# Radio Auricle: TiVo music & talk app from EnterWebz.tv



## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

Radio Auricle is a free Internet radio app I created for your TiVo DVR. (Powered by UberStations from DAR.fm).

Find your favorite *artist*, browse *radio shows* and podcasts, or browse today's most *popular songs*, and it plays a station streaming it *right now*.
You can also select AM/FM stations near *your TiVo* or any *zip code*.
Save Genres, Artists, Titles, Shows, or Stations to your *favorites* :up:.































I think of it as a cross between _Rhapsody_ and _Live365_, plus it plays your last selection immediately like _Pandora_.

Add it right now from my app server at EnterWebz.tv - http://EnterWebz.tv/connect.html (You've got it already if you added EWz before!)
It will appear in the Music & Photos area.

_Although unfinished, this is already the most visually polished app I've made for the TiVo. I released it early since Rhapsody recently went away (again), and iHeartRadio isn't here, yet.
In the future it will have more detailed displays, give recommendations based on a song, plus other options and features._
*Non-US users:* upcoming options include filtering out stations that refuse to stream outside the US.

Be sure to try:
PLAY starts a good radio station for whatever is selected.
THUMBS to save or delete a favorite Genre, Artist, Title, Show, or Station
#s to choose a favorite by its number (or to reorder them in the Favorites screen)
PAUSE to Mute the current live stream (or pause a podcast)
A (or ENTER) to see everything playing by the selected Artist.
C (or CLEAR) on those artist results to Change the search to exact match or exclude the selected variation.
D (or SLOW) to activate the idle Dimmer immediately.
Radio Auricle also supports keyboards if you have one.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

I recently updated Radio Auricle with the following changes:

Since the first screenshots, I added *custom icons for Radio Show Genres* _(since it doesn't make sense to get the :up:Favorite icon with those unlike Music Genres)_.
Startup plays the *first available Favorite* _(and soon an option to choose this behavior, the previous behavior of last played selection, or last heard station, or nothing)_.
*PLAY on the Favorites button* in the main menu starts the first available Favorite.
:up::down:Thumbs when dimmed (or any time when thumbs wouldn't do anything else) add/remove Favorites for the *currently playing Song, Artist, or Station*.
You could get an *"Easter Egg"* when you start it and haven't saved any Favorites yet.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

Radio Auricle now has a Settings page.

*International* mode changes UberStations queries to leave out stations that generally do not allow streaming outside the US.

*Start up* mode can be changed from First Available favorite to Last Selected, Last Station, or Silence.

Other settings may be introduced in the future.

This also includes a fix of the previously mentioned feature of pressing PLAY on the main menu's Favorites button.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

How can I remove it?


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

JoeKustra said:


> How can I remove it?


Feelin' the love. 
I'm just glad somebody acknowledged my posts.
_Would you be so kind as to say something about your experience with Radio Auricle? A bad review is better than none at all!_

To answer your question, you have three options to remove it.
When you added EnterWebz.tv (EWz), it added several groups, notices, and apps including Radio Auricle.
If you select the last app in the list ("*Edit Enter Webz App List*") you'll see a list of all the groups and apps that EWz added.

Option 1)  Each one can be *moved* so it reduces or eliminates the number of apps you see on the TiVo:
Highlight one and click ENTER (or click INFO and select the "Edit" button). From there you can move it to a group that doesn't start with "Apps/" and it won't show up any more. Or you could move them each to a single "Apps/Enter Webz/" group so only one group shows up on your TiVo.

Option 2)  Alternatively, you can use THUMBS DOWN :down: on each undesired app to permanently *delete* it. (A group is deleted by moving or deleting all of the apps from it.)
_If you delete absolutely everything EWz will restore all the defaults._

Changes using Options 1 & 2 may take some time to show on the TiVo's app list because your TiVo doesn't always refresh the list immediately.

Option 3)  The most drastic option is to completely *disconnect* from EnterWebz.tv:
From the TiVo's Apps or Music & Photos list, highlight one of them (e.g. Radio Auricle) and press CLEAR. This will remove all the EWz apps at the same time.
To get them back you must follow the instructions at http://EnterWebz.tv/connect.html (your settings will still be there when you reconnect).

Thanks for trying it out!
Let me know if there is anything that would make you like it more!


