ElectricBlues Radio/Live365 Listening Guide

The Basics Due to DMCA regulations (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), I am not able to provide direct links to the ElectricBlues Radio streams. It is possible to pay fees and have this priviledge, however the fees are simply too expensive (in the $1,000s) for a hobbyist venture. The most common method of accessing the streams is via the Live365.com website. The "Go" buttons on EB Radio's home page will take you to the respective station pages at Live365. You can also locate EB Radio at Live365 by browsing the Blues Directory, or by Searching for ElectricBlues Radio with their search function. Make sure you are accessing the appropriate channel relative to your Internet connection speed. EB Radio 56 is for those with a broadband connection, EB Radio 16 is for those with a modem connection of any speed. Basic listening at Live365 is free, and new listeners can launch the PlayerWindow 15 times without registering. This allows you to explore Live365 and see if it's going to be something that interests you. After 15 launches of the PlayerWindow, you must Register for a free Live365 account to continue listening through the Live365 website. In addition to accessing EB Radio through the Live365 Website, there are a few other options. Both EBR stations are available directly through the Radio Directory in the iTunes Player (available for Mac and Windows). However, iTunes does not display a playlist. All Live365 stations are also accessable directly through Windows Media Player 10, by accessing the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner. You may discover EB Radio is available through other directories as well, as Live365 is continually looking for additional outlets for their vast array of stations. Some sources for EB Radio will display a playlist of currently playing songs, while others do not. If your preferred method of listening does not display a playlist, you can access a pop-up Now Playing window available for both stations on EB Radio's home page which shows the 10 most recent songs (expand the window to see the full list). Look for the "Now Playing" links to access this playlist. All Live365 stations have a limited number of listeners that may connect for free. The cap on each station is determined by which broadcasting package the DJ subscribes to. Stations which have reached their max free capacity will have a gold "VIP" Play button (instead of the standard yellow one), or you may receive an audio "Station Full" message. The free slots on EB Radio may fill up Monday thru Friday from around 9am until 6pm US Eastern time. However, listeners continually drop off throughout the day, and others come in to take their place. As a free listener, if you encounter the gold "VIP" play button or audio "Station Full" message, refresh/reload the station page and try again in a few minutes. If you're persistent, you should be able to get through after a few tries (five minutes or less). By paying a small monthly fee ($5.95 - less for longer subscriptions) for Preferred Membership, you gain access to ALL Live365 stations at all times (Preferred Member = VIP). If you are a power listener at Live365, or dislike having restricted access to EB Radio, you should seriously consider becoming a Preferred Member. In addition to the all-access VIP pass, you'll gain the added benefit of eliminating those annoying audio ads, banners and pop-ups. Take advantage of the 5-day free trail and see if Preferred Membership is right for you. If you do decide to upgrade, please support EB Radio by using one of the Preferred Membership links on this site so I'll get credit for the referral (a one-time, $1.50 Reward bounty).

Radio365 Click Here to Download Radio365. Radio365 is a stand alone player exclusively for playing Live365 stations, and is a substatial improvement over the standard PlayerWindow. Once installed Radio365 allows you to launch to ALL Live365.com stations directly from your desktop, without having to go to the Live365 website. Radio365 features a robust search function for locating stations by genre and/or artists featured, and has six preset buttons for one-click connections to your favorite stations. Another great feature of this player is that it is free of the standard pop-up ads, even for free listeners. Radio365 is Included Free for VIP listeners with Preferred Membership. Free listeners can download a fully functional Radio365 for a free trial period of 35 listening hours, giving you plenty of "try before you buy" time. When the trail period expires the player will still function, but will only allow access to a few select stations (mostly pro stations). After the trail period, free listeners may maintain a fully functional Radio365 for a one time cost of $14.95. To recap your options, with Preferred Membership you get no pop-ups, ad banners, or audio ads, access to all Live365 stations including those that are full to free listeners (VIP only access), and Radio365 is included free with the package. As a stand alone purchase, Radio365 allows you to launch Live365 stations from your desktop and avoid pop-up ads, but free listeners will still not be able to access VIP only stations and they will hear audio ads. Of course, you may still launch Live365 Stations in the standard PlayerWindow as always, by visiting the Live365 website. Check out the Upgrade Options and see if one of them is right for you. Update - 04/15/05: Radio365 v1.1 has a Direct Sound option. This option can be found in the Player settings by clicking the question mark on the player, then selecting the System Tab. Enabling this option allows the Player volume to be adjusted without affecting the volume of other programs that may be running. Unfortunately, on many PCs the Direct Sound option produces poor audio quality. Before enabling the Direct Sound option, compare the audio quality with this option enabled and disabled, to see which options sounds best on your system. Radio365 is available for Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP and and runs on 500mhz or faster CPUs. Also available for the Mac. It should be noted that there may be issues with using Radio365 at work over a proxy server or corporate firewall, so please use the free trial period to insure it will work in your environment before purchasing.

