Internet radio player that can play audio files stored on a Mac Mini hard drive

[schwine1]

I have a question about internet radio players.
I'm looking for an internet radio player that can access and play mp3 audio files stored on my Mac Mini hard drive.

While there are many online radio players on the market, I haven't found one that can do this.
This functionality would be in addition to accessing online radio stations from the internet, which is the main purpose.

Thanks for any tips.

 

[ferrarr]

Most media players that get installed all offer the ability to stream music from select radio stations. iTunes for PC, also Music app for Mac, VLC, others will as well.

 

[IWT]

I'm surprised that VLC can't do this. This is what I've read so far:

Container formats: 3GP,[a] ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, FLV, Matroska (MKV), MIDI, QuickTime File Format, MP4, Ogg, OGM, WAV, MPEG-2 (ES, PS, TS, PVA, MP3),

Audio coding formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR,[a] DTS, DV Audio, XM, FLAC, It, MACE, MOD, Monkey's Audio, MP3, Opus,[93] PLS, QCP, QDM2/QDMC, RealAudio,[c] Speex, Screamtracker 3/S3M, TTA, Vorbis, WavPack,[d] WMA (WMA 1/2, WMA 3 partially).[94]

Copied from:

VLC media player - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I've used VLC for years mainly for Video but less often for Audio as well.

Ian

 

[ferrarr]

VLC does do it. The issue is @schwine1 wants to use a web player, not a stand-alone app, like VLC.

Do an internet search for "web media player play local files" and check out the results.

 

[Slydude]

@schwine1, Are you using iTunes or Music as your current music player? I used to be able to use iTunes to play internet streams with a little trickery. If I know which version you're using I might be able to make that work and of course, it can play the mp3s on your drive.

 

[schwine1]

I need to clarify what I mean by "internet radio player."
I'm referring to a physical radio that is located in a different room than where my Mac Mini is located.

These physical "internet radio players" can access and play online radio stations by either a wireless or hard wire connection to an internet access point, such as a computer modem, which is my access point.

So I'm looking for a physical radio that can also play mp3 files on my Mac Mini computer, such as audio books, or songs in flac or wav format.

 

[Slydude]

I get it. My initial idea won't work.

In that case, take a look at some of the internet radios on this page.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=internet...oss_1&tag=macforums0e4-20?tag=macforums0e4-20

Several of them mention that the radios have Bluetooth capabilities to play files from smartphones so it should play the files you want. I suspect that if need be you could pair the radio by Bluetooth to play your library if it's stored on your computer.

 

[RadDave]

I need to clarify what I mean by "internet radio player."
I'm referring to a physical radio that is located in a different room than where my Mac Mini is located.

These physical "internet radio players" can access and play online radio stations by either a wireless or hard wire connection to an internet access point, such as a computer modem, which is my access point.

So I'm looking for a physical radio that can also play mp3 files on my Mac Mini computer, such as audio books, or songs in flac or wav format.

Well, I was looking on Amazon the same time as Sly and saw the first hit below, assuming the type of radio that interests you? This one is pricey but many others are available. BT is stated but in both directions? (I have a stereo receiver w/ BT but only receives, i.e. I cannot go the other way wearing BT headphones, but IN might be what you want).

Also there is USB input - not sure 'how many' MP3 files you have and how they are organized, but you could put together a half dozen or so thumb drives and plug in the one desired - but would be more convenient to just BT to the radio from your computer; of course, you need to consider the distance and wall interference between rooms. Good luck. Dave

.

 

[pm-r]

I'm looking for an internet radio player that can access and play mp3 audio files stored on my Mac Mini hard drive.

I'm confused or probably not understanding your problem but why do you need an internet radio station to play the music files that are on your Mac?

I'm sorry if I'm not understanding something that should be obvious to me.

But there seem to be lots of options out there for playing such files:

mac play mp3 audio files - Google Search

- Patrick
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[Raz0rEdge]

I don't think you're going to find the device you want.

What you will find is devices that can do many things and also be a BT device that you can stream music to. You can also find ones that support AirPlay to make it even easier to stream.

But you'd be controlling the music from your Mac and sending it to the device.

What you are not going to find is a device that will pull music from your computer.

A couple of, essentially dead, technologies that could've accomplished this are UPnP/DLNA and iTunes Server. The first is something that TVs kinda support but require appropriate devices to support it. A NAS usually support this and you can buy software for your Mac to make it a DLNA server.

The other died with iTunes, but it allowed your Mac to act as a server and allow streaming to compatible devices.

 

[schwine1]

I used to have an internet radio player as made by Logitech.

This company included software for Mac computers that allowed users to access audio files on their Mac computers from their Logitech internet radio player. In my case, my Mac computer was in one room and the internet radio player was in another rooom. I used a long 100 foot ethernet cable to hard wire the two devices together. However, Logitech stopped supporting their software so their radio no longer works properly.

While there are several brands of internet radio players on the market today, I haven't yet investigated all of them, but I'm looking for one that may also include software for Mac computers that would allow for the same functionality. Mac computers don't always get much consideration for these kind of things, so such an option may not be currently available, I'll see.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and input, much appreciated.