<page	xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
	type="guide"
	id="config_apps">

<info>
	<link type="seealso" xref="index#configuration"/>
	<link type="guide" xref="configuration#apps"/>
	<desc>Common applications to use as players.</desc>
</info>

	<title>Audio players</title>

	<p>On BSD/Linux systems there are a plethora of audio players. In streamtuner2 you can
	<link xref="configuration">configure</link> most of them as target application. Mostly it makes sense to use a single
	application for all audio formats. But at least the */* media type should be handled
	by a generic player, like vlc.</p>

	<table shade="rows" rules="rows cols">
		<tr><td><p><app>Audacious</app></p></td>     <td><p><cmd>audacious</cmd></p></td>  <td><p>audio</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>XMMS2</app></p></td>         <td><p><cmd>xmms2 %m3u</cmd></p></td>      <td><p>audio</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>Amarok</app></p></td>        <td><p><cmd>amarok -l %pls</cmd></p></td>  <td><p>audio</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>Exaile</app></p></td>        <td><p><cmd>exaile</cmd></p></td>     <td><p>audio</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>mplayer</app></p></td>       <td><p><cmd>mplayer %srv</cmd></p></td>    <td><p>console</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>VLC</app></p></td>           <td><p><cmd>vlc %u</cmd></p></td>          <td><p>video</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>Totem</app></p></td>         <td><p><cmd>totem %u</cmd></p></td>        <td><p>video</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p><app>Media Player</app></p></td>  <td><p><cmd>mplayer2.exe %asx</cmd></p></td>  <td><p>Win32</p></td></tr>
	</table>

	<p>Some audio players open a second instance when you actually want to switch radios.
	In this case it's a common workaround to write <code>pkill vlc ; vlc %u</code> instead,
	which ends the previous player process and starts it anew.
        For VLC there's however also the <code>--one-instance</code> option, which sometimes
        works better. (And sometimes not.)</p>

	<p>Some applications, like Rhythmbox or Banshee, are primarily playlist managers, not players,
        and cannot be invoked with a station URL. This makes them less suitable for use with streamtuner2.
        (Same goes for streamtuner2 itself. It's not a player, but just a playlist browser.)</p>

	<section id="placeholders">
	<title>URL placeholders</title>

	<p>Listed audio players get run with a streaming server address (URL).
	These can either be direct MP3/Ogg servers (<var>http://example.org:7843/</var>)
	and sometimes playlist files (<var>http://example.org/listen.pls</var>)
	- depending on the channel directory.</p>

	<p>Most audio players automatically handle any station URLs. Some however
	support just a few formats, or can't handle modern XSPF playlists for
	instance. Which is why you can control this by adding a placeholder
	after the configured application name:</p>

	<table shade="rows" rules="rows cols">
	<thead>	<tr><td><p>Placeholder</p></td><td><p>Alternatives</p></td><td><p>URL/Filename type</p></td></tr> </thead>
		<tr><td><p>%pls</p></td><td><p>%url %u %r</p></td><td><p>Either a remote .pls resource (fastest), or a local .pls file (if converted)</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%m3u</p></td><td><p>%f %g %m</p></td><td><p>Provides a local .m3u file for the streaming station</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%srv</p></td><td><p>%d %s</p></td><td><p>Direct link to first streaming address, e.g. http://72.5.9.33:7500</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%xspf</p></td><td><p>%x</p></td><td><p>Xiph.org shareable playlist format (for modern players)</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%jspf</p></td><td><p>%j</p></td><td><p>JSON playlist format (widely unsupported)</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%asx</p></td><td><p></p></td><td><p>Some obscure Windows playlist format (don't use that)</p></td></tr>
		<tr><td><p>%smil</p></td><td><p></p></td><td><p>Standardized multimedia sequencing lists (which nobody uses either)</p></td></tr>
	</table>

        <p>Preferrably use the long %abbr names for configuration. The
        default is <var>%pls</var> if you leave it out. (Most directories
        already provide PLS files, which avoids any extra conversion by ST2
        which sometimes delay playback.)</p>
        
        <p>A few channels (like Jamendo) send custom JSON playlist snippets,
        which no audio player would understand. Which is why they're always
        pre-converted.</p>
        
	<note style="info"><p>Most audio players like %pls, yet sometimes the
	older %m3u format more.  Streamripper requires %srv for recording.</p>

	<p>Use the newer <var>%xspf</var> format if your player supports
	it. This format retains the maximum of station infos (such as
	homepages etc.), and thus often makes for better bookmarking directly
	in your player.</p> </note>

	</section>

</page>