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I applaud your efforts at adding content to the tivo. I do read every one of your posts but, alas, just have not seen anything that would be of interest to the wife and I. I will continue to watch your progress and watch for items of use to us. We don't see the need to surf the web on our tv and don't usually use the tivo for remote radio stations.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

davidblackledge said:


> Feelin' the love.
> I'm just glad somebody acknowledged my posts.
> _Would you be so kind as to say something about your experience with Radio Auricle? A bad review is better than none at all!_
> 
> ...


Thank you. It was more than I expected. The additional functions were nice, but I'm using the TiVo for recording TV. All other functions are done with either my AVR or Blu-ray. Thanks for your information. I'm sure there are many who will welcome the added functionality.


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## LI-SVT (Sep 28, 2006)

This sounds real cool. I will try it as soon as I am able. Thanks for providing this app.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

jcthorne said:


> I applaud your efforts at adding content to the tivo. I do read every one of your posts but, alas, just have not seen anything that would be of interest to the wife and I. I will continue to watch your progress and watch for items of use to us. We don't see the need to surf the web on our tv and don't usually use the tivo for remote radio stations.


Thanks for responding, and fair enough!
I've tried to cover all the "if only TiVo had this" requests and "apps.tv/Yahoo! apps used to do this" with various EWz links (Sports scores, weather, email, RSS, etc), I did the different card games just for fun, and I figured Radio Auricle is a good competitor to TiVo Inc's other radio offerings.

In reality, most apps on TiVo (aside from Video offerings... EWz provides a few of those, too) became obsolete when tablets became prevalent.

Let me know if you have any ideas you'd find actually useful on your TiVo!


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

JoeKustra said:


> Thank you. It was more than I expected. The additional functions were nice, but I'm using the TiVo for recording TV. All other functions are done with either my AVR or Blu-ray. Thanks for your information. I'm sure there are many who will welcome the added functionality.


Thanks for the response!

I'm having fun making it at least ;]


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

LI-SVT said:


> This sounds real cool. I will try it as soon as I am able. Thanks for providing this app.


You're quite welcome, let us know how it goes!


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## LI-SVT (Sep 28, 2006)

I added EnterWebz to my Roamio the other day. I really like the apps. Being able to find a song or artist playing on a radio station anywhere is cool. So far I only tried the song/artist search and looked at my local radio stations. I have not tried any of the other features.

I had one minor problem. The first time I used any on the apps there was no audio. Exiting and going back in restored the audio.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

LI-SVT said:


> I added EnterWebz to my Roamio the other day. I really like the apps. Being able to find a song or artist playing on a radio station anywhere is cool. So far I only tried the song/artist search and looked at my local radio stations. I have not tried any of the other features.


Great! thanks for trying it out! 



> I had one minor problem. The first time I used any on the apps there was no audio. Exiting and going back in restored the audio.


I have that problem occasionally, too. Mostly I attribute that to my cheap TVs that sometimes have trouble synching the audio signal in the transition from TiVo to App. The app is telling the TiVo to start the audio as best it can. However, I think I've heard of others having trouble with how TiVo sends the audio through the cabling.

_On a related note, early this morning there was an outage with some of the UberStations services that Radio Auricle uses. It made the Chart Toppers page and the Artist Search page not get any results at all - everything else was working. UberStations resolved their outage later in the morning._


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

Issues with UberStations' list of music genres required an update to Radio Auricle. I included a few new features.

updated Chart Toppers genre handling due to change in UberStations listings.
List "Soul" genre as clearer "R&B"
FF/RW buttons now go to next/previous favorite (numbers still let you select a specific favorite)
If the next favorite in that direction isn't found, it continues through the list until one is found​
New "Quit" button to prevent accidental exit at the main menu.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

1) TiVo Inc has dropped Live365... Luckily Radio Auricle is there to pick up the slack!
2) UberStations decided to show the icon of their new onrad.io service when it can't find art for a particular song, so Radio Auricle was showing that a lot of the time.
3) Some key feature tweaks I've been wanting to do have finally been completed!

Radio Auricle now does a better job of finding art for the current song, and when it can't, once again shows the radio station image, not that one logo.

Radio Auricle now behaves more intuitively on the Favorites page differently:
PLAY tries to just play the favorite.
RIGHT shows a page of the relevant songs (songs on now by the artist, or songs of the genre)
SELECT does both.

