iTunes streaming metadata?

Does iTunes support MP3 stream metadata, i.e., displaying the title of the currently-playing song as the songs change? It doesn't seem to on any of the streams I've tried (including the DNA streams) but I don't know if that's a local problem, or if it's just not supported.

(I know that Shoutcast, Icecast 1, and Icecast 2 use three different, incompatible, and stupid metadata formats, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is still a clusterfuck.)

Update: Apparently it works just fine in iTunes with the DNA streams for everyone but me, even if I turn off the Mac's firewall. This proves that my "computer malfunction field" is fully operational on MacOS as well. I had been wondering when that was going to kick in.

Update 2: Apparently it's Privoxy's fault! I forgot that proxy settings are global now, and not just a setting in the web browser. Apparently iTunes runs the HTTP proxy for MP3 streams even though they are neither (technically) HTTP nor on port 80, and -- somehow -- that's causing the metadata to vanish.

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Current Music: some random stream

25 Responses:

  1. pmb says:

    It does for http://Soma.fm . But not for http://kcrw.org . I'm unsure whether that's because of the different stupid metadata formats or because KCRW doesn't put it in.

  2. duskwuff says:

    Yes, iTunes does support stream metadata. In particular, the di.fm streams work, so you might want to try dumping those and see how they're doing it.

    • jwz says:

      Which url in particular is showing metadata for you? I tried one and saw none, after a few minutes. I also tried somafm, same. Do you have your firewall on?

      • jwz says:

        Same thing with firewall off.

        • edibiase says:

          I've definitely seen the metadata change on the AfterhoursDJs.org 192Kbps stream (in the "Radio" source in iTunes under the "Electronica" category). (I think I've seen di.fm streams change, too, but the Afterhours stream is the most recent I've seen.)

      • duskwuff says:

        As a dozen people have noted already, note that you may have to click the display once or twice to get the current song.

        Just to make sure I wasn't insane, I just created a new stream for http://64.236.34.196:80/stream/8022, and the object title changed (to "D I G I T A L L Y ... trippy flavors!"). A second or two later, the status display started showing the current song's title.

  3. uy says:

    I'm listening to Digital Gunfire -- this stream -- and I see the text changing on each track. That's with iTunes 4.8 (31)

  4. bifrosty2k says:

    It works for me with icecast.

    http://209.237.255.250:8000/gabber.mp3.m3u

    I can send you my configs/etc if you want.
    I have iTunes 4.8

  5. kfringe says:

    Works for me with the dna 96 stream. Try clicking on that cute little faux lcd thingee. The top line (where it says something like "dnalounge") does rotate. If it's not rotating fast enough, your click will move it along a notch.

    The dna stream seems to have three different lines of text that get displayed, so plan on more than one click.

    It also works on pretty much every stream that also displays metadata in xmms. Somafm, for example, shows the metadata. KFJC doesn't.

    • jwz says:

      Yeah, when I click I'm still only getting the two lines rotating by, "dnalounge.com" and "http://www.dnalounge.com/audio/". Right now the metadata ought to say "POP ROXX -- Fletcher -- Derek B -- Mike Relm -- Decay -- Shindog". iTunes seems to be version 4.8 (31).

      • voidptr says:

        iTunes 4.8 (31) (Mac OS 10.4) with the DNA Lounge stream (128k) automatically rotates between:

        dnalounge.com
        DNA Lounge: Fri, Jun 17: REMEDY -- David Harness -- Trevor Mijares
        http://www.dnalounge.com/audio

        It flips to the next bit of information about every 9 seconds.

        I am behind a firewall.

        It Just Works. There don't seem to be any interesting settings available in Preferences.

        So, yes, there appears to be support in iTunes, but any number of things could be going wrong in between iTunes and the stream. Good Luck.

        • danomite55 says:

          The 128k stream seems to be working for me too. I see "Fri, Jun 17: REMEDY -- David Harness -- Trevor Mijares...". It seems to spend about 10 seconds on every piece of metadata. Are you waiting at least 20 seconds to get to the current song info?

          • jwz says:

            Yeah, I waited ~2 minutes, clicking and not-clicking. I only get the two lines. And I turned off the firewall before connecting to the stream.

            I'm just lucky, I guess.

            • danomite55 says:

              You're not going through a transparent proxy server of any kind, are you? I have seen the odd stream for which meta data does not seem to display, but it's odd that you are not seeing the metadata on the same streams as other people running the exact same software.

              • jwz says:

                Aha! It's Privoxy's fault!

                I forgot that proxy settings are global now, and not just a setting in the web browser. And apparently iTunes runs the HTTP proxy for MP3 streams even though they are neither (technically) HTTP nor on port 80.

  6. mark242 says:

    KPOSI broadcasts using the Shoutcast server 1.9.4, and Icecast (ices) v 0.2.3, and metadata gets streamed correctly to all listeners (including Tivo units).

    • travisd says:

      Just curious, how are you doing the live streaming to Tivo's? PLaylist magic, or something else?

      • mark242 says:

        I do it through iTunes Rendezvous sharing on a 10.3 Mac (with the Tivo Desktop installed) but if you have a 10.4 Mac you can download JavaHMO and that will work as well.

      • johnsolo1701 says:

        Its quite simple. You can do it with the official Tivo software, don't need JavaHMO or anything like that.
        Drag a streaming radio station to a playlist, load playlist on the tivo and play it.