Add another music source

By the end of this page the station takes records from two music sources at once, you know which copy plays when a record is on both, and you have made a playlist of the station's own from a link you pasted, including one your account does not list, such as a playlist a friend shared.

The library explains every source in full: what each one needs before its audio will play, which ones ship switched off and why, and how a playlist is taken in.

You need a station that already plays from one source, as Your first hour on air leaves it, and an account or a server for the second.

1. Switch on the second source

Open Settings → Plugins and open the plugin for the source you are adding. Switch it on, fill in its settings, and press Save configuration. Saving restarts the plugin, so there is nothing else to restart. Then press Test connection: You should see "Connected."

Every field is described on the plugin's own page. In brief:

Navidrome, or another Subsonic server: Server URL, Username and Password. Stream format and Maximum bitrate (kbps) are optional.

Jellyfin: Server URL, an API key made under API Keys in Jellyfin's dashboard, and the Username to read the library as. That user's access decides what the station sees.

Emby: the same three fields. The key is made in Emby's server settings, under Advanced, then API Keys.

Plex: Server URL, which is the server itself with its port (http://your-server:32400), not app.plex.tv, and your Plex token.

Spotify: Client ID and Redirect URI from your app on Spotify's developer dashboard, then both authorizations on the plugin's page, exactly as Your first hour on air describes. The audio needs Spotify Premium.

YouTube Music: the Cookie header copied from a browser signed in to music.youtube.com (the field's help says where to find it). Leave Audio resolver URL as it is in the station image. If that browser is signed in to more than one Google account, Google account picks which one, and Test connection names the account it reached. The cookie expires on Google's schedule, and you paste a fresh one when the plugin says so.

Pandora: the Email and Password of the account. The audio needs Pandora Premium, the plugin works only from the US, and an account plays one stream at a time.

Apple Music: a Storefront, the two-letter code of the country whose catalogue to read (us, gb, de). With only that, the station can search Apple Music but brings in no playlists. Team ID, Key ID and MusicKit private key add playlists, and need a paid Apple Developer membership. The audio needs a subscription, one of the -apple image tags, and a one-time sign-in.

Deezer, MusicBrainz and Last.fm are not music sources. They tell the station about records and who sounds like whom, and play nothing.

2. Let the library take it in

Open Library → Playlists and press Refresh now. The station would read the new source within the hour on its own; this does it at once. The activity feed says when it is done.

You should see two groups on the page: The station's own at the top, if you have any, and From the music sources, now with playlists from both. A media server adds a playlist called Everything after your own, which is its whole library.

3. Check which copy plays

Open a record that both sources carry, from Library → Tracks. Under Copies there is one line per source. A record is one entry in the library however many sources have it, so its rating, its airings and what the sources say about it are shared by every copy.

Which copy airs depends on how the record got into the running order:

• From one source's playlist, put on air with Air this playlist: that source's copy.
• Everything else, from the station's own picks to a playlist of its own: first the copy that suits Explicit content under Settings → Rotation, where a record has an explicit and a clean version. A source that cannot fetch audio at all is passed over. Beyond that there is no setting that ranks one source above another, so either copy may play.

A copy that fails four times in a row is benched, and the record plays from another source's copy while it is. The next walk of the library gives the benched copy another chance, if its source still lists it.

4. Import a playlist from a link

Copy the playlist's address from the browser or the app's share button. Then:

1. On Library → Playlists, press Import.
2. Choose the Link tab and paste it into Playlist link.
3. Press Preview.

These are the links the station recognises, each only while that source is switched on:

Source	The link looks like
Spotify	open.spotify.com/playlist/…, an embed link, or a spotify:playlist: URI
YouTube Music	music.youtube.com/playlist?list=…. A YouTube link with list= in it works too
Apple Music	music.apple.com/…/playlist/…, as the share button writes it
Pandora	pandora.com/playlist/PL:…
Navidrome	the address of a playlist's page in Navidrome's web app
Jellyfin, Emby	the address of a playlist's page in the server's web app
Plex	the address of a playlist's page in Plex Web, from app.plex.tv or the server itself

A media server's link is recognised only when it points at the same server the plugin is set up for, so open its web app at the address in Server URL. An Apple Music playlist is read in the plugin's own storefront, whichever country the link names.

You should see a preview: how many of the playlist's records the library already holds, and how many it will look up. Change Name if you like, then press Import. The button counts the records.

The new playlist joins The station's own at the top of the page. A record the library does not hold yet keeps its place and is drawn dimmed, and the station looks it up straight away, asking the source the link came from first. The activity feed says how many it found.

5. Put it on

Open the new playlist and press Air this playlist. It plays in its own order, under your dislikes and Explicit content, with each record from whichever source has a copy.

If it goes wrong

• Test connection fails. The plugin's page shows the last error. On a media server, check Server URL opens in a browser on the station's own network; on YouTube Music, paste a fresh cookie.
• The new source's playlists do not appear. Press Refresh now again and wait for the activity feed. A source that is not answering is named at the top of Library → Playlists, with why.
• The preview says none of the station's music sources recognises the link. The source is switched off, the link is to an album or a song rather than a playlist, or a media server's link uses a different address from Server URL (a name where the plugin has a number, say).
• An Apple Music link says a MusicKit key is needed. Fill in Team ID, Key ID and MusicKit private key. Without them Apple Music lends no playlists.
• The imported playlist stays dimmed. Nothing is looked up while Play records the station does not own yet under Settings → Rotation is off. Turn it on, then press Look up missing records on the playlist's page.
• Records from the new source are listed and skipped. Its audio is missing a piece: Spotify's playback authorization, Pandora or Spotify Premium, or the -apple image for Apple Music.

Next

• The library for importing from a file or a pasted list, and for exporting a playlist to another station.
• Make a show to give the new playlist a regular slot on the timetable.