I'm a big fan of online radio, especially since I hate having to pick my own playlists sometimes. A friend recently pointed out SomeFM to me, and I'm in love. It has a perfect suite of radio stations - as long as you are into techno/trance/ambient/indie/etc. I've been playing Groove Salad and indiepop rocks all week.
Another very cool service is Launch. Imagine a radio station where you can specify that you like classical, jazz, rock, but hate country. As you rate songs, it gradually learns your styles at the same time throwing in random tunes every now and then to help broaden your horizons. I can't recommend it enough. Plus, they also have an amazing library of videos. I've been a Depeche Mode fan for years, but since MTV decided to stop playing videos years ago, I haven't seen many of their videos. For example, I finally got a chance to see Blasphemous Rumours, which was... errr... well, pretty much what I expected for such a depressing song. -grin-
Anyway - why would anyone bother listening to radio anymore? I don't mind the ads (Launch has ads), but half of the time the selection is crap and the other time it's inane radio "personalities" trying to be funny.
Archived Comments
Hi Ray,
If you''re into techno/trance type of stuff you can''t go too far wrong with http://di.fm. It has 11 different streams playing at 128k 24 hours a day, and all free.
Spike
I some times listen to Soma FM or the radio show over at http://www.glo.uk.com. But I listen to the normal radio all the time when I drive. I usally listen to news/talk programs as well as I listen to the radio on the internet.
One thing to note... your premious does not hold up to stats which are that Radio is more popular than ever with Clearchannel getting 110 million listerns a week!
Robi, I didn''t say radio was less popular, just that I don''t get why anyone would listen to it. Talk radio is a bit different, that I could stomach in the car - but music stations? No way. If I spent more time in the car I''d get one of those satellite systems.
I really like Radio Paradise. http://www.radioparadise.com/
check this from Dan Switzers blog
http://blog.pengoworks.com/...
A couple comments. As a former part-time internet dj, it''s been sad to see the demise of over 90% of the web stations in the U.S., due to the Library of Congress and RIAA fiasco. I wish they could rework the royalty amount, so that we could have more freedom of choice. As it is, companies like ClearChannel have won the battle to keep Web competition off the ''air'' by bankrupting their owners. And is it any wonder that they have a huge number of listeners, when they gobble up more stations across the country seemingly every week? Even so, I would bet that the total listenership across all radio has declined dramatically in the last ten years. No wonder; it does suck, and both the web and XM offer better alternatives.
Raymond, somaFM is really a very nice radio. I miss it so much when they are closed due to a RIAA action last year. If you use it regularly will be nice to donate a small amount to then - http://www.somafm.com/support/.
Is worth to point an EXCELLENT software called RipCast - http://www.xoteck.com/ripcast/. RipCast basically is a streaming recorder and runs integrated with winamp and any internet radio based on the SHOUTcast software (it support others too). Take a look, is very worthy for real.
Regards!
Alex Hübner