This tutorial came about after following the example of SL resident Captain A-Jay who listens to Second Life music streams via an external media player, namely the excellent and free VLC. After trying this it became clear that music quality was much improved compared to listening through the SL viewer.
However there was one small problem. If you look at the url of a Second Life stream it is clear its not easy to match it to a DJ, so picking the correct stream in VLC to listen to can be a challenge. Hence the purpose of this tutorial is to show a way to save a stream in VLC so that it has an identifying name.
After this we'll show another way of saving and listening to a Second Life stream by using MusicBee, which is another excellent and free music software package.
Alternatively, you can just scroll down to the bottom of this page to learn how to download a small clickable file that will automatically open a Second Life stream in VLC. You can also grab the file for my stream too.
If you prefer, you can watch a video of this tutorial on our YouTube channel, or you can view the video at the bottom of this page.
Copying A Stream Url From Second Life
Before you can listen to a Second Life music stream in a media player you need the stream url. To get it follow these steps.
1/ Assuming you're already at the location where the stream is playing click on the 'i' icon at the beginning of the location address at the top of the viewer. This will open the Place Profile window, shown above.
2/ Click on the About Land button and the above window will open. Select the Sound tab. Drag your cursor over the music url, right click and select Copy from the drop down list. Keep it somewhere safe as we'll need it later.
Some locations in Second Life won't allow visitors to copy the music url, in which case you can ask the DJ if he can share the stream url with you. Most DJs will be happy to do this, although it may be a good idea to tell them why you want it.
For anyone interested this is my stream Url: http://radiolinden.com:10130
Adding The Music Url To VLC
1/ In VLC select Media > Open Network Stream as in the image above.
2/ In the window that opens paste the music url from Second Life. Then hit the Play button.
3/ Now select Media> Save Playlist to File.
4/ Navigate to where you want to save the playlist file then give it an identifying name. The playlist is of course the music url from Second Life so I've named it after the DJ. Now click Save.
5/ To start playing the stream in VLC select Media > Open file, and if necassary navigate to the folder with the file you just saved. Double click on the file to open and listen to it in VLC.
Alternatively, go directly to the folder and double click on the file. This will open the it in VLC, and so long as the DJ is streaming, you'll be able to listen to them.
MusicBee
Another easy way to save and play Second Life streams is to use MusicBee. Like VLC, MusicBee is an excellent media player, but it is much more than that. You can use it to sort your music files into playlists, organise them by genre, and basically use it as a database to manage and play all of your music.Unlike VLC which can also play movie files, MusicBee is focused entirely on music including internet radio stations, and it is this feature that can be used to add and name music streams from Second Life. Follow these steps to do just that.
1/ MusicBee is quite complex with many different looks and ways to configure it, so when you first start it up, it may look different than above. Don't worry about that though, just click on the Radio tab near the top of the window.
2/ Now click on Radio towards the top left and from the drop down menu select New Station.
3/ The small window shown above will open where you can add the stream details, the most important of course being the url and an identifying name. As you can see I have also added an image for the stream and I've called the genre Second Life so I know its the stream of an SL DJ.
Click Save, and the stream has been added to MusicBee.
4/ The above image shows the music stream and name. If more url streams were added they would form a list. To select a stream simply double click on it. Once you're connected, details of the current song and (quite often) a related image will be shown to the right.
Using A Script To Open A Music Stream In VLC
If you're a DJ in Second Life and want to allow people who cannot make it to your set to listen to your stream, you can either pass on the Url as outlined above, or give them a link that will download a small script. This script will save them the trouble of loading the Url into VLC.
1/ Many stream pages will look something like the above. Right click on the Listen link then select Copy Link.
2/ Paste the link to a webpage, maybe a blog or social media post.
3/ When the link is clicked a small script will download. Double click the file and VLC will automatically open and play the music stream.
It should be noted that when a stream is offline and the file is double clicked, VLC will open and an error message will appear. The stream has to be up and running for the file to work.
If you, or anyone you share the download link with is concerned about the safetly of the file, then this website called Virus Total can be used to check for malicious content. These downloads are 100% safe, but its good to offer reassurance.
To download the file for my music stream click here, and look out for notices on social media for when DJ Lusus (ie, me) is playing.
Thats all there is to adding streams from Second Life to either VLC or MusicBee. Have fun trying out both and see which you prefer.
