How do I Listen to Radio Online?
Radio has been a popular medium since it was invented over 100 years ago. While radio has definitely changed through the decades, most people usually listen to radio to either hear their favorite music, talk show or sports broadcast. While the vast majority of people listen to standard radios that broadcast over radio waves, recent technology has made it possible to listen to radio over the Internet. Here is some more information.
Equipment Needed
In order to listen to Internet radio, you will first need some basic equipment including a computer, Internet connection (preferably broadband, however dial up can work in some cases), Internet browser, sound card for playing music on external speakers), and computer speakers (external speakers, laptop integrated speakers or just headphones plugged into your sound card.)
Media Players
Each Internet radio may operate differently. Most Internet radios can be accessed by an Internet connection and will ask you to download or open a specific media player. Media players vary by Internet radio station, but many stations can use different formats or only use one specific format.
Popular media players that are able to download or stream Internet radio include Winamp, Windows Media Player, Real Player, and Quick Time. Each specific radio station will usually list its requirements and you can choose from their site which media player to use or download a special media player from the radio site.
How Internet Radio Works
Internet radio works very easily. You log onto a site and click on a link that will connect you to the Internet radio server, from this point, your computer will download the music file which usually comes in a streaming format, which your chosen media player can now play.
Streaming files mean that while you are listening to your Internet radio; your computer is able to download additional data from the Internet radio station. This means that you don't have to download the entire file to first start listening to a radio program, you can receive transmissions that are live in nature (only a few second lag). Your computer does not save the entire Internet radio file, just a few seconds of it at a time so it does not take up lots of space.
Advantages of Internet Radio
There are many advantages to listening to Internet radio, they include easy access, the ability to receive broadcasts without a traditional radio, no need to receive radio waves, low cost of equipment, enormous choice of programming and that it is either low cost or free.
Easy Access
You can access an Internet radio station by just going online and connecting to the Internet radio station. Connection to an Internet radio station usually takes less than a minute and because most Internet radios stream their broadcasts, you only have to download a portion of the broadcast at a time.
Works without a Traditional Radio
Most people that use Internet radio are usually in a location that the radio waves can't reach or in a building that blocks most of the signal. You can listen to a specific radio station anywhere you have Internet access. This means that a person living in France can easily pick up a radio station in Los Angeles with a few clicks of their mouse. For millions of people that work in office buildings that have poor radio wave reception, it is extremely easy to log on to their computer and access their favorite radio station in near CD quality.
Works with Practically All Computers
If you have a standard computer with an Internet connection, a sound card, Internet web browser and Internet access you can usually listen to thousands of different Internet radio stations anywhere in the world. The majority of computers can fulfill these requirements.
Enormous Choice of Programming
One of the great aspects of Internet radio is that there are thousands of Internet radio stations to choose from. You can find radio stations on almost every music genre, talk radio or sports programming. Internet radio stations are available in many countries and are all usually easy to access and provide decent sound quality. There are also many portals that let you access many different radio stations from one location, making it easier to switch from one type of programming to another.
Low cost or Free
The majority of Internet radio stations are free of charge and are supported by advertisers. Most Internet radio stations have their normal programming just simulcasted ("to broadcast simultaneously") over the Internet. There are Internet radio stations that do charge a small fee, usually less than $15 per month. They include special programming such as talk shows, exclusive sporting events and commercial free music.
Disadvantages of Internet Radio
While for the most part Internet radio is a great service, it does have some disadvantages including sound quality, shoddy connections or software and the inability for dial up Internet users to access certain stations.
Sound Quality
While the majority of Internet radio stations provide near CD quality, some Internet radio stations stream a lower quality sound due to bandwidth limits. The higher the sound quality, the more data is necessary to produce high quality sound. The higher the quality, the more data you must send, for Internet radio stations looking to save on bandwidth costs, these stations usually send a lower quality signal.
Poor Connections and Software
While most Internet radio stations provide good connections with competent media players, you will find from time to time an Internet radio station that has a shoddy connection or has a buggy media player application. Most of the time problems arise and they are temporary, however some Internet radio stations allow these problems to persist.
Problems with Dial up Internet Connection
While most Internet radio stations can stream programming to users with only a dial up connection, you will usually need a broadband Internet connection to receive high quality transmissions.
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