Click to stream .m3u files in Ubuntu

I just recently heard about CCMixter.org on FLOSS Weekly. CCMixter.org is a resource and collaborative space for musicians and remixers. They have thousands of music tracks which can be downloaded, remixed, sampled, or streamed.

I recently did a fresh install of Ubuntu on the computer I was using, and clicking on any of CCMixter’s streaming links caused a window to pop up asking me if I wanted to play the stream using Rhythmbox or “Other”. Selecting Rhythmbox popped up Rhythmbox, but it wouldn’t play the stream. Googling around a bit led me to discussions of Rhythmbox brokenness going back to 2008, so I took a different tack.

I fired up Synaptic Package Manager and installed the VLC Media Player.

Then I clicked the gear icon on Unity’s upper right menu bar, selected “About this Computer”, clicked Default Applications, and changed the default application for Music to “VLC Media Player.”

Now when I click on a link to an .m3u stream, Ubuntu sends the link to VLC, and the music starts to play.

Hope you find this useful.