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Online radio is dead. Okay, not really. But for the last couple of months
you might have thought so. In March 2001 the American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (AFTRA) reminded
radio broadcasters that they had to pay the talent extra when commercials
were rebroadcast on the Internet. Instead of just editing out the commercials,
many radio groups opted to stop simulcasting radio shows on the Internet
altogether. The result, for the last two months, a lot of radio stations
and shows, ranging from 77 WABC, New York to
Dr. Dean Edell, no longer broadcast
online.
Does all this mean that the Internet radio revolution is over? Not at all.
A lot of online-only radio broadcasters remain, and there are several
subscription based sports broadcasts as well. Also, latest word is
that several ABC
Radio affiliates will be back online in the months ahead.
In the meantime, there's still plenty of entertaining and fascinating
stuff to listen to on the Internet. Here is a short guide to getting
the most out of what's available online. As you read through the article,
clicking on the italicized words will bring up a definition. Regular
underlined links will send you to other Web sites.
You've probably heard the talk over the last two years: the
Internet will change
the way we get information and entertainment. While the Internet has
definitely made a difference, it hasn't really overcome radio or TV
yet. Video quality, even on
high speed, broadband connections,
is still not that great, and many people just aren't willing to pay
$30 for software to bring their video quality up to snuff. But the
Internet is making strides in how we hear things. Just think of
Napster, the file-sharing
brainchild of a 19-year-old college student.
Napster brought MP3 into
the mainstream by challenging the music industry to listen to the needs
of consumers. Though it's debatable whether the music industry will
eventually learn from Napster's trailblazing, it's certain that more
and more people are using the Internet for more than just weather updates
and e-mail. People are listening on the Internet.
Do a search on just about any search
engine, from Excite.com to Google.com, and you're bound
to come up with an endless list of sites that offer news, music, talk
radio programs, or other typically radio-based broadcasts. But if you
do a search, choose your terms wisely. The same words can bring up
totally different results on different search engines. For instance,
on Excite.com a search for "webcasts" brought up
a lot of very technical sites and a few extremely specific online broadcasts.
While on Yahoo.com, a search for "webcasts" returned a list of online,
Internet radio categories, ranging from business to Internet broadcasts
from Asia.
There are tons of things to listen to online. If you live away from your
hometown or your favorite professional sports team, you can subscribe to Major League Baseball and NBA webcasts of their
games. If you're a fan of BBC
News, and are worried about their decision to take down
their shortwave transmitters pointed toward the US, you'll be happy
to learn that BBC News programs will be available online. Other Web
sites, like Emusic.com and Spinner.com offer streaming MP3s,
and let you listen to the type of music you'd like to hear. The forthcoming
Musicnet.com, a collaboration of a number of major players in the entertainment
and online industries, also promises to make the most of Internet streaming
media.
By now you might be thinking, great, it sounds like the Internet still
has a lot of stuff I can listen to, but, and here's the major question,
how does it work? Thankfully, that's any easy one. Real.com makes a
program called RealPlayer that's quickly becoming the industry standard.
You've probably already come across a Web site or two, or three or
four, that says you need a RealPlayer plug-in to
hear all that it has to offer. If RealPlayer did not already come preinstalled
with your Web browser software
(Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc) than I'd encourage you take
advantage of the free download of RealPlayer
available at Real.com Installation is fairly automatic, and before
you know it you'll be hearing news, music, and sports program from
around the world. Yes, that's right, not just around the country, around
the world. A bit of advice, though, when you get to the Real.com Web
site, look around until you find the free version of RealPlayer. It's
sometimes hard to spot. If you don't get the free version, you might
pay for more than you really need.
Once you've got the software installed, it will load automatically whenever
you click on an audio link. If, however, you come to a site that requires
another media program,
like Windows Media Player, Quicktime, or Musicmatch, or any of the
other dozens of media players available, go ahead and try it. Using
a few different software players will let you know which ones are best
for your needs, and which ones run best on your computer. Remember,
computers are finicky animals, and just like us, they develop little
personalities that make them good at some things and not so good at
others.
If you want to make the most of your Internet listening experience, I'd
also suggest getting a transmitter that lets you send the signal from
the computer to another device, like a radio in your bedroom or kitchen.
A good FM
transmitter, preferably digital, will give you the freedom
to listen to webcasts without worrying about turning up the volume
on your computer speakers (most speakers that come with a computer
aren't that great) or trying to wire some speakers from your computer
into another room. Yup, unlike a radio, you can't just pick up a desktop
computer and carry it with you where you want it. Fortunately, with
a good transmitter, you can carry the sound, so to speak.
Why digital? Well, frankly, it just blows away analog. A digital transmitter,
like the one available from C.Crane, is much easier to tune. Analog
settings can drift with temperature shifts, making it really frustrating
to tune in the signal on your radio. With a digital FM transmitter,
you choose an FM frequency, set it, and have yourself a mini broadcast
station. Listening to webcasts with an FM transmitter will leave you
feeling less tied to the desk. That means you can save some money on
electricity bills by turning off the monitor when you're not using
it. Monitors are awfully hungry energy eaters.
