Internet Radio: The World of Radio on your Computer!

Internet Radio offers you the entire world right on your computer! Many stations also offer an over-the-air counterpart, but there are many that do not. Internet radio is also know as web casting or as streaming media, since you are not actually downloading the content. Pod casting is another popular way of listening to audio, but involves downloading media files to your computer and then listening to them using audio software like Windows Media Player.

Major audio networks like Clear Channel offers streaming radio internationally to listeners! Other networks like CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting also offer international streaming of news, talk, sports and lots of different genres of music.

Internet radio usually streams using a lossy (compressed multimedia file) audio codec and has a slight time delay called lag when listening, but this delay does not affect the quality of the audio. Lossy audio compression involves stripping away unneeded sound in audio such as silence, high and low frequencies, to reduce the amount of data in the file so it can be streamed more easily over the internet. Programming is offered in many different audio formats including the MP3, Windows Media Audio, RealAudio, Ogg Vorbis, HE-AAC and accPlus formats.

Internet Radio Stations

www.Pandora.com offers a unique twist in the streaming content world and calls itself the "Music Genome Project". Either choose other listeners custom radio stations or make one of your own! You can choose the song or artist's name and stream to your computer or preferred internet radio hardware device.

In the year 2000, Pandora's team of fifty musician-analysts, started analyzing music just one song at a time. By studying and collecting over 400 music attributes on each song such as, a recordings magical sound, melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, lyrics, vocals and tempo, they created a method to suggest similar styles of music that you might enjoy listening to. Pandora offers a free version with commercials or a commercial-free version for a fee.

Radio stations from around the world stream their shows on the internet. Below, I have listed several popular internet radio stations and networks, but keep in mind that there are more than 16,000 individual stations that are impossible to list here!

www.live365.com has a huge selection of music genres for every listening taste. You will also find many stations that stream at 128 k, but you must upgrade your account for this feature.

• Internet Talk Radio Sites
• Big Media USA website
• Web Talk Radio website
• Voice America website
• Blog Talk Radio website
• wsRadio website
• BBSRadio website

