Put the Fun Back in Radio!
In the world of electronic media, what could be more charmingly retro than radio? You may recall, with affection, the first transistor radio or first boombox you ever owned. Indeed, millions of radios still sell with analog tuner dials that bring in as much over-the-air static as they do broadcast voice or music. But this ain't your father's radio anymore. Forget about transmission towers, 50,000 watts of power and pirate broadcasts.
This article will introduce you to Internet Radio, a technology that has revolutionized the medium and our interactions with it. You'll find out how to access it, how to customize the experience, what devices you can use, and how to rekindle the excitement you first felt about radio when you were a kid.
Internet Radio Networks
Chances are, your favorite local radio station already streams its broadcast signal on the Internet. But heading to one station’s Web site to listen to some country music, then another station’s Web site to listen to a football game seems like a pretty clumsy way to use Internet radio. After all, station-surfing is one of the great pleasures of radio.
A far better approach is to use one of the Internet Radio Networks (or radio aggregators) that have sprung up. Three of the most well known include Shoutcast, Live365, and Yahoo LaunchCast. AOL and MSN subscribers have access to their own Internet radio networks.
Your laptop or desktop PC will need a streaming audio player to use these networks and receive Internet broadcasts. WinAmp, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, Sonique and others can provide you with access to these and other Internet radio networks.If you don't already have an audio player, you'll be prompted to download it.
Once you've got the player, you can begin to browse the station guide.You'll be staggered by the choices. Over the air, we're used to a handful of radio genres (easy listening, country, rock, hip-hop, talk, etc). On the Internet, no niche is too small.
Want to listen to nothing but music from Anime films and Anime-influenced games? How about all Celtic music, all the time? Love old-time radio drama? Nothing but bluegrass? Contemporary and traditional Hawaiian music? Broadway themes? UK Garage electronica? All these and more await you on Internet radio.
The stations come from a variety of different sources: over-the-air AM, FM and shortwave stations from around the world, streaming their broadcast; stations that exist purely for Internet broadcast; and even some music enthusiasts who have become online DJs, Webcasting to anyone who'll listen. A majority of the time, these broadcasts are commercial-free-and you're bound to hear music and talk you would never hear over-the-air.
Network station guides let you know what tune or piece is playing currently. In addition, you can search for any particular artist, or piece of music, or genre, to locate what you'd like now – and you can sort these lists by genre, station title or audio quality.
You don't need to dedicate your entire computer to playing Internet Radio; audio will play quite contentedly in the background while you sort through your email, fiddle with numbers on a spreadsheet, or review photos uploaded from your digital camera. Sound quality will vary to some degree, depending on the bitrate of the Internet broadcast. Lower bandwidth stations encode the audio Webcast at FM-radio quality (32kbps); higher bandwidth stations encode for CD-quality sound (64kbps). Naturally, a broadband connection--via DSL, cable or WiFi--will provide better sound quality, while avoiding the occasional audio stutters a dial-up connection creates. But Internet Radio is one of the best "background" applications you can run on your desktop or laptop computer, regardless of your connection speed.
Customizing the Experience
While you can browse these stations to your heart's content, the real power of Internet Radio will be unleashed when you sign up for membership. At Live365, for example, you can quickly create pre-set lists of stations-in essence, creating your own radio dial and dashboard. Live365 will also make recommendations of stations to peruse or add to your pre-sets, based on your past listening history.
Let's face it: when you cycle through an AM or FM band, you’ll never listen to 90% of the stations on the dial. Imagine a radio dial that only contains stations you define: country and Christian music stations, or Smooth Jazz and R&B stations, or anything else you want, and re-configurable with a few mouse clicks. Most Internet radio networks will allow you to rate individual tracks. Over time, Internet-only radio station broadcasts will begin customizing their playlists for you. For example, if you're an 80s-rock kind of person, and love Guns 'N Roses but hate Poison, you can "train" the broadcast stream to skip the Poison tracks.
How many times have you listened to over-the-air radio, heard a piece of music you liked, and wished you could magically buy the CD? With Internet Radio, this is a dream come true: a click-to-buy button is normally accessible, anytime you're listening to a tune. Often, you can also create wish lists of favorite tracks, for listening or purchasing. All this is usually available with basic memberships that are free. Monthly subscription memberships (which usually run just a few dollars a month) provide even more features. For example, with some monthly subscription services, you'll have access to an even greater number of stations. Often, you'll also be able to skip forward through a song you don't like. And you'll be unburdened of most of the banner ads and occasional audio ads that accompany many free memberships.
LaunchCast Plus, a service with a small monthly fee, allows you to personalize individual stations. For example, you can create a station that plays only Charlie Mingus and Miles Davis, or only Mozart, Bach and Beethoven.
XM or Sirius for All of Us
A slightly different flavor of Internet Radio comes from XM and Sirius. Although primarily satellite radio networks, both services offer their programming online. Currently, Sirius requires you to be a full subscriber to use its Internet Radio service. But XM Radio Online (which includes all of the commercial-free music stations and exclusive online programming) offers an Internet-only subscription plan. Both services offer free 3-day demos of their Internet Radio package.
Internet Radio Beyond the PC
Love Internet Radio, but hate the PC? Other devices can deliver Internet Radio. A few examples:
Wish List
Internet Radio will continue to evolve. Cell phones are only one step away from operating as Internet Radio tuners. And as we move away from the buying of CDs and tapes and towards the purchasing of MP3s, it will only make sense to click on a "Buy the MP3" button, when we hear a tune we like.
And hey, I can TiVo my TV shows -- how about my Internet Radio broadcasts? Well, that day is already here. Check out Replay Radio, which will "record" the streaming audio to MP3 files, which you can then move to your iPod or burn to CD. You can even use Replay Radio on your pocket PC.
No one expects to soon write the epitaph for over-the-air broadcast radio. But if you love the radio listening experience, you owe it to yourself to investigate Internet Radio - and you may find that you can't go back to the world of AM and FM.
[Sidebar: Looking for More Information?]
These Web sites will offer even more information on the Internet Radio phenomenon, along with the services mentioned in this article:
www.spinner.com - AOL/Netscape radio
www.xmradio.com/xstream - XM Radio Online
www.replay-radio.com - 'TiVo' for Internet Radio
www.kurthanson.com - the Internet Radio insider newsletter
[Sidebar: So You Wanna Be a DJ?]
Ever dreamed of running your own radio station, and broadcasting the music or talk that uniquely expresses your vision? The Internet Radio networks mentioned in this article provide you with the software tools and easy tutorials to get you up and running as an online radio broadcaster – and you won't even have to sell radio air time to pay the bills!
Even if you don't want to go quite that far, you can still share playlists and pre-sets with anyone online. It's like the days when you made customized cassette tapes for friends, but a whole lot faster and easier.
[Sidebar: Searching Audio Files Online]
The Internet is customizing and enhancing over-the-air radio as well. A great example is new technology developed by National Public Radio (NPR), which rapidly lists the contents of its online audio files with Google and other search engines. The technology transcribes audio files automatically, so that the full textual content of the radio feature, interview or documentary will be available minutes after broadcast. That means that if you hear a piece on the radio, you can get home and immediately search for either a transcription or the actual audio file for re-listening.
Digg This!
del.icio.us
Technorati
Reddit