Nearly all media on REELRADIO is encoded in AAC and streamed to a player on your computer. To listen to the exhibits, you will need an app that can stream AAC over RTSP (Real-time Streaming Protocol). We recommend VideoLAN VLC, which is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS.

We want to move away from an external player. Because there are over 3000 exhibits, this is a massive project, and it is taking lots of time. Conversion is ongoing and the plan is to provide an in-browser player when the conversion is complete.

Windows Users: READ THIS
By default, VLC does not register itself as an RTSP player on Windows 10. To fix this, download and launch the file below that will add a key to your Windows registry. Once done, VLC will be automatically opened when you click on an exhibit to play.

Click to download Windows registry fix

You can see if you are logged in at https://reelradio.com/user/main.php. If you ARE logged in, you will see a customized WELCOME message on the left side of the screen. If you have tried to log in but do not see the WELCOME message, your browser may not be accepting our cookies, or your account may be expired and deleted.

Mac Users: VLC should register itself as an RTSP player. It has been tested on Safari and Chrome for Mac. If it is not working, launch VLC and do the following:

1. Pull down the VLC menu and select Preferences...
2. Click on the Input/Codecs icon at the top of the Preferences window.
3. Click on the Edit default application settings for network procols button in the Network section.
4. For RTSP make sure VLC is selected.

Windows Users: For reasons unknown, VLC does not by default play RTSP streams. A registry key is needed to enable playback of VLC streams. Download this registry fix and launch it. It will confirm that you wish to edit the registry.

The registry fix assumes VLC is installed in the default location of C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe. If your VLC application is installed elsewhere, you can edit the file with Notepad and change the path to the VLC executable. Then launch the file.

The 64-bit version of VLC is most appropriate for most Windows users. If you are running Windows 10, or you are running Windows 7 on a computer less than ten years old, you most likely have the 64-bit version of the operating system on your computer. If you installed the 32-bit version of VLC, please use this registry fix. It will replace the registry key you previously installed.

RTSP streaming is very sensitive to latency (how long it takes the data to get from our server to your device). There is a setting in the VLC Preferences that can help.

1. Open up the VLC Preferences (under the Tools menu in the Windows version; under the VLC menu in the Mac version).
2. Click on the Input/Codecs icon.
3. Use the popup menu under Default Caching Level to its highest latecy setting.

NO! We are licensed to stream exhibits that include copyrighted music. We pay licensing fees to ASCAP, BMI, and others to ensure that the artists are faily compensated. Please do not download or redistibute the audio files. We believe that the subscription fees of USD $10 every six months is fair and reasonable for the size and quality of our collection.