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Links:

• Shoutcast Directory
• Real Alternative

Internet Radio

It seems that Internet radio is one of those newish ideas that does not really gel until you have broadband and have tried out a few stations. Also, just maybe you don't want to be forced to listen to the BBC using RealPlayer, or forced to use Microsoft proprietary formats. Perhaps you are also looking for some high quality streaming sites. If any of these apply then it's quite likely you are on the same wavelength.

What Do You Need?

The first item on the list will be a broadband connection with a speed of at least 1mb/sec. If the connection is too slow then you will get stops and starts as the connection tries to cope with all the data being sent down the line. Internet radio relies on continuously streaming the data to your PC in real time. This is not like a standard file download where you receive the whole file and then start using it. With internet radio you are listening to the source as it is streamed to your device. Just a point of caution in that if you are subject to a download limit from your ISP then you need to be aware that listening to internet radio counts towards your total allowance.
Apart from the PC, which should be equipped with a decent soundcard, all you need is a player. The one I currently use is Winamp because it provides a good library of all the net radio stations currently broadcasting via Shoutcast and allows you to bookmark your favourite stations. A further reason is that the sound quality seems much smoother than with some of the other players. The reason I don't use Real Player or Media Player is that I prefer to have solutions that do not constantly bombard the user with advertisements. Note with Winamp you can turn the Agent off, which means that you have more privacy. Also, if you don't want to install Real Player which is recommended for listening to the BBC net broadcasts then try out Real Alternative.

Connecting to an Internet Radio Station

When I first started looking at trying out net radio I used Media Player to connect to Virgin Radio. I went through a number of web pages and eventually I was able to locate a station and listen to some music. So it came as a bit of a surprise to find all you really need to know is an IP address for the radio station, feed this into your player and you are listening. I prefer to be in control of the IP's I am connecting to since my firewall can be programmed to allow certain IP's and block other potential threats which could occur when darting from site to site. Unfortunately, there are one or two small downsides to this approach. In the first place there does not seem to be a nice catalogue of IP's for each net radio station readily available. Also, it is possible that the IP's will change over time, whereas the website will be more constant and therefore more accessible. However, just when I was about to give up I came across very comprehensive coverage at liveradio where it provides details of popular and not so popular net radio stations by genre. You can listen to the music on-line and in addition you can download a playlist file (.pls file) that most players including Winamp and XmPlay can use to connect without visiting the radio website.

Quality Considerations

Many radio stations are already streaming at 192 kb/sec using either MP3 or Ogg Vorbis formats. This provides quite an acceptable quality level and if played through a decent sound card and speaker system will give superior quality to current DAB radio transmitting at up to 128kb/sec in the UK. It should be noted that FM and even Freeview TV is superior to DAB radio. DAB is currently poor in the UK because there is not enough bandwidth to serve the number of stations transmitting. So once again quality is sacrificed for quantity; my recommendation is don't buy a DAB radio, stick with FM, use net radio and freeview until the situation improves. Actually, I just bought a Denon TU1800 DAB tuner and have been very pleased with the quality from the FM, but the DAB as expected is not worth listening too. Luckily we live in a very strong FM reception area and even with just the bit of wire hanging out of the back of the aerial socket, the sound is warm and full of life compared to the awful low quality DAB. The first thing my wife said when I tried the DAB was 'that doesn't sound very good'.

Some Sample Net Radio Stations

The following is just a sampler of some of the popular net radio stations.

• Radio Free Colorado - Rock favourites from the 60's, 70's and 80's including many rare tracks. The sound quality is much higher than average e.g. each CD is spun rather than re-using an MP3 recording. Broadcasts are normally at 160 kb/sec increasing to 192 kb/sec at the weekend. Occasionally, you will be lucky enough to catch a broadcast at 320 kb/sec which is a real listening experience. Unfortunately, this site went off the air at the begiining of March 2006, which just goes to show how difficult it is to survive as a non-commercial enterprise.
• Smooth Jazz - This is reckoned to be the number 1 jazz site broadcasting live at 128 kb/sec from Monterey Bay, in Northern California.
• Classic FM
• Radio Paradise - Based in Paradise, California, said to be the home of eclectic intelligent rock music, broadcasting at 128 kb/sec. There is now a high fidelity stream operating at 192 kb/sec which is well worth checking out.

Net Radio Economics

Net Radio is rapidly coming to maturity, which means the days when anyone can just start broadcasting on a shoestring are numbered. There is tremendous rivalry betweeen the broadcasters with a big battle for listeners. The main considerations seem to be finding the niche, the type of music and most importantly the quality of music. When you look at the websites you will find a wide number of legal broadcasters which is to say that they abide by the rules and pay their dues to the artists and record companies for each play. Transmitting at a high bit rate does cost money in licence fees and equipment fees. To support this expenditure most rely on donations from their listening public, advertising and affiliates selling T shirts etc. Unlike commercial TV and commercial FM radio, there does not seem to be stations broadcasting adverts at the moment, rather the adverts are links on the website to other products and even lifestyles. This seems to work well because ideally each pays according to their means. So, at the end of the day, only the most popular and best supported stations will survive (unless of course it's the BBC which can rely on a grant from the TV licence funded by the UK population).

The Future

Although this page is all about net radio most of the ideas are already being applied to moving pictures in the form of streaming video transmission. Suddenly, newspapers, television, video, DVD, satellite, digital broadcasters and telephone communications companies have just woken up to the fact that it's not the television or mobile phone supplying the new services but broadband linked to a powerful home computer supplying all the services probably by wireless links in and outside the home. This will cause the most dramatic change in the way we use and pay for services. For example mobile phone companies want to charge for content received, but how do you charge for content on the World Wide Web. The best that these companies can do is grab our attention so that they can obtain a chunk of the advertising revenue. Mobile phone manufacturers are already teaming up with VOIP software providers so that eventually Wi-fi networks may replace mobile phone networks.