Radio Auricle has a new option on the Settings page: 
When you play a music favorite and the song ends should it 
a) *stay on the station* _(the old behavior) _
b) *play a random different favorite* _(The new default behavior)_ or 
c) *attempt to repeat the favorite again* _(good for genre favorites, or when you're obsessing about an artist or song)_
This allows you to treat a favorite or your list of favorites like *your own personal radio station.*

*If I find the time or somebody out there encourages me to do it sooner, I plan to add grouping of Favorites and you can set the above settings per group, creating as many user-created "stations" as you like.*

_Go to EnterWebz.tv to add Radio Auricle and other apps. Feel free to delete the other apps from your listing if all you wanted was the Radio content._


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## gsuemnic (Dec 10, 2015)

davidblackledge said:


> How do I add a keyboard ?
> 
> Great apps by the way. Thanks for you effort.
> Hopefully OperaTv will attract more developers!!


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

gsuemnic said:


> How do I add a keyboard ?


You have 3 options, really:
1) get a TiVo Slide remote with a built-in keyboard
2) use one of the TiVo apps on your tablet or smart phone that provides a remote control and keyboard function
3) plug a USB keyboard into the USB port in the back of the TiVo (a wireless USB keyboard works, too, if you plug the receiver into the USB port, but bluetooth keyboards do NOT work)


gsuemnic said:


> Great apps by the way. Thanks for you effort.
> Hopefully OperaTv will attract more developers!!


Thanks for saying so! You probably have a Series 3 or haven't gotten the update to be able to still say that since the update breaks my apps on Premiere and later ;]

I'm starting to look into Opera TV store development myself.


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## Johncv (Jun 11, 2002)

davidblackledge said:


> Thanks for responding, and fair enough!
> I've tried to cover all the "if only TiVo had this" requests and "apps.tv/Yahoo! apps used to do this" with various EWz links (Sports scores, weather, email, RSS, etc), I did the different card games just for fun, and I figured Radio Auricle is a good competitor to TiVo Inc's other radio offerings.
> 
> In reality, most apps on TiVo (aside from Video offerings... EWz provides a few of those, too) became obsolete when tablets became prevalent.
> ...


What I would like to see is a visualizer similar to what Apple have in iTunes, so when you play Pandore or another music app it would kick in and sync with the music while blowing your mind. Displaying album art is boring. Not sure it could be done on the TiVo.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

Johncv said:


> What I would like to see is a visualizer similar to what Apple have in iTunes, so when you play Pandore or another music app it would kick in and sync with the music while blowing your mind. Displaying album art is boring. Not sure it could be done on the TiVo.


It can't be done with HME (the TiVo plays the music itself and doesn't tell HME what it sounds like), perhaps one could be made with an OperaTV app, but it probably has the same problem.

I did once consider "faking it" by playing music and playing a good generic abstract silent video at the same time, but that would be a little silly, too. At least it wouldn't be as boring, though. _There are some good candidate videos on Archive.org, but mostly they're only a few seconds long for some reason._


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You could decode it on a PC and send PCM sound to the TiVo, or recode to MP3.


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

Dan203 said:


> You could decode it on a PC and send PCM sound to the TiVo, or recode to MP3.


Ok, true, somebody could do that, but that's not something I have the time, experience, or inclination to do.

Even once that's done, doing an appropriate visualization would be very limited. HME is limited in its graphical capabilities, although you could probably just display an array of "pixels" and control their colors directly, but they'd have to be pretty large pixels because of memory constraints, and even then we are updating the display over a network so it would be nearly impossible to keep the visualization completely in sync with the audio.

So finally we end up with "recode the music and a generated visualization as a video stream that is already in sync." At that point we could also theoretically run top of the line video games on the TiVo with just a little delay between remote clicks and game updates showing in the video stream. 
This is actually what I was theorizing the Bolt might include as a Unified Entertainment System - the SteamOS game streaming setup (which runs the game on your PC, but works as a set-top box on your TV connecting to your PC). They'd just have to include the ability to connect a Steam game controller to the TiVo unit.

Actually the real answer was GOING TO be supporting YouTube playlists in Enter Webz (I already had it figured out) which would let us do a video jukebox setup. But they killed the HME YouTube player, so I can't do that without writing a whole new YouTube player which I don't even know is possible anymore because of the YouTube API changes. I haven't looked into it, but I get the impression they removed a way to access a downloadable video link which HME requires as far as we know. A home-installed app might be able to launch the new YouTube player, but that's getting complicated, and there are mounting technical issues with "simulating" a tablet app on something you run on your home computer.


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