Audio In

by Randall Redmond
Summer 2001

One of the hottest aspects of Internet entertainment is music and audio distribution. Now, you can be in California and listen to a radio station in New York or download MP3s of your favorite musicians at your convenience. There are sites that let you walk down memory lane with an old-time dramatic radio show, even sites that let you broadcast your own radio program. Here's a sampling of sites that specialize in providing unique Internet sounds that will be music to your ears.

Broadcast.com
Category: Streaming
[broadcast.com]
Now part of the Yahoo pages, broadcast.com contains a variety of streaming audio programs. Yahoo Radio is a source for hundreds of Internet-based stations including music, sports and talk shows. The "CD Jukebox" lets you listen to over 3,000 streaming albums from start to finish by artists in a number of genres including rock, country, rap, soul, jazz, world and more.

World Class Rock
Category: Streaming
[worldclassrock.com]
As the name suggests, this site focuses on rock 'n' roll from around the world. It contains links to concert information, the latest rock news, online contests and a streaming radio station. There's a forum to connect with others and lots of games you can play.

Artist Archives
Category: Streaming
[friskit.com]
Friskit uses the RealPlayer to play their collection of music and interviews. You can choose from many different genres and get exposure to the latest music in each category. Friskit allows you to search the Web for specific artists or bands. There is a "Buy" button if you want to purchase the album and a "Send" button to share your favorites with friends.

Excite.com
Category: Streaming/MP3
[www.excite.com]
Among the features of this vast site is a database of over a million MP3 and streaming audio files. There are links to downloadable software that allow you to play the files and links to buy concert tickets.

The Artist's Tent
Category: Streaming
[artistent.com]
This site contains interviews and streaming audio and video clips from a small array of contemporary pop artists. There are moderated chats focused on the spotlighted artists, message posting and links to star bios. Aimed at building a community of eclectic pop lovers, this site could be a lot of fun for those who like quirky and unique music.

The Blue Note Club
Category: Streaming
[bluenote.net]
Perhaps one of the most interesting sites for jazz fans, bluenote.net connects to the famous Blue Note Club sites in New York, Las Vegas and Japan. Not only does the site offer live streaming audio of its concerts, but you can chat with musicians, buy tickets, purchase records and access the legendary archives of past performances of famous musicians that played at Blue Note Clubs.

The Beta Lounge
Category: Streaming
[www.betalounge.com]
The Beta Lounge is a new music showcase transmitted live over the Internet every Thursday 8pm - 12am Pacific time from the San Francisco studios of the Network Syndicate. All shows are archived immediately following the live event and are available on this site throughout the week.

Live Concerts
Category: Streaming
[www.liveconcerts.com]
Brought to you by House of Blues and RealNetworks, the Live Concerts Web site streams the audio of selected bands as they play live. The site focuses on only a few pop bands at a time, listing their concert dates so you know when to tune in. There is also an archive of interviews with more than 300 musical artists recorded at the collaborating radio station KCRW.

The Concert Web
Category: MP3
[www.theconcertweb.com]
This site contains links to concert information from all over the world. You can purchase tickets, download MP3s, peruse the online store and link to record labels. Represented on this site is nearly every imaginable style of music.

Archer and Valerie
Category: Streaming/WAV/MP3
[www.archervalerie.com]
Archer and Valerie are a married couple who are also long-time radio personalities. Their pages offer a huge stockpile of audio clips. From sound effects and music beds to archived sound bites from historical figures, these pages are extensive, logically planned and a lot of fun.

Radio of India
Category: International
[radioofindia.com]
Ever wonder what it would be like to tune into a radio station in India? You can. Radio of India lets you hear radio content directly from that distant land. Tune in to this site to hear the latest Indian hits, regional music, even live commentary of cricket matches.

Spinner.com
Category: Streaming
[www.spinner.com]
Spinner.com is an Internet music service that has over 350,000 songs and 150+ music channels covering a diverse range of musical tastes. The free Spinner Plus downloadable music player provides links to artist information and purchase offers. Music downloads and artist promotional features are also available on the site.

The British Library Sound Archive
Category: Streaming
[www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive]
This site accesses streaming audio from samples of the huge British Library National Sound Archive. It has sound bites from historical figures going back to Florence Nightingale (no kidding). It covers both published and unpublished recordings in many genres of music, oral history, drama and literature, language and even wildlife sounds. At present you can listen to samples, but not the entire library. You can use the site to order transcripts, schedule listening times (only practical if you're in the UK) or get copies shipped to your home.

MuBu.com
Category: Music Recommendation
[www.mubu.com]
MuBu.com is a sound-based music recommendation service that allows users to hear and react to music clips. From that reaction they identify each user's unique musical "fingerprint." Users then receive intelligent and qualified recommendations of new music based on those "fingerprints.

Unsigned Radio
Category: Streaming
[www.UnsignedRadio.com]
Unsigned Radio uses several audio formats to showcase bands that aren't signed to major labels. Listeners will find music in a wide variety of genres including Classical, Celtic, Big Band, Acid Rock, Hard Rock, Progressive Jazz, Country and many more. The site features a "Band of the Month" and allows you to create your own Internet radio station.

Reel Radio
Category: Streaming
[www.reelradio.com]
Dedicated to classic top-40 radio broadcasts of the past 40 years, this site offers streaming audio of DJs, jingles and tunes. You can also find extensive written commentary and jokes by many of the radio personalities. Several running contests (kind of like an Internet version of a radio call-in contest) offer CDs of classic top-40 radio material as prizes.