# How do I use WinAmp to listen to this ogg radio stream? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315 "2003-11-10T00:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/1 "2003-11-10T00:41:21Z")
So, it appears that I’m an idiot. These things happen. I’m determined, though, to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I want to listen to [this radio station.](http://www.radio-esperanto.com). I’ve downloaded WinAmp as advised by the site. I’ve gone to the ‘preferences’ menu and selected ‘ogg.’ When that didn’t seem to work, I also tried selecting ‘all’ with the same results. WinAmp brings up eto.ogg, tells me ‘prebuffering complete,’ and does… nothing. I hit play, just in case. It tells me ‘prebuffering complete’ and continues doing nothing. I throw the laptop off the balcony into the sewage treatment plant. It stinks, but still does nothing. No, the volume isn’t set to mute. I’m not saying I’m not dumb enough to do that, but I double-checked. What’s the idiotic, obvious, completely apparent thing that I should be doing to get to this file? ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/2 "2003-11-10T02:29:02Z")
Winamp 2 Standard/Full and Winamp 3 [comes with built-in Ogg Vorbis support](http://www.vorbis.com/download_win.psp), so yes, it should work out of the box. There might be something wrong with the stream connection. I advise you to test Winamp on a _file_, to make sure it’s actually able to play the Ogg Vorbis audio. You can find some test audio [here](http://www.vorbis.com/music.psp). I would also try a different player program. I use [Foobar2000](http://www.foobar2000.org/), which, despite its name, is as no-nonsense an audio player as you get. It does everything Winamp does, and more. Just a nitpick: The audio format is called Vorbis. The file format is called Ogg. [Together they’re called Ogg Vorbis](http://www.vorbis.com/faq.psp#names). Referring to an audio stream as “Ogg” is a bit like referring to a box of cereal as “cardboard”; just like cardboard boxes can contain other stuff, so can Ogg, and it’s not uncommon to see DivX movies in Ogg format, mostly because it’s a superior format to AVI. Yes, the names are confusing and misleading, but then the open-source world is not known for being user-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/3 "2003-11-10T02:40:46Z")
Just for your information, the stream works fine in foobar2000 on my computer, but it does not work in Winamp 3; same symptoms as you report. I tried saving a chunk of the stream to a file, and it opened fine in both programs, so it’s probably something weird in Winamp’s handling of network streams, or perhaps some incompatibility between Winamp and the server. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/4 "2003-11-10T03:53:54Z")
Thanks! I downloaded Foobar and am now cheerfully listening to silly music in Esperanto. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/5 "2003-11-10T04:44:45Z")
OGG STREAM!! ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/6 "2003-11-10T05:16:00Z")
Say what, **Michael Ellis**? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-use-winamp-to-listen-to-this-ogg-radio-stream/212315/7 "2003-11-10T10:49:57Z")
OGG STREAM RADIO! RUBBISH GO IN EAR!