminal settings and whether a compositor is running.

When the Theme selection window is visible, a "[T]" string displayed at its bottom right corner will indicate that transparency is on.

Mouse Support¶

Being a console application, PyRadio was never intended to work with a mouse.

Furthermore, when using the mouse on a console application, the result is highly dependent on the terminal used and the way it implements mouse support.

Having said that, and since the question of using the mouse with PyRadio has been risen, basic mouse support has been implemented; starting, stopping and muting the player, scrolling within the playlist and adjusting the player's volume is now possible using the mouse.

All one has to do is enable mouse support in the "Config Window" (mouse support is disabled by default) and restart PyRadio for the change to take effect.

Then, the mouse can be used as follows:

Online Radio Directory Services¶

PyRadio supports the following Online Radio Directory services:

RadioBrowser - https://www.radio-browser.info/

This is a community driven effort (like wikipedia) with the aim of collecting as many internet radio and TV stations as possible.

For more information please refer to the relevant man page: pyradio_rb(1).

To access supported services, just press "O" at the program's main window.

Session Locking¶

PyRadio uses session locking, which actually means that only the first instance executed within a given session will be able to write to the configuration file.

Subsequent instances will be "locked. This means that the user can still play stations, load and edit playlists, load and test themes, but any changes will not be recorded in the configuration file.

Session unlocking

If for any reason PyRadio always starts in locked mode, one can unclock the session, using the "--unlock" command line paremater.

Update Notification¶

PyRadio will periodically (once every 10 days) check whether a new version has been released.

If so, a notification message will be displayed, informing the user about it and asking to proceed with updating the program (provided this is not a distribution package).

Cleaning Up¶

PyRadio will uninstall all previously installed versions when updated (using the -U command line parameter), so no extra steps are needed any more to house keep your system.

Debug Mode¶

Adding the -d option to the command line will instruct PyRadio to enter Debug mode, which means that it will print debug messages to a file. This file will always reside in the user's home directory and will be named pyradio.log.

In case of a bug or a glitch, please include this file to the issue you will open in github at <https://github.com/coderholic/pyradio/issues>

Reporting Bugs¶

When a bug is found, please do report it by opening an issue at github at <https://github.com/coderholic/pyradio/issues>, as already stated above.

In you report you should, at the very least, state your pyradio version, python version and method of installation (built from source, AUR, snap, whatever).

It would be really useful to include ~/pyradio.log in your report.

To create it, enter the following commands in a terminal:

$ rm ~/pyradio.log
$ pyradio -d

Then try to reproduce the bug and exit pyradio.

Finally, include the file produced in your report.

Acknowlegement¶

PyRadio uses code from the following projects:

Files¶

/usr/share/doc/pyradio/README.md

/usr/share/doc/pyradio/README.html

/usr/share/doc/pyradio/build.md

/usr/share/doc/pyradio/build.html

/usr/share/licenses/pyradio/LICENSE

Note:

On Mac OS, these file may be installed in /usr/local/share/doc/pyradio, depending on whether or not SIP is enabled.

Authors¶

Ben Dowling <https://github.com/coderholic>, (Origianl author)

Kirill Klenov <https://github.com/klen>, (2012)

Laurent Stacul <https://github.com/stac47>, (2013)

Peter Stevenson (2E0PGS) <https://github.com/2E0PGS>, (2018)

Spiros Georgaras <https://github.com/s-n-g>, (2018-2021)

You can see a complete list of contributors at
https://github.com/coderholic/pyradio/graphs/contributors

See also¶

pyradio_rb(1)