Internet Radio Overview

First internet radio - the Kerbango from 2000

Internet Radio is not unlike the cable TV boom years in the 1970-1980s. Suddenly we went from less than 10 local TV channels to hundreds or more. After the frenzy of channel surfing died down, most of us ended up with 6-10 new favorite cable networks like SyFy, USA, TNT, TBS or Hallmark. We seldom tuned in to local TV broadcasts after that. Now we’ve got the same issue with radio. Even in a large metropolitan area, you have a choice of maybe 15-20 stations and often can’t find any to your liking in your favorite genre. As a case in point, I’ve been into blues and later folk music and only the local public radio station plays a few hours a week of either of those genres here in the Seattle area.  It is also a LOT of work to set up an MP3 player with enough unique songs such that they don’t get old when played over again for months. In the end, we just want the radio station to do the driving, or DJing, in this case.

Enter internet radio with over 13,000 stations on line. It isn’t just radio either, is it? There’s podcasts, aggregators like Pandora, all-you-can-eat on demand networks like the Zune Marketplace, all sorts of sport and talk radio, comedy channels and weather channels. Internationally, it is like owning a shortwave radio - you can pick up most all the old shortwave stations on the internet now. Let’s look at some of the different types of webcasts and listening methods:

AM/FM broadcast radio simulcasts on the internet -

US:

Most FM stations and many AM stations already are simulcasting their over-the-air broadcasts on to the internet. Those that have multiple sub-channels of HD radio are sending those extra channels out too, over the internet. The benefit of tuning in on the internet is not having scratchy distorted audio from over-the-air transmissions. Here are some station locator links:
Radio-locator
Live-radio    
NPR Radio

UK:

Directory search   
BBC   
Absolute Radio  
Classic FM    
Worldwide:
Mike's Radio World Directory

Mega internet streaming media groups -

Most let you listen for free online in a browser because they are ad-supported both on the web page and inline during music playback. If you listen on a real tabletop radio, you will likely need to pay a monthly subscription fee for their premium service. Most prices run from $4-15/mo. Why do it? You get no audio ads while listening, higher bitrate streams for better quality and access, in some cases, to more channels.

RadioIO
RadioTime
SHOUTcast
Sky.FM
soma fm
Live365
last fm
AccuRadio

Podcasts -

There are thousands of podcasts on every imaginable topic available on the internet. The iTune store is a good place to explore the categories and most are free to listen to. TWIT has grown from one podcast to a slection of over 30 different tech podcasts. TWIT is one of my favorite choices for tech-related podcasts.

Podcast Alley    
TWIT  - This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte

Aggregators -

What is an aggregator? Instead of a pre-determined playback list based on a radio stations choice to lure the most listeners, the sites below study the music that you like and generate custom playlists just for you. They contain your chosen artist and similar artists in that genre. Most all of them have a free version with either limitations on number of hours per month or they place ads in between songs.

Pandora - music contoured to your band choices
RadioLovers - listen to old time radio shows
Slacker - cross between Pandora and Sirius Radio
Live Music Archive - free playback of live concert recordings
last fm - works similar to Pandora, or just use as regular genre radio stations

On Demand subscription internet music -

Most are familiar with on-demand televesion channels and the internet radio version works the same way. I have only used the Zune Marketplace but it was a delight to explore all the different artists with bios on each available as I listened. Some describe it as an all-you-can-eat music service.

Zune Marketplace
Rhapsody
Napster
MP3tunes
Classical.com

Programs for listening to internet radio on a PC/Mac -

If you want to try internet radio before committing to a hardware web radio player, there are a number of good apps for both the PC and Mac to tune in on. WinAmp is my favorite for the PC, iTune for the Mac.

PC:

iTunes
WinAmp
Quintessential Player
Radio Sure
Songbird
Open Pandora Player

Mac:

iTunes
RadioLover
Songbird Mobile Listening:
Smart phones (uses cell 3G networks in unlimited data plans)
Slacker G2 personal radio (syncs when you are near a wi-fi network but stores music locally)

iPod Touch and iPad via Wi-Fi using free iTunes store apps:

Radio.com app - FREE
TuneIn Radio app - FREE
Slacker app - FREE
Tuner Internet Radio app - $4.99
Absolute Radio app - FREE
Pandora Radio app - FREE
iLive Radio - $1.99

Recording methods:

See my article here and remember to heed copyright laws.

Dedicated tabletop radio manufacturers -

The radio review section has detailed reviews of all the best providers of internet tabletop radios. Logitech is one of the highest rated radios.

Logitech
Grace
Sangean
Livio
Vtech
Pure Evoke
Alurtek
C. Crane
Myine
Philips
Denon
Many more smaller manufacturers are not listed here.

 

A few home A/V methods of listening -

TiVo - can play Live365
Apple TV - streams from iTunes server on home network
Some A/V receiver models have built in internet radio tuners now.

Distributed Systems -

Sonos - multiroom distributed audio system starting at $1000 can stream internet radio.

 

This article is just an overview of the ways that you can receive internet radio and the types of stations out there. There will be more articles to come, reviewing specific radios, software apps and internet radio stations.