Unless they become as energy efficient and as small as an average portable
radio, chances are computers won't replace radios for a long, long
time. Your average portable radio can run on just batteries. To get
the most of your desktop computer you have to power the monitor, the
fans in the unit, and the ISPs keeping all those computers connected.
So, while the cost of owning a computer and maintaining a connection
will probably keep the Internet from ever outdoing a reliable AM/FM
radio, it does make it easier, and possible, to hear things you might
never have imagined listening to before.
Article Glossary
High speed, broadband connections
If you have cable television, you've seen a broadband cable. Though there are different kinds
of broadband connections, the idea stays pretty much the same -
fast connections through single cable that can carry several channels
of information at the same time.
Web browser
If you're reading this sentence, you're using,
or have used, a Web browser. A Web browser is the program that
lets you make the most of the World Wide Web. Web browsers interpret
the coding behind Web pages, and present the information to you
in clean, easy to read formats (usually). Some of the popular browsers
are Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Opera. There are a lot more
out there, and some of them are much faster and easier to use than
the biggies.
Free download
A download is the transfer of information from
the Internet, or from a Web site, to your computer. Free downloads
is mentioned here because there are actually four different kind
of downloads you might come across: freeware, shareware, demo,
and retail. As you guessed, freeware is free, shareware, however,
is designed for distribution on the condition that if you like
a program you agree to pay the designer the asking price. Demo
downloads typically just give you a brief introduction to what
a program can do, and the retail software, is just that, regularly
priced software that you download instead of buy in a store.
Internet
Brainchild of former VP Al Gore. Okay, not really. Sometimes referred
to as just "The Net", the Internet is the product of a global network
initially set up to let researchers and scientists share some of their
computer resources. These days the Internet refers to all the servers
and hosts that allow people to share information and resources. Though
a lot of people also call it "The Web", it's actually not the same
thing. The Web, short for the World Wide Web, is the system of links
that lets you jump from one Web page to another. Imagine yourself as
a spider, when you click on a link, you add another thread to your
web. The Internet is like the walls of a barn that hold your web in
place.
ISP
Short for Internet Service Provider. An ISP is the company you use
to connect to the Internet. Most homes currently dial-up their Internet
connection through an ISP, though more and more homes are opting for
DSL and cable modem connections. Through
your ISP you can access the World Wide Web, e-mail, and lots of other
online services.
Media
A plural form of "medium." Merriam-Webster Online
dictionary defines media as: a channel or system of communication, information,
or entertainment -- compare MASS MEDIUM (2) : a publication or broadcast
that carries advertising (3) : a mode of artistic expression or communication
(4) : something (as a magnetic disk) on which information may be stored.
As you can see from this definition, media is a bit hard to define.
Generally, though, when used on the Web it refers to the sounds, pictures,
and words that create the experience of a Web site. Media software
simply enhances some of that experience by allowing you to listen to
streaming sound or watch movies online.
MP3
Here's one to impress your friends. Ask them if they know what MP3
is short for, and when you get the blank looks, just smile and say: "MPEG-1
Audio Layer-3". Now you know why everyone just says MP3. MP3s are basically
files of compressed data, in this case audio files, or sound. They're
much easier to transfer over the Internet, as they're a fraction of
the size of a regular music file off a CD. These days, you can even
record MP3s and play them on specially designed MP3 players.
Plug-in
A plug-in is a type of program that your browser opens automatically
when it needs it. A lot of Web sites require that you have the plug-ins
for Adobe Acrobat Reader, Shockwave, Quicktime, or RealPlayer to take
full advantage of their pages. Most plug-ins load easily, and run smoothly.
Whenever you download a plug-in make sure you get the right one for
your computer, and that usually depends on the version of Windows as
well as the age of your PC or Mac.
Search engine
Search engines are like the index at the back
of a billion-page book. When you open a search engine, you type
what you're looking for, and the search engine does the rest. For
tips on how to use search engines more effectively
click
here.
Webcasts
Really just a fancy new word for radio or video, except it's on the
Internet. Sometimes, music concerts, radio shows, political candidates,
and fashion shows will have very elaborate webcasts. When searching
for webcasts, also run searches on terms like "Internet radio" and "streaming
media."
Click here for a link to an
Internet Glossary.
To view our past articles, please visit our What's
in the News Archives.
As always, please e-mail me with any comments or
article suggestions you might have. If you have a customer service or technical question, please
send to ccraneco@aol.com or call 1-800-522-8863.
If you are interested in using C. Crane's articles on your own Web site,
please let me know. I'd be happy to take a look at your Web site and
see what we can do. Good-bye for now, Carlos. About
the author
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