Enhancing your Live365 Experience (Or, how to become a Live365 Power User) Station Presets/Favorite Station Every station listing includes an Add Preset icon. Clicking this icon will add the selected station to your presets, which are stored in your MyLive365 section. Look for the MyLive365 link near the upper right hand corner of most Live365 pages. Also, each listener can select one of their presets as their favorite station. Buy, Wish, Thumbs-Up/Down Icons There are several clickable icons/links in the 3 song playlist within the PlayerWindow. Clicking the Aritst/Song/Album text will open an album info page at Amazon.com. However, due to the large number of Independent Artists featured on EB Radio, Amazon.com frequently will not have any information available on the selected CD. As an alternative, you can visit the Artist/CD Index at ElectricBlues.com, where you'll find artist website and purchase information links for the vast majority of Artists/CDs featured on EB Radio. Clicking the icon will store the artist/title/album info of the selected song in your personal Wishlist (also located in your MyLive365 section), which serves as a holder for songs you're interested in. There's a comment feature for adding remarks to songs you've added to your Wishlist. Songs saved in your Wishlist cannot be played, it's only a place for saving song info. Live365 tallies all Buy, Wish, & Thumbs Up/Down clicks, and calculates rating for all songs based on this info. Give songs you really like a thumbs-up, and songs you really dislike a thumbs-down. Your feedback helps make EB Radio even better. Live365's Powerful Advanced Search At the bottom of all Live365 pages is a very handy and powerful search tool. It allows listeners to search for stations currently playing certain artists, songs, or CDs. You can also search for broadcasts by station name or broadcaster ID, or even by geographic location. When doing geographic searches, use only single word search terms. Entries such as "Riverview, FL" don't work for some reason. Multiple word searches for Artist/CD/Song names seems to work fine. Try it, it's fun!

Configuration Options Listeners should familiarize themselves with all settings in the MyLive365 section. One of the tabs in this section is the "Listen Settings" tab, which contains important configuration settings. The following is a more detailed description of these Listen Settings. Connection Speed - This is your connection speed to the Internet. When properly set, Live365's Station Directory, Genre Listings, and Search Results will not list stations which your connection cannot reliably stream. It doesn't hurt to set this setting higher than your actual capability, so long as you understand you won't be able to play stations broadcasting at speeds too high for your connection. MP3 Player - This section determines which media player configuration will be used. The Player365 (free download from Live365.com), RealPlayer (RealOne), and WindowsMedia Player options all function basically the same. These players are embedded within the L365 PlayerWindow. The player itself is invisible to the listener, and there is no way to tell which of these players is being used simply by looking at the PlayerWindow. The only way to tell which of these players is being used is to look at the "Listen Settings" in the MyLive365 section. The currently selected option will be marked by a black dot in it's selection field. It's important to note that with all of these options the music will stop if the PlayerWindow is closed. Selecting the Radio365 option will cause Radio365 to play all stations you select while browsing the Live365 directories. This is easily the most enjoyable way to listen, but requires downloading and installing Radio365 and it does cost a little. You'll either need to purchase Radio365 separately or subscribe for Preferred Membership (which includes Radio365) to make use of this setting. The 4rd option in this section, the MP3 Player option, functions differently from the others. This option will open your system's default mp3 player in conjuction with the PlayerWindow. With this option both the PlayerWindow AND the player are visible on the desktop, and you'll have access to all of the player's functions, such as volume control and equalizers. Also only with this option, the PlayerWindow can be closed without affecting playback. When I use this option, my player of choice is WinAmp v5.xx. If you have an old, slower system (less than 500mhz CPU), you'd probably have better performance with Winamp version 2.9 if you can dig up this old version (stay away from v3.x). Please note: Often, the last media player installed on your PC will become the default MP3 player. If a media player other than the one you prefer is launching to play your Live365 selections, the easiest way to correct this is to go into the Options/Preference settings for the undesired media player and disable MP3/M3U/PLS streaming, then enable this option in your preferred MP3 player. If you have trouble making these changes you can try reinstalling your preferred player. Remember, this applies only if you've selected the 3rd "MP3 Player" option. Audio Ad Content Filter - Allows the listener to block adult oriented ads (sexual, alcohol, tobacco) if desired.

