NWP Radio Listening FAQ

iTunes is a great program, but it has problems playing our links sometimes. When you click one of our listen links, we send your player a list of servers. If the first one on the list is full, the player should move on to the second, third, etc. until it finds one that will work. iTunes often fails to do this.

If you click our 128k MP3 link (rather than using one of the RP selections in the iTunes radio directory) you'll see a bunch of entries labeled "1048" or "Radio Paradise..." in your iTunes library. If you try those one at a time, you should find one that works.

Another option is to install a different player. We recommend Winamp (for Windows) or VLC (for Macs). The Winamp installation is pretty straightforward. To configure VLC properly, see the FAQ entry below.

First, download VLC from this site. Open the .dmg file that you downloaded, then open the VLC disk image on your desktop and drag the orange traffic cone thingy into your applications folder.

Then right-click (or control-click if you don't have a 2-button mouse) on the "128k MP3" link on our website, and select "Save Link as...". Save the link to your desktop. Then right-click (or control-click) on that file (rp_128.m3u or something similar) and choose "Get Info". In the info window go to "Open with:" and select VLC from the list of programs. Click the "Change All" button.

Now all m3u links will open in VLC rather than iTunes. You'll find that VLC is more reliable than iTunes for playing radio streams. It'll also play our AAC & AAC+ links (which iTunes won't play).

Our 128k AAC link gives the best sound quality of any of our streams, and our 64k AAC+ link gives quality equal to 128k MP3 at half the bandwidth.

This means that you don't have the player software installed. Look at FAQ item, "How do I get a player?"

To listen to our webcasts, we recommend the following players. Windows Media Player or RealPlayer will also work in many cases, but we think you'll like one of these better:

Windows: WinAmp
MacOS X (or 9): iTunes
Linux/Unix: XMMS
Linux KDE Desktop: amaroK
Multiple Platforms (incl. Linux & Mac): VLC

This can be due to a conflict between Winamp and other media players. First, try downloading & installing the latest version from www.winamp.com. If that doesn't work, there is a very active user support forum on the Winamp site.

If all else fails you can start the stream manually. Open Winamp. Press 'Ctrl-L' (or select "Play" -> "Location" from the menu).
Then type in the address:

URL: http://www.neverwinpoker.com:8000/radio.mp3.m3u

Yes, the addresses above should let you connect using any player. You may have to poke around a bit to find the place to enter the address.

There are now firewall links on our Listen page. Most of our 128k stream servers now operate on port 80 (the same port used by website traffic), so they will often work even when links for other stations will not.

This means that either there's a lot of net congestion between you & the server (in which case you should try back later), or that your connection bandwidth isn't high enough. In Windows, on a modem connection, you can check your connection speed by clicking on the modem icon in your system tray (lower right hand part of your screen) while you're connected. If it's lower than 40kbps, you'll have problems listening to the 32kb webcast. You can try disconnecting & connecting again - or contact your Internet service provider for help. In some cases you may have to give up and settle for 16kbps.

Click here for more information on the various options.

I'll bet you're using Winamp, and you have one or more of the EQ sliders turned up fairly high. Am I right? Try turning the EQ off. The problem will most likely disappear. If you really need radical EQ settings, turn down the 'Preamp' slider (next to the EQ) to compensate. If you have EQ-related distortion in other players that lack a 'Preamp' control, try turning the sliders for the frequency bands that you don't want emphasized down instead of turning up the ones you do want more of. It accomplishes the same thing.

On RealPlayer, go to 'View' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Upgrade'. At the bottom of that box, under 'Media Types',
click the 'Re-associate' button. Un-check the boxes marked 'Mpeg Audio' and 'MP3 Playlists'. Click 'OK' twice & you're done.

If all else fails, drop a line to the webmaster.

Windows Users: Don't forget the Windows Mantra - "if it don't work, reboot"

In order to properly decode the AAC+ webcasts on a Windows system, you need the latest version of Winamp (click here to download it). Trying to play it with Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or older versions of Winamp will give you a lousy-sounding mono signal. With the proper player, the 64k AAC+ stream should sound very nearly the same as 128k MP3, and the 24k AAC+ stream should give quite decent stereo sound.

On Linux or Mac systems, you can use VLC to decode the AAC+ streams. iTunes - despite using AAC as it's default file format - does NOT support AAC or AAC+ streaming at this time.

Many at-work networks are locked down pretty tightly, but in most cases you can copy Winamp to a USB flash drive at home, and then plug that drive into your work computer. Here's how:

1. At home, copy the folder C:/Program Files/Winamp to your USB drive.

2. At work, plug in the drive, open the Winamp folder, and click the file "winamp.exe".

3. Press Ctrl-L (or select "Play" -> "Location" from the Winamp menu) and enter this address: http://www.neverwinpoker.com:8000/radio.mp3.m3u.

That should start the RP 64k AAC+ stream. You can also copy & paste any of the other stream addresses from our site into Winamp.

You should NOT copy the Winamp folder onto your work hard drive. This will violate the spirit - if not the letter - of your IT department's regulations about installing unauthorized software. Those regulations are there for a reason. However, the above method should not compromise your work system in any way.

When listening at work, it's always best to minimize your impact on your company's network by using the lowest bitrate possible. If you're listening on speakers, the 24k AAC+ stream will probably be fine. If you're using headphones, 64k AAC+ sounds pretty darned good - roughly the same as 128k MP3, at half the bandwidth.