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MARCH 7, 2005
By Heather Green Internet Radio 101 [Page 2 of 2]
RADIO ME! Podcasting is just one Internet radio option. There are plenty of Internet-only radio services. Free, independent stations such as SomaFM and WOXY broadcast over the Internet and are supported by contributions or ads. Simply visit their Web sites to listen to their shows. Big Internet radio services, such as Live365, Yahoo, and MSN create their own music channels and cull thousands of online radio stations into one big network. You subscribe to these services -- typically, they have a free version with ads or a paid offering costing as much as $4.95 a month. In general, the paid offering is commercial-free and offers higher quality and more stations. The beauty of either of these Internet radio networks is the variety of music channels they provide. You can choose from broad or niche music channels. In one afternoon, you can skip from a channel that plays top-40 rock hits to martini-lounge jazz to movie soundtracks. With many services, a listener can also skip through songs. And at MSN Radio, you can even download -- for around 99 cents apiece -- many of the songs. Radio devotees can even customize their own station, based on individual tastes. When you sign in to Yahoo Music, for example, you can go to a section called "Customize My Station." Then choose from a variety of genres, such as rock or country, and artists, such as The Smiths or Coldplay, and rate them using stars to indicate how much you like them. Then Yahoo creates a playlist that it sends out automatically, based on your tastes. It goes beyond your exact song list and finds similar music you may also like. POINT-AND-PLAY. Typically, these types of services are best for people who like to listen to specific genres of music or want more control over the kinds of music they hear. These services work best on PCs, although wireless operators such as Sprint and Cingular are starting to offer them on high-speed wireless networks. But if you're not into customizing your radio stations, plowing through quirky podcasts, or hopping around from genre to genre, never fear. More and more traditional radio stations are available online. Granted, NPR and the BBC have been the most innovative, but stations from some traditional radio giants such as Cox Radio are available, too. They provide live streaming straight from their sites. You listen to them using the popular media players, such as RealMedia or Microsoft's Media Player. The more innovative traditional radio stations offer other goodies as well, though. KCRW, the eclectic public radio station in Santa Monica and a 10-year veteran of Internet radio, offers plenty to listen to. It provides popular programs on demand, including the Sounds Eclectic music show, a hit among the cyber-hipster set in big cities like San Francisco and New York. And besides the live stream of what's playing on-air, it offers two others -- one that combines other music programming and a third that collects news from NPR, the BBC, and Voice of America. Internet radio is thriving. And the choices are only going to become more varied and appealing. The really hard thing about Internet radio: deciding what to listen to.
 Green is Internet editor for BusinessWeek in New York
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