NAME
    StreamFinder - Fetch actual raw streamable URLs from various
    radio-station, video & podcast websites.

INSTALLATION
            To install this module, run the following commands:

            perl Makefile.PL

            make

            make test

            make install

AUTHOR
    This module is Copyright (C) 2017-2026 by

    Jim Turner, "<turnerjw784 at yahoo.com>"

    Email: turnerjw784@yahoo.com

    All rights reserved.

    You may distribute this module under the terms of either the GNU General
    Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README
    file.

SYNOPSIS
            #!/usr/bin/perl

            use strict;

            use StreamFinder;

            die "..usage:  $0 URL\n"  unless ($ARGV[0]);

            my $station = new StreamFinder($ARGV[0]);

            die "Invalid URL or no streams found!\n"  unless ($station);

            my $firstStream = $station->get();

            print "First Stream URL=$firstStream\n";

            my $url = $station->getURL();

            print "Stream URL=$url\n";

            my $stationTitle = $station->getTitle();
        
            print "Title=$stationTitle\n";
        
            my $stationDescription = $station->getTitle('desc');
        
            print "Description=$stationDescription\n";
        
            my $stationID = $station->getID();

            print "Station ID=$stationID\n";
        
            my $artist = $station->{'artist'};

            print "Artist=$artist\n"  if ($artist);
        
            my $genre = $station->{'genre'};

            print "Genre=$genre\n"  if ($genre);
        
            my $icon_url = $station->getIconURL();

            if ($icon_url) {   #SAVE THE ICON TO A TEMP. FILE:

                    print "Icon URL=$icon_url=\n";

                    my ($image_ext, $icon_image) = $station->getIconData();

                    if ($icon_image && open IMGOUT, ">/tmp/${stationID}.$image_ext") {

                            binmode IMGOUT;

                            print IMGOUT $icon_image;

                            close IMGOUT;

                            print "...Icon image downloaded to (/tmp/${stationID}.$image_ext)\n";

                    }

            }

            my $stream_count = $station->count();

            print "--Stream count=$stream_count=\n";

            my @streams = $station->get();

            foreach my $s (@streams) {

                    print "------ stream URL=$s=\n";

            }

DESCRIPTION
    StreamFinder accepts a webpage URL for a valid radio station, video, or
    podcast / episode URL on supported websites and returns the actual
    stream URL(s), title, and cover art icon for that station / podcast /
    video. The purpose is that one needs one of these URLs in order to have
    the option to stream the station / podcast / video in one's own choice
    of media player software rather than using their web browser and
    accepting flash, ads, javascript, cookies, trackers, web-bugs, and other
    crapware associated with that method of play. The author created and
    uses his own custom all-purpose media player called "Fauxdacious Media
    Player" (his custom forked version of the open-source "Audacious Audio
    Player). "Fauxdacious" (<https://wildstar84.wordpress.com/fauxdacious/>)
    incorporates this module via a Perl helper-script to decode and play
    streams, along with their titles / station names, and station / podcast
    / video icons, artists / channel names, genres, and descriptions!

    Please NOTE: StreamFinder is a module, NOT a standalone application. It
    is designed to be used by other Perl applications. To create your own
    very simple application just to fetch stream data manually, simply grab
    the code in the SYNOPSIS section above, save it to an executable text
    file, ie. *StreamFinder.pl*, and run it from the command line with a
    supported streaming site URL as the argument. You can then edit it to
    tailor it to your needs.

    The currently-supported websites are: podcasts.apple.com podcasts
    (StreamFinder::Apple), bitchute.com videos (StreamFinder::Bitchute),
    blogger.com videos (StreamFinder::Blogger), brandnewtube.com (now
    onevsp.com) videos (StreamFinder::BrandNewTube), brighteon.com videos
    (StreamFinder::Brighteon), castbox.fm podcasts (StreamFinder::Castbox),
    theepochtimes.com/epochtv videos (StreamFinder::EpochTV), iheart.com
    (aka iheartradio.com) radio stations and podcasts
    (StreamFinder::IHeartRadio), www.internet-radio.com radio stations
    (StreamFinder::InternetRadio), onlineradiobox.com radio stations
    (StreamFinder::OnlineRadiobox), odysee.com videos
    (StreamFinder::Odysee), podbean.com podcasts (StreamFinder::Podbean),
    podcastaddict.com podcasts (StreamFinder::PodcastAddict), podchaser.com
    podcasts (StreamFinder::Podchaser), prageru.com videos
    (StreamFinder::PragerU), radio.net radio stations
    (StreamFinder::RadioNet), rcast.net radio stations
    (StreamFinder::Rcast), rumble.com videos (StreamFinder::Rumble),
    sermonaudio.com sermons: audio and video (StreamFinder::SermonAudio),
    soundcloud.com (non-paywalled) songs (StreamFinder::SoundCloud)
    (DEPRECIATED), spreaker.com podcasts (StreamFinder::Spreaker),
    subsplash.com podcasts (StreamFinder::Subsplash) (EXPERIMENTAL),
    tunein.com (non-paywalled) radio stations and podcasts
    (StreamFinder::Tunein), vimeo.com videos (StreamFinder::Vimeo),
    youtube.com, et. al and other sites that yt-dlp support
    (StreamFinder::Youtube), zeno.fm radio stations and podcasts
    (StreamFinder::Zeno), and StreamFinder::Anystream - search any (other)
    webpage URL (not supported by any of the other submodules) for streams.

