Audio Help
What audio is available?
All Radio New Zealand audio is free to access, however you may incur data costs by downloading or streaming files.
Live streams
We offer live streams for National, Concert, and International:
To play the streams you will need:
- for Windows PCs, use Windows Media Player. If you already have this installed, check you are using the most up to date version.
- for the Mac OSX, we suggest Flip4Mac or VLC Media Player. VLC player is also available for all other major platforms.
Audio on demand
Most of our programmes are available as audio on demand. This means you can listen to the audio by clicking on links in our website.
Not all audio is available for copyright reasons. Sometimes music or other material may not appear in the web version of something that you heard on air.
Audio on demand is provided in Windows Media format.
Most of our audio is available on the website permanently, but occasionally an item will only be available for 14 days after broadcast.
Our latest audio page contains everything published in the last few days, but each programme has an audio archive available as well. Recent episodes are usually listed in the left hand column of programme pages, and older episodes can be found using the Programme Library link; or by using the website search.
Downloadable audio
Many of our audio on demand items are also available to download, as MP3 or Ogg Vorbis files. Most audio players can use MP3 files.
To download a file, find the 'MP3' link underneath the title, and right click on it. You should then be able to save the file to your computer by selecting 'Save Link As' or 'Save Target As'.
Once the file is on your computer you can play it there, or transfer it to another device such as a portable MP3 player.
Podcasts
We have podcast feeds available for most of our downloadable audio. A podcast feed allows you to subscribe to a particular programme using podcasting software, and automatically receive updates when new content is published.
To listen to podcasts, you will need podcast subscription software. Popular software includes iTunes, Google Reader or My Yahoo.
Recent changes: Modern browsers are changing how they display podcast feed files, and you may find that a page where you could previously see the audio links now looks like code. We have therefore changed how we display our podcast list page as increasing numbers of people are finding that they cannot use the feed files directly any more. Podcast feed files are designed to be used with podcasting software such as iTunes.
Our podcasts also appear in the podcasts section of the iTunes store.
Radio New Zealand for iPhone and Android
For audio on demand plus live streaming you can download the free Radio New Zealand app, which is available for both iPhone and Android. You will need either an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 4.0 or above; or an Android device running Android 2.2 or above.
Download the iPhone app from the App Store
Download the Android app from Google Play
Embedded Audio Player
If you wish to share our audio, you can add it to your own website by using our Embedded Audio Player. Audio items which are available to share will have an 'Embed' link beneath the title. This link will give you a piece of code which you can paste into your webpage, which will then display a small audio player.
Check the terms and conditions for use of the Embedded Audio Player.
Available formats
Audio on demand is available as Windows Media. Podcasts are in MP3 format. Most media players can handle one or the other format. Some pages also have links for Ogg Vorbis and MP3.
The live streams are only available in Windows Media format.
Our Embedded Audio Player uses Flash.
As other technologies evolve and become available we may change the formats offered.
Why Radio New Zealand uses proprietary formats
Both Windows Media and MP3 are proprietary formats, although MP3 has a more open licensing scheme. Windows Media offers us the ability to encapsulate several different streams into one connection. This allows the quality of the service to automatically adjust to speed of your connection.
MP3 is provided for on-demand listening for those who prefer that format, although it does not have the capability to adjust to the speed of your connection. OGG is provided for most programmes for those who prefer a non-patent encumbered format.
What to do when Media Player in Vista has stopped playing your streams
You will need to change some settings on your computer:
- Click the ‘Start’ button (at the bottom left of your screen)
- Select ‘default programs’
- Select ‘change autoplay settings’
- Select ‘restore all defaults’
- Select ‘set program access and computer defaults’
- Scroll down, then choose Windows Media Player as default
- Click OK.
If this does not work, you will need to contact the supplier of your PC, or Microsoft, for assistance.
How to set up Flip4Mac Mac OSX
You will need to install Flip4Mac from Microsoft's website.
Once downloaded, close all browsers and install the software. This will allow on-demand audio to play using Quicktime player.
Audio quality - what to do if the streams sounds like a bad cellphone call
If the quality of the audio is poor, it is likely that you are using an older version of Media Player, or you may be connected to the backup server which has limited bandwidth.
Make sure you have the right version of Windows Media Player.
If you are using Media Player you can download a codec from Microsoft to solve this problem.
If you think you are using the backup stream, try disconnecting and reopening the stream.
Data rates
The standard service has a data rate of 24 kbs. This is roughly equivalent to AM radio quality, and it is delivered via a server in California.
Your internet service provider (ISP) may charge international traffic rates for Radio New Zealand audio content. Some NZ-based ISPs only allow their customers to connect to our US server, which is why it counts as international traffic. You will need to contact your ISP directly about this problem as we are unable to change which servers an ISP allows their customers to connect to.