Internet Radio Stations from Around the World... General ABC NewsRadio - Australia Life FM - Adelaide, Australia Fresh FM - Adelaide, Australia RTRFM - Perth, Australia FOX FM (Melbourne), Australia SA FM - Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 104.1 Territory FM - Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia Radio New Zealand Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Television Radio Canada CTV - Canada CityPulse 24 - Canada HMWN - Canada Star Ray TV - Canada CHEV - Canada National Public Radio - United States Radio Disney - United States Radio Maria (USA) Voice of America WMMT (FM) - United States Deutsche Welle - Germany Radio Nacional de Espana - Spain Ananova Radio Rai - Italy Radio France - France Sveriges Radio - Sweden France Televisions - France Oui FM - France YLE - Finland ERT - Greece RFI - France Danmarks Radio - Denmark Radio Netherlands Rai News 24 - Italy Slam!FM - Netherlands AME Info Business Features/Music Arutz Sheva - (Israeli Nationalists Radio) Israel Broadcasting Authority Jerusalem Post Radio Israel Defense Forces Radio Galgalatz - (Israeli music and entertainment network, operated by the Israel Defense Forces) China Radio International Radio Television Hong Kong 3KND - Australia WRocK Online - Philippines Radio Ekattor-Bangladesh BBC BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 5 Live BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 1 Xtra BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra BBC Asian Network BBC Local Radio - England and the Channel Islands BBC Radio Foyle - Northern Ireland BBC Radio Ulster - Northern Ireland BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal - Scottish Gaelic BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Cymru - Welsh BBC Radio Wales BBC World News - Television BBC World Service BBC News BBC Parliament Radio France FIP France International France Info France Culture Le Mouv France Bleu France Musique Indian Internet Radios Radio Maska www.in.com MyOpusRadio.com RadioJoyAlukkas.com Raidio Teilifis Eireann RTE Radio 1 (music and speech based broadcasting) RTE 2fm (rock and pop music station) RTE lyric fm (classical music plus jazz, world music and arts) RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta (the Irish language station targeted at the Gaeltacht, and the Irish language-speaking community of Ireland) RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana Rai Radio Uno (News/Talk) Rai Radio Due (Adult contemporary music) Rai Radio Tre (Classical music) Rai Sender Bozen (in German language) Satelradio Weather AccuWeather Current affairs C-SPAN Entertainment and Music Community/public/campus/college/university stations CHSR-FM CIUT-FM CJRT-FM CJSF-FM CJSR-FM Claremorris community radio Fresh Air (Edinburgh) KBAQ KCMP KCRW KDVS KEXP KFAI KFJC KGNU KKJZ KNAU KNHC KJHK KSDT Radio KMST KTEQ KTU radio Gaudeamus KTUH Kube Radio KUMD KUMM KUOM KUSF KUVO KVSC KVMR-FM KWUR KZSC LSRfm.com Surge The X KXRX WBUL WCPE-FM WEFT WERS WESU WETS-FM WFMU WHRW WKNC-FM WKSU WKUF-LP WMBI-FM WMHB WHUS WORT WREK WVYC WXPN WZBC Xtreme Radio Religious Stations KLOVE Mormon Channel Vatican Radio Tourist/Park information stations CFPE Corporate owned stations CFOX-FM KDFC KFOG/KFFG KPIG KXXR WBLK WKBF WMMQ WMEZ WSM (AM) WTAM WXBM Virgin Radio CBS owned stations CSTV XXL KAMP-FM KCBS KCBS-FM KCMD-AM KDKA KEZK KFRC-FM KFRG KFWB KHJZ KHTK KILT KILT-FM KIMN KINK KITS KJAQ KJKK KLLC KLTH KLUC KLUV KMLE KMOX KMPS KMVK KMXB KNCI KNX KOOL KPTK KQJK KRLD KRLD-FM KROQ KRTH KSCF KSFM KTWV KUFO KUPL KVFG KVIL KWLI KXFG KXJM KXKL KXNT KXTE KYCY KYDZ KYKY KYMX KYW KYXY KZJK KZOK KZON KZZO WAOK WBBM WBBM-FM WBCN WBZ WCBS WCBS-FM WCCO WCKG WDOK WDSY WDZH WFAN WFNZ WHFS WINS WIP WJFK-FM WJMK WJZ WKQC WKRK WLIF WLLD WLTE WLZL WNCX WNKS WODS WOGL WOMC WPGC WPGC-FM WPHT WQAL WQSR WQYK WQYK-FM WRBQ WRCH WSCR WSJT WSOC-FM WTIC WTIC-FM WUSN WVEE WWFS WWJ WWMX WXRK WXRT WXYT WXYT-FM WYCD WYSP WYUU WZGC WZLX WZPT Internet-Only 1Radio.org 96.5 The Noize ABC DiG AccuRadio Afterhours.FM All Urban Radio AOL Radio Campus Radio Online Dandelion Radio Deezer DWXB-FM East Village Radio FatCat Radio Network Fearless Radio Filth FM Forge Radio Frequence3 Goom Radio GridStream Productions Groovera Grooveshark Hitz Radio Iceberg Radio Jammer Direct KNAC Kube Radio Last.fm Live365 MeeMix Musicovery Pandora radioio Radio23 Radio MAQAM New Normal Music Radio Maska Radio Paradise RadioVeRVe Radioseven Rhapsody RauteMusik.FM Retro Rewind Rinse FM SHOUTcast Slacker Solace.fm SomaFM Stitcher Radio Subcity Radio The Growl VirtualDJ Radio Yahoo! Music Radio Whole Wheat Radio Wight FM WOXY.com WTNR Radio WYRR Radio Ekattor

Internet Radio Stations for the Blind and Handicapped

Visit www.blindradio.com!

There's a great website called www.blindradio.com which offers an easy to read high-contrast page that's easier for the visually impaired to read. They offer thousand of online radio channels from around the world to all listeners.

When I was in high school, I worked as a Technician in the audio department of the Idaho State Library duplicating audio books, magazines and textbooks for the blind and handicapped. An audio version of Playboy magazine was even available to library patrons. I believe a service like this is fantastic and I applaud the great service they provide to help others in need! It's a great service even if you don't have vision or other health issues.

Wi-Fi Internet Radio Devices

Image courtesy of James Cridland

An Internet Radio Device, also known as a network music player, works much like a portable radio and streams content using your wireless home network (Wi-Fi) or wired Ethernet connection. Save your favorite internet radio stations using presets, much like you do with your home or car stereo.

A lower cost alternative is to use a wireless FM radio transmitter to stream audio to a terrestrial FM radio tuner. You connect a device to your computer and use a FM radio, such as in your stereo, to listen to your favorite content in other rooms of your home.

Internet Radios are manufactured by many different companies and come in many different styles with most being table-top models. Prices start at around $100 dollars and go up to around $300 dollars. I have listed several radios below to give you an idea of the many features and options available.