    NOTE: StreamFinder::Podcastaddict is now fully-functional again
    including being able to return playlists from podcast pages!

    NOTE: StreamFinder::Google has been removed as Google Podcasts has shut
    down.

    NOTE: Users should also consider StreamFinder::SoundCloud to now be
    depreciated, as they've added cookie and tracker requirements making it
    impossible to search for songs on their site without enabling, but song
    URLs (when known) seem to still work for now, but without channel/artist
    icons. (Privacy-minded individuals should now be cautious while using
    this site).

    NOTE: For many sites, ie. Youtube, Vimeo, Apple, Spreaker, Castbox,
    PragerU, etc. the "station" object actually refers to a specific video
    or podcast episode, but functions the same way.

    Each site is supported by a separate subpackage
    (StreamFinder::*Package*), which is determined and selected based on the
    URL argument passed to it when the StreamFinder object is created. The
    methods are overloaded by the selected subpackage's methods. An example
    would be StreamFinder::Youtube.

    Please see the POD. documentation for each subpackage for important
    additional information on options and features specific to each site /
    subpackage!

    One or more playable streams can be returned for each station / video /
    podcast, along with at least a "title" (station name / video or podcast
    episode title) and an icon image URL ("iconurl" - if found). Additional
    information that MAY be fetched is a (larger?) banner image
    ("imageurl"), a (longer?) "description", an "artist" / author, a
    "genre", and / or a "year" (podcasts, videos, etc.), an AlbumArtist /
    channel URL, and possibly a second icon image for the channel (podcasts
    and videos). Some sites also provide radio stations' FCC call letters
    ("fccid"). For icon and image URLs, functions exist (getIconData() and
    getImageData()) to fetch the actual binary data and mime type for
    downloading to local storage for use by your application or preferred
    media player. NOTE: StreamFinder::Anystream is not able to return much
    beyond the stream URLs it finds, but please see it's POD documentation
    for details on what it is able to return.

    If you have another streaming site that is not supported, first, make
    sure you have yt-dlp installed and see if StreamFinder::Youtube can
    successfully fetch any streams for it. If not, then please file a
    feature request via email or the CPAN bug system, or (for faster
    service), provide a Perl patch module / program source that can extract
    some or all of the necessary information for streams on that site and
    I'll consider it! The easiest way to do this is to take one of the
    existing submodules, copy it to "StreamFinder::*YOURSITE*.pm", modify it
    (and the POD docs) to your specific site's needs, test it on several of
    their pages (see the "SYNOPSIS" code above), and send it to me (That's
    what I do when I want to add a new site)!

SUBROUTINES/METHODS
    new(*url* [, *options* ])
        Accepts a URL and creates and returns a new station, video, or
        podcast object, or *undef* if the URL is not a valid station or no
        streams are found.

        NOTE: Depending on the type of site being queried, the "station
        object" can be either a streaming station, a video, or a podcast,
        but works the same way (method calls, arguments, etc.).

        NOTE: A full URL must be specified here, but if using any of the
        subpackage modules directly instead, then either a full URL OR just
        the station / video / podcast's site ID may be used! Reason being
        that this function parses the full URL to determine which subpackage
        (site) module to use.

        *options* can vary depending on the type of site that is being
        queried. One option common to all sites is *-debug*, which turns on
        debugging output. A numeric option can follow specifying the level
        (0, 1, or 2). 0 is none, 1 is basic, 2 is detailed. Default: 1 (if
        *-debug* is specified). Warning: 2 will dump a ton of output (mostly
        the HTML of the web page being parsed!

        One specific option (*-omit*, added as of v1.45) permits omitting
        specific submodules which are currently installed from being
        considered. For example, to NOT handle Youtube videos nor use the
        fallback "Anystream" module, specify: *-omit* =>
        *"Youtube,Anystream"*, which will cause StreamFinder::Anystream and
        StreamFinder::Youtube to not be used for the stream search. Default
        is for all installed submodules to be considered. NOTE: Omitting a
        module from being considered when seeking to match the correct
        module by site URL does NOT prevent that module from being invoked
        by a selected module for an embedded link, OR in the case of
        StreamFinder::Youtube being omitted, will still be invoked, if
        required or needed by a non-omitted module initially selected!

