xbmc + shoutcast metadata
some time ago (they deleted my bug report,) xbmc stopped displaying metadata (song title, artist, stream name, etc) when the url was http://server:port. they recoded it so that it would only display metadata if the url was shout://server:port.
most of the servers and websites out there and most of the music clients only support the http:// protocol. this includes my favorite sites like soma.fm and monkey radio.
i also keep a copy of my own playlist files on my fileserver here. it’s much easier to access the playlist files from the fileserver than to sift through xbmc’s shoutcast directory. soma.fm seems to shuffle things around regularly, invalidating my copies almost daily.
i wrote a script. nothing too challenging. php even. it opens the playlist files and saves one copy to the fileserver. it modifies another, replacing http:// with shout:// and saving that copy to the fileserver.
use at your own risk. rinse. repeat. questions?
yeah, i’m a nerd.