02/09/98 NOW ON YOUR PC: ALL BBC, ALL THE TIME

NOW ON YOUR PC: ALL BBC, ALL THE TIME

ANGLOPHILES HAVE A NEW home online. If you're partial to tweeds and steamed puddings--but you live far from the Sceptered Isle--you can now get a bit of the Queen's realm over the Internet. Dallas-based AudioNet Inc., the largest provider of Net-based audio broadcasts, has started carrying BBC World Service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Until now, the only alternative for BBC lovers was shortwave radio or a few hours per week of BBC broadcasts on local PBS stations.)
Just point your browser at www.audionet.com, follow the links to BBC World Service, and hear cultured British accents streaming from your PC's speakers. AudioNet also carries a selection of live music, sports, and talk radio, plus audio books and archived speeches.
The licensing agreement is the BBC's first to distribute content via the Internet. To use the service, you need a copy of RealAudio Player, which you can download for free from AudioNet. Then, just lean back and dream of foggy moors and ploughman's lunches.
By Andy Reinhardt
EDITED BY AMY CORTESE