        Another global option (applicable to all submodules) is the
        *-secure* option who's argument can be either 0 or 1 (*false* or
        *true*). If 1, then only secure ("https://") streams will be
        returned. NOTE, it's possible that some sites may only contain
        insecure ("http://") streams, which won't return any streams if this
        option is specified. Therefore, it may be necessary, if setting this
        option globally, to set it to zero in the config. files for those
        specific modules, if you determine that to be the case (I have not
        tested all sites for that). Default: *-secure* is 0 (false) - return
        all streams (http and https).

        Any other options (including *-debug*) will be passed to the
        submodule (if any) that handles the URL you pass in, but note,
        submodules accept different options and ignore ones they do not
        recognize. Valid values for some options can also vary across
        different submodules. A better way to change default options for one
        or more submodules is to set up submodule configuration files for
        the ones you wish to change.

        Additional options:

        *-hls_bandwidth* => "*number*"

        Limit HLS (m3u8) streams that contain a list of other HLS streams of
        varying BANDWIDTH values (in BITS per second) by selecting the
        highest bitrate stream at or below the specified limit when
        *$stream*->*getURL()* is called.

        DEFAULT *-none-* (no limiting by bitrate).

        *-log* => "*logfile*"

        Specify path to a log file. If a valid and writable file is
        specified, A line will be appended to this file every time one or
        more streams is successfully fetched for a url.

        DEFAULT *-none-* (no logging).

        *-logfmt* specifies a format string for lines written to the log
        file.

        DEFAULT "*[time] [url] - [site]: [title] ([total])*".

        The valid field *[variables]* are: [stream]: The url of the
        first/best stream found. [site]: The site (submodule) name matching
        the webpage url. [url]: The url searched for streams. [time]: Perl
        timestamp when the line was logged. [title], [artist], [album],
        [description], [year], [genre], [total], [albumartist]: The
        corresponding field data returned (or "*-na-*", if no value).

    $station->get(['playlist'])
        Returns an array of strings representing all stream URLs found. If
        *"playlist"* is specified, then an extended m3u playlist is returned
        instead of stream url(s). NOTE: For podcast sites, if an author /
        channel page url is given, rather than an individual podcast
        episode's url, get() returns the first (latest?) podcast episode
        found, and get("playlist") returns an extended m3u playlist
        containing the urls, titles, etc. for all the podcast episodes found
        on that page url from latest to oldest.

    $station->getURL([*options*])
        Similar to get() except it only returns a single stream representing
        the first valid stream found.

        Current options are: *"random"*, *"nopls"*, and *"noplaylists"*. By
        default, the first ("best"?) stream is returned. If *"random"* is
        specified, then a random one is selected from the list of streams
        found. If *"nopls"* is specified, and the stream to be returned is a
        ".pls" playlist, it is first fetched and the first entry (or a
        random entry if *"random"* is specified) is returned. This is needed
        by Fauxdacious Mediaplayer. If *"noplaylists"* is specified, and the
        stream to be returned is a "playlist" (either .pls or .m3u?
        extension), it is first fetched and the first entry (or a random
        entry if *"random"* is specified) in the playlist is returned.

    $station->count()
        Returns the number of streams found for the station.

    $station->getStationID(['fccid'])
        Returns the station's site ID (default), or station's FCC
        call-letters ("fccid") for applicable sites and stations.

    $station->getTitle(['desc'])
        Returns the station's title, (or long description, if "desc"
        specified).

        NOTE: Some sights do not support a separate long description field,
        so if none found, the standard title field will always be returned.

    $station->getIconURL(['artist'])
        Returns the URL for the station's "cover art" icon image, if any.

        Some video and podcast sites will also provide a separate
        artist/channel icon. If 'artist' is specified, this icon url is
        returned instead, if any.

    $station->getIconData(['artist'])
        Returns a two-element array consisting of the extension (ie. "png",
        "gif", "jpeg", etc.) and the actual icon image (binary data), if
        any. This makes it easy to download the image to local storage for
        use by your preferred media player.

        Some video and podcast sites will also provide a separate
        artist/channel icon. If 'artist' is specified, this icon's data is
        returned instead, if any.

    $station->getImageURL(['artist'])
        Returns the URL for the station's "cover art" banner image, if any.

        NOTE: If no "banner image" (usually a larger image) is found, the
        "icon image" URL will be returned.

        Some video and podcast sites will also provide a separate
        artist/channel image (usually larger). If 'artist' is specified,
        this icon url is returned instead, if any.

