play audio from internet using AVAudioPlayer - ios

Question

I am implementing AVAudioPlayer to play audio and it works perfectly well while playing files locally stored in the PC.
But when i give the url of some audio file over the internet, it fails sadly.
Here's what the code looks like:
NSString *url = [[NSString alloc] init];
url = #"http://files.website.net/audio/files/audioFile.mp3";
NSURL *fileURL = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString: url];
AVAudioPlayer *newPlayer =[[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL: fileURL error: nil];
Could anybody please point out the problem and what could be done?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Use AVPlayer to stream audio/video based on http url's. It will work fine. AVAudioPlayer is for local files. Here's the code
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:url];
self.avAsset = [AVURLAsset URLAssetWithURL:url options:nil];
self.playerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithAsset:avAsset];
self.audioPlayer = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
[self.audioPlayer play];

Answer 2

This is what the Apple docs say:
The AVAudioPlayer class does not provide support for streaming audio based on HTTP URL's. The URL used with initWithContentsOfURL: must be a File URL (file://). That is, a local path.

Answer 3

I tried other method initWithData on AVAudioPlayer instead of initWithContentsOfURL. First try to get MP3 file into NSData and then play this data.
Look at my code here.

Answer 4

Use AVPlayer and monitor its status to start playback.
Here is a workable example, hope it would be helpful.
#implementation AudioStream
- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary<NSString *,id> *)change context:(void *)context
{
if (context == PlayerStatusContext) {
AVPlayer *thePlayer = (AVPlayer *)object;
switch ([thePlayer status]) {
case AVPlayerStatusReadyToPlay:
NSLog(#"player status ready to play");
[thePlayer play];
break;
case AVPlayerStatusFailed:
NSLog(#"player status failed");
break;
default:
break;
}
return;
} else if (context == ItemStatusContext) {
AVPlayerItem *thePlayerItem = (AVPlayerItem *)object;
switch ([thePlayerItem status]) {
case AVPlayerItemStatusReadyToPlay:
NSLog(#"player item ready to play");
break;
case AVPlayerItemStatusFailed:
NSLog(#"player item failed");
break;
default:
break;
}
return;
}
[super observeValueForKeyPath:keyPath ofObject:object change:change context:context];
}
- (void)playAudioStream
{
NSURL *audioUrl = [NSURL URLWithString:#"your_stream_url"];
AVURLAsset *audioAsset = [AVURLAsset assetWithURL:audioUrl];
AVPlayerItem *audioPlayerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithAsset:audioAsset];
[audioPlayerItem addObserver:self forKeyPath:#"status" options:0 context:ItemStatusContext];
self.player = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:audioPlayerItem];
[self.player addObserver:self forKeyPath:#"status" options:0 context:PlayerStatusContext];
}
#end