A nice feature of the Internet is online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio). These are digital audio services transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means. Internet radio involves streaming media, presenting listeners with a continuous stream of audio that typically cannot be paused or replayed, much like traditional broadcast media. The first Internet radio service was launched in 1993. Nowadays most popular radio stations also have an Internet radio stream and there are a lot of specialized radio stations, for instance I really like outlaw country music, and I have a few nice stations in the USA. Kind regards, Hein Pragt.
Building and ESP32 internet radio
So building an Internet radio is not that hard, we need a HTTP stack and a MP3 decoder. Both are available at a very good price, and we also add a simple display and a button to select a station. I have a 3D printer so I created a nice case as well. Lets start with the part list:
- A VS1053 MP3 codec board;
- ESP32 board (I used a WROOM version);
- OLED 64*128 display module I2C;
- Push button;
- 10 K resistor;
Oled Display Module 0.96 128×64 I2C
The display I used is a fairly standard OLED cheap display with white pixels, a resolution of 128 x 64 pixels and a control by means of I2C by the the SSD1306 driver IC. This shield also only needs two data lines and it consumes minimal current so that it can also be used in projects that need to be powered by a battery or battery. The size of this screen is slightly larger than the previous one and measures 26.0 x 15.0 mm. The module runs on 3v3 and can be connected to the outputs of the 3v3 output of the ESP32 and the I2C lines do not need voltage converters. The I2C address of this OLED shield is 0x3C by default. The screen is very clearly readable due to a very high contrast. The SSD1306 is a single-chip CMOS OLED/PLED driver with controller for displays with a maximom resolution of 128 x 64. The IC contains a display controller with display RAM and a built-in oscillator so that it can be used with minimal external components. It has a built-in 256 steps brightness control. It has a 6800/8000 series compatible Parallel Interface and a I2C interface.
VS1053 MP3 codec board
The VS1003 audio codec module is a complete MP3/WMA/MIDI audio decoder and ADPCM encoder that features a high quality stereo DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), a 16-bit adjustable ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) and a high quality stereo earphone driver (30 ohms). This module is ideal for adding audio decoding and encoding capabilities to embedded systems. It has a serial data and control interface (SPI) that makes it easy to connect to the ESP32 or any othe board that has an SPI interface. It also has a headphone and audio output interface and a microphone for recording but we cont be using this. It supports MP3 and WAV stream and has a single 5 V power supply that is On-board converted to 3.3 V and 2.5 V for the chips on the board and it uses about 800 mA. When we feed it with 32 bytes chunks of audio data, it will decode and output the audio trough the headphone jack. We can connect this to an amplifier to play it on a stereo set or PC speaker set.
ESP32 connections
ESP32 internet radio shematics
Connecting everything up is not that hard, although the pins on the ESP32 are very hard to read because the text is very small. Also check the pins of the ESP32 board you have, I have noticed some difference in different boards. The name of the pin is the clue you have to follow. The entire device is powered through the micro-usb port of the ESP32. Load the code in the Arduino IDE (you have to make sure it supports the ESO32 first) and you may have to download some additional libraries like the “ESP_VS1053_Library-master” and the “esp8266-oled-ssd1306-master” library. Find the place in the code where you have to put your WIFI network name and password and compile the code.
After uploading the software it will say a welcome phrase and then connect to the WIFI. It will remember the last station you selected and then start streaming the MP3 data to the MP3 codec and you will hear the internet radio station. I really like this little device and I have filled the array in the source code with a few radio stations, you can delete and add your own, as you like and personalize the device. Have fun.
The ESP32 sourcecode
Do not copy and paste, the download link is below the listing!
