Why can't I listen to Radio at higher than 128Kbps?

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Why can't I listen to Radio at higher than 128Kbps?

Does anyone else experience an issue where if you click to listen on any Radio station at 160, 192 or anything higher than 128K then iTunes will just connect to some other random radio station further down in the list at like 32K?

Is there some setting or something keeping me from listening to radio streams at 192kbps?

I'm just using my internal Soundcard on my Mac Pro but I've also tried my Pro Tools HD system thinking the hardware was having trouble. My internet connection can download at 17MBper second! I blaze on the internet but iTunes is slammin me?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10), its the bomb, its goes boooom!

Posted on Jun 23, 2007 9:45 AM

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Answer 1

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Jun 23, 2007 10:29 AM in response to acoustics

Does anyone else experience an issue where if you
click to listen on any Radio station at 160, 192 or
anything higher than 128K then iTunes will just
connect to some other random radio station further
down in the list at like 32K?

Is there some setting or something keeping me from
listening to radio streams at 192kbps?

I'm just using my internal Soundcard on my Mac Pro
but I've also tried my Pro Tools HD system thinking
the hardware was having trouble. My internet
connection can download at 17MBper second! I blaze on
the internet but iTunes is slammin me?

The stream bitrate is set by the server (eg radio "station")... YOU can't change it.

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Answer 2

acoustics Author

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Jun 23, 2007 10:31 AM in response to 0Ari0

Um, sure. I got that.

But why can't "I" listen to it then? That was my question. There are stations in iTunes radio that are above 128kbps... so one would assume that one could listen to them. But when I click on it, iTunes just buffers up some other lower bitrate station at random.

Are you able to listen to higher than 128kbps stations? And if so, have you heard of what I'm describing?

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Answer 3

acoustics Author

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Jun 23, 2007 10:33 AM in response to 0Ari0

I do Pro Audio for a living, so I know the difference between bit depth, sample rates, etc. But I should be able to listen to any sample rate I choose as long as my internet speed can buffer those samples up right??

That seems to not be the case here.

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Answer 4

acoustics Author

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Jun 23, 2007 10:48 AM in response to 0Ari0

Just to be clear.

I'm not trying to change anything. I'm trying to connect to any radio station at all, that streams at kpbs higher than 128kbps.

Say if I choose "classic rock". I double click a station that is at 192kpbs. It says buffering like it's about to connect to it. Then crappy sounds comes out and I look and it iTunes instead connected me to a 64kpbs or a 32kpbs stream further down the rock list. Happens everytime.

BUT if I choose 32, 64, 128kpbs it never happens. It buffers up the correct station and plays for hours with no glitches or problems.

The speed of my connection is not the issue. But has something to do with iTunes not wanting to work with a high kbps.

What issues would cause this to happen? Or where can I look for troubleshooting help on this? Thanks in advance.

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Answer 5

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Jun 23, 2007 12:14 PM in response to acoustics

Just to be clear.

I'm not trying to change anything. I'm trying to
connect to any radio station at all, that streams at
kpbs higher than 128kbps.

Say if I choose "classic rock". I double click a
station that is at 192kpbs. It says buffering like
it's about to connect to it. Then crappy sounds
comes out and I look and it iTunes instead connected
me to a 64kpbs or a 32kpbs stream further down the
rock list. Happens everytime.

I just tried this with L9 192kbps and it worked fine.
Same with Electra Radio (Rock) and Frequence Metz...

I'm using iTunes 7.2 and a 1.5mbps down DSL connection.

One thing that might cause this is the streaming buffer size set in preferences>advanced>general, mine is set to "medium"

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Answer 6

acoustics Author

Level 1

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Jun 23, 2007 12:28 PM in response to 0Ari0

Hmm, thanks for your assistance. I toggled that and still got the same issue on the stations that I've been trying.

BUT I did notice. That when I'm chosing 192kbps, say Hip Hop > "Earthbound Radio" then it'll buffer it and then playback "earthbound radio" but it'll drop down in the kbps radio station list, further down at 96kbps or 32kbps but the same radio station name (I didn't notice that earlier) and then the 192 version of that same radio station disappears? But I did get iTunes to FINALLY connect 192 to a few of the electronic stations! woo hoo.
Soo, I don't know if just some of the stations are appearing to my machine at 192kbps when they are in fact not. And when I click on them their true kbps are revealed, lol

ANYWAYS I finally connected 192 for the first time. Don't know if it was the buffer size change or just that I tried every 192 station I could find helped that? THANKS.

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Answer 7

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Jun 23, 2007 12:58 PM in response to acoustics

ANYWAYS I finally connected 192 for the first time.
Don't know if it was the buffer size change or just
that I tried every 192 station I could find helped
that? THANKS.

The "stream buffer size" relates inversely with the connection speed, thus a slow connection uses a larger buffer than a faster connection... yours would be best set to "small"

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