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#+date:        [2022-07-25 Mon 00:00:00]
#+title:       Curseradio: Internet Radio from the Terminal
#+description: Installing and using Curseradio to stream internet radio from the terminal.
#+slug:        curseradio
#+filetags:    :linux:

* Overview

While exploring some interesting Linux applications, I stumbled across
[[https://github.com/chronitis/curseradio][curseradio]], a command-line radio player based on Python.

This application is fantastic and incredibly easy to install, so I wanted to
dedicate a post today to this app. Let's look at the features within the app and
then walk through the installation process I took to get =curseradio= working.

* Features

The radio player itself is quite minimal. As you can see in the screenshot
above, it contains a simple plaintext list of all available categories, which
can be broken down further and further. In addition, radio shows are available
for listening, alongside regular radio stations.

For example, the =Sports= > =Pro Basketball= > =Shows= category contains a
number of specific shows related to Professional Basketball.

Aside from being able to play any of the listed stations/shows, you can make a
channel your favorite by pressing =f=. It will now show up at the top of the
radio player in the =Favourites= category.

** Commands/Shortcuts

| Key(s)     | Command                         |
|------------+---------------------------------|
| ↑, ↓       | navigate                        |
| PgUp, PgDn | navigate quickly                |
| Home, End  | to top/bottom                   |
| Enter      | open/close folders, play stream |
| k          | stop playing stream             |
| q          | quit                            |
| f          | toggle favourite                |

* Installation

** Dependencies

Before installing =curseradio=, a handful of system and Python packages are
required. To get started, install =python3=, =pip3=, and =mpv= on your system.
In this example, I'm using Fedora Linux, which uses the =dnf= package manager.
You may need to adjust this if you're using a different system.

#+begin_src sh
sudo dnf install python3 pip3 mpv
#+end_src

Next, use =pip3= to install =requests=, =xdg=, and =lxml=:

#+begin_src sh
pip3 install requests xdg lxml
#+end_src

** Repository Source Installation

Once all the dependencies are installed, we can clone the source code and enter
that directory:

#+begin_src sh
git clone https://github.com/chronitis/curseradio && cd curseradio
#+end_src

Once you're within the =curseradio= directory, you can install the application
with the provided =setup.py= script.

#+begin_src sh
sudo python3 setup.py install
#+end_src

In my case, I ran into a few errors and needed to create the folders that
curseradio wanted to use for its installation. If you don't get any errors, you
can skip this and run the app.

#+begin_src sh
sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib/python3.10/
sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/
#+end_src

#+begin_src sh
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /usr/local/lib/python3.10/
#+end_src

* Run the Application

Once fully installed without errors, you can run the application!

#+begin_src sh
python3 /usr/local/bin/curseradio
#+end_src