Troubleshooting Common Problems Configuration Information Lost Occassionally, due to a Live365 system upset, your configuration info may get reset to incorrect settings. If you suddenly find that many stations you normally see are not showing up in the Live365 directories, it may be that your reported connection speed has been reset to a lower value. To check this, log into Live365, click on the MyLive365 Tab, then on the Listen Settings Tab. Check to see that your connection speed setting is correct. If you have cable or DSL, you most likely should have the highest setting selected (256kbps). Pop-Up Blockers Pop-Up blockers are great (I use PanicWare's Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition - Besides being free, it's easy to install and use). However, most blockers will interfere with the Live365 PlayerWindow. If you use a Pop-Up blocker and you're not getting the PlayerWindow, try disabling the Pop-Up blocker. Most Pop-Up blockers should have a means of allowing pop-ups from specified websites (such as the PlayerWindow) to open. With the PanicWare Pop-Up Stopper I simply press the control key before clicking the Play button. Firewalls Firewall software such as ZoneAlarm, Norton Internet Security, the Windows XP firewall, or corporate firewalls may interfere with Live365 streams. I can tell you for certain that enabling Ad Blocking in Norton Internet Security will definitely hose the Live365 PlayerWindow, even if you have a VIP ad free account with Live365. If you get script errors, blank playlists, incomplete loading of the PlayerWindow, or have other problems when attempting to launch a Live365 station, do the following to determine if it's a firewall issue: Disable your firewall. If you have Windows XP, make sure that the WinXP firewall is disabled (For help with this, select Help from the Windows XP Start Menu, then search for "disable firewall"). On the Internet Explorer Menu, select Tools/Internet Options and then under the General Tab delete all cookies and Internet files, including all offline content. Click OK, then close Internet Explorer. This step is necessary to clear all PlayerWindow errors. Restart Internet Explorer (or click Start365 if you use it) and attmempt to launch a station. Becaues you've delete all cookies, you may be presented with the Live365 Player download window. If, after going through this process you are able to launch a station, then you've determined your firewall is causing the trouble. It should be possible to configure your firewall to allow Live365 stations to launch, but it may be tricky and require some persistance to get the firewall settings right. If you need help configuring your firewall, I suggest you post a help request regarding your particular firewall in the Listening Room on Live365's message board. Hopefully someone will be able to give you a hand. Many corporate firewalls will not allow a connection to Live365 streams. You'll have to contact your IT department if you suspect this is a problem. Cookie Troubles Some information about your L365 account is stored in your browser's cookies, so you will obviously need to have cookies enabled. Sometimes this information can become corrupt and cause a wide variety of troubles. If you're having trouble accessing the Live365 website, can't log in, can't play music, or get weird error messages, try deleting all your cookies and temporary Internet files. Internet Explorer users can delete these items by going to Tools/Internet Options/General/Temporary Internet Files from the Internet Explorer menu. Netscape 7 users can clear the cache and delete cookies through Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Cache and Edit/Preferences/Privacy/Cookies. After deleting cookies it's best to shut down and restart your browser before trying to launch a station. Deleting your cookies will wipe out all auto login functions you have at Live365 and other sites. It's not a big deal, but be aware you will have to manually log in one time after deleting your cookies. The L365 Player Install window may also run again the next time you launch a station after deleting your cookies. Poor Streaming/Audio Skipping/Buffering If the station starts streaming but buffers and/or cuts out frequently, make sure you're not trying to access a station beyond the capacity of your Internet connection. Most 56k modem users will need to restrict their access to stations that are 24kbps or less, although those with a very good connection may be able to get the 32kbps stations cleanly. For other conditions that may cause poor streaming see my info page on Poor Streaming. Slow Internet Connections Live365 is a very bandwidth intensive website, as is streaming audio. Listeners with Marginal 28k & 33k connections often have trouble just navigating the website and getting the PlayerWindow to load, let alone receiving a stable stream. Some low speed listeners have reported that they frequently experience connection time outs and simply cannot get connected to the stream. The severity of this problem can vary from hour to hour and day to day. Typically though, you can expect the most difficulty Monday thru Friday during normal work hours (US time). For those with low speed 28k-33k connections, if you do successfully get the stream launched, surfing other pages while listening could very possibly cause the stream to break up and rebuffer excessively. You may need to refrain from browsing the Internet or doing other CPU intensive tasks while streaming a Live365 station. If at all possible, I strongly suggest at least upgrading to a 56k modem. The difference in performance is significant, and will make your listening experience much more enjoyable. And if you can swing it, is broadband worth the expense? Well, Internet Radio on broadband is simply awesome. You can listen to high quality streams and surf the Internet simultaneously with very little, if any breakup. I Still Can't Listen... Now What?? I've covered all the more common reasons for difficulties I'm aware of. If you've gone through all the solutions I've suggested but still can't get to the music, check the Live365 Help Section. If you can't find your answers there, then send in a support request form to the Live365 Support Department.

Final Comments Admittedly, a bit of effort is required to catch some tunes at Live365. Believe me, neither Live365 nor I are pleased about that. Stiff netcasting royalty fees and a decline in the value of Internet advertising have force this situation on all of us. In all honesty however, Live365 offers the ONLY viable option I have for operating EB Radio. The next best option is so prohibitively expensive and legally complicated that I would simply have to shut down EB Radio if L365 were to close it's doors. So, we'll all just have to deal with the small inconveniences. It's gotta be worth it.... Where else you gonna get music like this? ElectricBlues Radio