    $station->getImageData(['artist'])
        Returns a two-element array consisting of the extension (ie. "png",
        "gif", "jpeg", etc.) and the actual station's banner image (binary
        data). This makes it easy to download the image to local storage for
        use by your preferred media player.

        NOTE: If no "banner image" (usually a larger image) is found, the
        "icon image" data, if any, will be returned.

        Some video and podcast sites will also provide a separate
        artist/channel image (usually larger). If 'artist' is specified,
        this icon's data is returned instead, if any.

    $station->getType()
        Returns the station / podcast / video's type (*submodule-name*).
        (one of: "Anystream", "Apple", "BitChute", "Blogger", "Youtube",
        etc. - depending on the sight that matched the URL).

        Some video and podcast sites will also provide a separate
        artist/channel image (usually larger). If 'artist' is specified,
        this icon url is returned instead, if any.

CONFIGURATION FILES
    The default root location directory for StreamFinder configuration files
    is "~/.config/StreamFinder". To use an alternate location directory,
    specify it in the "*STREAMFINDER*" environment variable, ie.:
    $ENV{STREAMFINDER} = "/etc/StreamFinder".

    ~/.config/StreamFinder/config
        Optional text file for specifying various configuration options.
        Each option is specified on a separate line in the formats below:
        NOTE: Do not follow the lines with a semicolon, comma, or any other
        separator. Non-numeric *values* should be surrounded with quotes,
        either single or double. Blank lines and lines beginning with a "#"
        sign as their first non-blank character are ignored as comments.

        'option' => 'value' [, ...]

        'option' => ['value1', 'value2', ...] [, ...]

        'option' => {'key1' => 'value1', 'key2' => 'value2', ...} [, ...]

        and the options are loaded into a hash used by all sites
        (submodules) that support them. Valid options include *-debug* =>
        [0|1|2] and most of the LWP::UserAgent options.

    ~/.config/StreamFinder/*submodule*/config
        Optional text file for specifying various configuration options for
        a specific site (submodule, ie. "Youtube" for
        StreamFinder::Youtube). Each option is specified on a separate line
        in the formats below:

        'option' => 'value' [, ...]

        'option' => ['value1', 'value2', ...] [, ...]

        'option' => {'key1' => 'value1', 'key2' => 'value2', ...} [, ...]

        and the options are loaded into a hash used only by the specific
        (submodule) specified. Valid options include *-debug* => [0|1|2] and
        most of the LWP::UserAgent options.

        NOTE: Options specified here override any specified in
        *~/.config/StreamFinder/config*.

    NOTE: Options specified in the options parameter list of the *new()*
    function will override those corresponding options specified in these
    files.

DEPENDENCIES
    URI::Escape, HTML::Entities, LWP::UserAgent

RECCOMENDS
    yt-dlp (for Youtube, Bitchute, Blogger, Brighteon, Odysee, Vimeo) NOTE:
    Required for Youtube, Bitchute, and SoundCloud to work.

    wget

BUGS
    Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-streamFinder at
    rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
    <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=StreamFinder>. I will be
    notified, and then you'llautomatically be notified of progress on your
    bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT
    You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

        perldoc StreamFinder

    You can also look for information at:

SEE ALSO
    Fauxdacious media player -
    (<https://wildstar84.wordpress.com/fauxdacious>)

    *   RT: CPAN's request tracker (report bugs here)

        <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=StreamFinder>

    *   Search CPAN

        <http://search.cpan.org/dist/StreamFinder/>

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
    Copyright 2017-2026 Jim Turner.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the the Artistic License (2.0). You may obtain a copy
    of the full license at:

    <http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0>

    Any use, modification, and distribution of the Standard or Modified
    Versions is governed by this Artistic License. By using, modifying or
    distributing the Package, you accept this license. Do not use, modify,
    or distribute the Package, if you do not accept this license.

    If your Modified Version has been derived from a Modified Version made
    by someone other than you, you are nevertheless required to ensure that
    your Modified Version complies with the requirements of this license.

    This license does not grant you the right to use any trademark, service
    mark, tradename, or logo of the Copyright Holder.

    This license includes the non-exclusive, worldwide, free-of-charge
    patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import and
    otherwise transfer the Package with respect to any patent claims
    licensable by the Copyright Holder that are necessarily infringed by the
    Package. If you institute patent litigation (including a cross-claim or
    counterclaim) against any party alleging that the Package constitutes
    direct or contributory patent infringement, then this Artistic License
    to you shall terminate on the date that such litigation is filed.

    Disclaimer of Warranty: THE PACKAGE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER
    AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES.
    THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
    PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
    YOUR LOCAL LAW. UNLESS REQUIRED BY LAW, NO COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR
    CONTRIBUTOR WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR
    CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THE PACKAGE,
    EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