// ----------------------------------------------------------------
// ESP32 + VS1053 Internet radio
// Hein Pragt 2022
//
// VS1053 - connections
// XRST = EN (D3)
// MISO = D19
// MOSI = D23
// SCLK = D18
// VCC = 5V / 3.3 V and Gnd = Gnd
// ----------------------------------------------------------------
#include <VS1053.h>
#include <Preferences.h>
#include "StartMp3.h"
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <HTTPClient.h>
#include <esp_wifi.h>
#include "SSD1306.h"
char ssid[] = "your wifi ssid";
char pass[] = "your wifi password";
Preferences preferences;
SSD1306 display(0x3c, 21,22);
WiFiClient client;
unsigned int counter,old_counter;
int change = 13;
bool pinflag = true;
int status = WL_IDLE_STATUS;
uint8_t mp3buffer[128];
struct _stationList {
char sname[64];
char host[128];
char path[128];
int port;
} stationList[] = {
{ "NPO Radio 1 " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/radio1-bb-mp3", 80 },
{ "NPO Radio 2 " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/radio2-bb-mp3", 80 },
{ "NPO 2 S & J " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/radio6-bb-mp3", 80 },
{ "NPO 3FM " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/3fm-bb-mp3", 80 },
{ "NPO 3FM Alt " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/3fm-alternative-mp3", 80 },
{ "NPO Radio 5 " , "icecast.omroep.nl", "/radio5-bb-mp3", 80 },
{ "538 Radio " , "20073.live.streamtheworld.com", "/RADIO538.mp3", 80 },
{ "QMusic " , "icecast-qmusicnl-cdp.triple-it.nl", "/Qmusic_nl_live.mp3", 80 },
{ "Radio 10 " , "25533.live.streamtheworld.com", "/RADIO10.mp3", 80 },
{ "Radio 10 70 " , "22343.live.streamtheworld.com", "/TLPSTR18.mp3", 80 },
{ "Radio 10 80 " , "25233.live.streamtheworld.com", "/TLPSTR20.mp3", 80 },
{ "Radio 10 90 " , "25353.live.streamtheworld.com", "/TLPSTR22.mp3", 80 },
{ "Radio 10 Love" , "25293.live.streamtheworld.com", "/TLPSTR04.mp3", 80 },
{ "Veronica " , "22343.live.streamtheworld.com", "/VERONICA.mp3", 80 },
{ "Sky Radio " , "25293.live.streamtheworld.com", "/SKYRADIO.mp3", 80 },
{ "Country Rocks" , "stream.dbmedia.se", "/crrMP3", 80 },
{ "Outlaw Country" , "ice10.securenetsystems.net", "/KIEV2", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 },
{ "~" , "0", "0", 80 }
};
// Wiring of VS1053 board (SPI connected in a standard way)
#define VS1053_CS 32
#define VS1053_DCS 33
#define VS1053_DREQ 35
#define VOLUME 100 // volume level 0-100
VS1053 player(VS1053_CS, VS1053_DCS, VS1053_DREQ);
// -----------------------------------------
// Setup and init
// -----------------------------------------
void setup ()
{
display.init();
display.invertDisplay();
display.setFont(ArialMT_Plain_16);
display.normalDisplay();
display.setColor(WHITE);
display.drawString(0,0," ESP32 Radio");
display.setFont(ArialMT_Plain_10);
pinMode(change,INPUT_PULLUP);
Serial.begin(115200);
delay(500);
SPI.begin();
player.begin(); // initialize VS1053 player
player.setVolume(VOLUME);
WiFi.begin(ssid, pass);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("WiFi connected");
Serial.print("IP address:");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
display.setColor(WHITE);
preferences.begin("my-app", false);
counter = preferences.getUInt("counter", 0);
old_counter = counter;
delay(100);
player.playChunk(StartUp, sizeof(StartUp)); //VS1053 is wake up & running
delay(1000);
station_connect(counter);
}
// -----------------------------------------
// Main loop
// -----------------------------------------
void loop()
{
// Play stream
if (client.available() > 0) {
uint8_t bytesread = client.read(mp3buffer, 128);
player.playChunk(mp3buffer, bytesread);
}
// Check key
if (digitalRead(change) == 0 and pinflag == true) {
pinflag = false;
counter++;
if (stationList[counter].sname[0] == '~') { // Empty field
counter = 0;
}
}
if (old_counter != counter) {
player.softReset();
pinflag = true;
station_connect(counter);
old_counter = counter;
}
}
// -----------------------------------------
// Connect to radiostation
// -----------------------------------------
void station_connect (int station_no)
{
if (client.connect(stationList[station_no].host,stationList[station_no].port) ) {
Serial.println("Connected now");
}
client.setNoDelay(true);
Serial.print(String("GET ") + stationList[station_no].path + " HTTP/1.1\r\n" + "Host: " + stationList[station_no].host + "\r\n" + "Connection: close\r\n\r\n");
client.print(String("GET ") + stationList[station_no].path + " HTTP/1.1\r\n" + "Host: " + stationList[station_no].host + "\r\n" + "Connection: close\r\n\r\n");
display.clear();
display.setFont(ArialMT_Plain_16);
display.drawString(0,0,"ESP32 Radio");
display.drawString(0,21,"Station: " + String(station_no));
String line4 = String(stationList[station_no].sname);
display.drawString(0,42,line4.substring(0,60));
display.display();
preferences.putUInt("counter",station_no);
Serial.printf("Set counter to new_value: %u\n", station_no);
}
Downloads
Download: Full sourcecode Zip file.
To compile the code you will need some libraries, i have used the next libraries:
- ESP_VS1053_Library-master
- esp8266-oled-ssd1306-master
This is my build
I also have a 3D printer and I design using Freecad so I made my own case for this internet radio.