Sangean RCR-8WF - Internet WIFI Clock Radio
WIFI Radio and Desktop Radio

• Product Specifications:
• Internet Radio (Requires internet connection to operate)
• FM-RDS
• Aux In / Line Out
• Headset/Earphone Jack
• 2 Timers
• Plug and Play
• 10 Preset Stations
• Sleep/Snooze Timers
• Access to over 16000 internet stations
• Upgradeable software via internet
• Wireless connection ONLY - No hardwire RJ45 port
• Information display
• Search by country, genre and favorites

Audiovox ARIR200 - Internet WIFI AM/FM Radio
WIFI Radio, Desktop Radio and AM FM

• Product Specifications:
• Internet radio and AM/FM radio
• Thousands of music and talk stations
• Built-in WiFi
• Simple online setup and activation
• Free Slacker Personal Radio, Weatherbug, and Personal Portal account
• Sources include Slacker, Internet Radio, AM and FM radio
• Use Slacker Personal Radio to create personalized music stations
• Slacker includes millions of tracks, hundreds of music genre stations and over 10,000 artist stations
• Pause or skip at any time with Slacker
• 6 preset stations per source
• On demand weather
• Get 1 day and 3 day weather forecasts
• Record up to 512MB of audio using the internal memory
• Record from internet radio or FM radio

C. Crane CWF - CC WiFi Internet Radio w/Clock/Alarm
WIFI Radio, Desktop Radio and Clock/Alarm

• Product Specifications:
• The CC WiFi combines straightforward style with over 11,000 radio stations
• Excellent audio in a small footprint
• Headphone jack and a line-out for external speakers
• 99 memory presets
• Works with Pandora, AUPEO, Live365
• Integrated alarm clock
• Ethernet port connection

I have found a laptop computer great for streaming content to stereos in other rooms of your home and it's also very easy to hook up! RCA audio jacks are made specifically for this purpose with one end connecting to audio out on your computer and the other connecting to audio in on your stereo.

Internet Radio Apps

• Windows Media Player
• Windows Media Player is one of the best known internet media players available and included with all Microsoft operating systems, like Windows XP or Windows 7. You can literally listen to thousands of terrestrial radio stations and internet only radio stations from around the world. You are also able to watch streaming videos, listen to compacts discs or rip and play MP3s just to list a few functions and best of all it's free!

• Winamp
• I listened to my first MP3 audio music file with a downloaded copy of the Winamp music player back in 1997. Winamp also offers streaming video and audio, all in one easy to use program. One feature I really like about Winamp is the ability to choose my streaming quality and Featured services including SHOUTcast Radio, OurStage Radio, and the Spinner MP3 of the Day. You have the option of purchasing Winamp Pro to get more features, but you can also download and use it for free too!

• Winamp Pro Benefits
• Unrestricted CD Burning & Ripping
• MP3 Encoding to make your own MP3s
• High Bitrate AACPlus Encoding up to 256kbps
• MPEG-4 (HD) video support
• Cost: $19.95

Other Internet Radio Apps

• ALLPlayer
• Amarok
• aTunes
• Audacious
• Audion
• Beep Media Player
• CDPlayer
• cmus
• Cog
• Creative MediaSource
• Decibel Audio Player
• Exaile
• Flash MP3 Player
• foobar2000
• JuK
• Listen
• Media Jukebox
• MediaMonkey Standard
• MediaMonkey Gold
• MediaMonkey Lifetime
• MediaMonkey Lifetime
• Music on Console
• Music Player Daemon
• MusicBee
• musikCube
• Napster
• QuickPlayer
• Rhapsody
• Rhythmbox
• Sonique
• Style Jukebox
• UADE
• XMMS
• Zinf

Streaming Internet Radio Quality

Internet Radio sound quality varies greatly from station to station, the higher the (kilobits per second) kbps, the better your sound will be. Winamp breaks down stations by quality, which makes it convenient to find great sounding music without wasting your valuable time!

• Common Internet Radio Streaming Qualities
• 28kbps
• 56kbps
• 128kbps
• 320kbps

My Conclusion...

Internet Radio has come a long way since the early days of the internet! You have the whole world to choose from to find the audio programming you enjoy listening to the most. I would try the free audio players first like Windows Media Player, before paying for a program, to determine if you actually need advanced features.

I personally enjoy listening to the Coast To Coast AM radio program (coasttocoastam.com with George Noory) which is on late at night, but I'm unable to stay up that late at night to listen. Fortunately, I have the options of downloading archived shows, streaming the live program using Windows Media Player or listening live anywhere in the world!

It's never too late to get your feet wet and discover a whole new world of entertainment possibilities which Internet Radio provides!

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