Online Radio With Streaming Audio
The first radio broadcasts occurred in the beginning of the last century, and since then radio has become a very large part of daily life. Only a few years ago, radio paved its way into the online world with streaming audio. Online radio is spreading fast and steadily, both among older people who are used to this classical media, and younger generations who also enjoy listening to talk shows and music. This is all possible thanks to the streaming audio technology, and we bow and say our thanks to the computing folks that developed this nífty aspect of Internet!
Where to find online radio stations?
Now this question instantly highlights the evolving nature of online radio. Though it’s not a difficult task to locate larger international radio networks in the online world (read: BBC with it’s multiple streaming audio channels). To find smaller radio stations that are not located in the larger western countries can be a demanding trial. To your aid comes the online radio directories! Live365.com is such a directory, offering categories and membership for those who are really into online radio. I noticed they have an International category, which was impressive, though I hope this will grow considerably.
Radiotower.com also offers many categories, and they also provide you with a “Countries” list, where you can simply select your country of interest, and you are presented with a list of the registered radio stations there. This feature strikes me as one notch better than Live365’s “International” category.
To find obscure (but fun!) radio stations with a single streaming audio channel, is much easier with these directories. Though of course not all small radio stations are listed.
These smaller online radio stations often suffer from lousy connection speeds. Sometimes the connection can also be right down unfunctional. It seems that availability of online radio for established radio stations, is not yet looked upon as very important. But merely the presence is a sign that we’re getting to the point of total online radio coverage!
Connection speed?
This question is rather a simplification of two questions. First of all, if you have something less than a broadband connection between your home to your Internet Service Provider, I suggest you forget online radio for the time being. Though streaming audio does not require loads of bandwidth, it is still more network intensive than say loading a newspaper web site with all its text, images and Flash animations (because I’m sure your daily newspaper also uses plenty of Flash on its web site..)
Media players that work well with online radio (streaming audio)
To choose a media player. This subject can cause lots of heated debate among computer savvy people, but today there are basically only a few really widely accepted media players. First of all, I’ll mention Winamp. Secondly, I’ll add iTunes (Mac and Windows).
Okay everyone, I know you have comments on this, so let’s hear them!
I’m off to listen to some cool Spanish contemporary music. Just makes you want to close your eyes and imagine you’re on the beach, hay? Life is good!
Let it stream,
P-C Markovski
Tags: entertainment, music, Online, radio, talk show
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