Website Builders.com

  • Home
  • Builder Reviews
        • Our team have carefully reviewed a selection of premium website building platform, making it easier for you to choose the right one.

          While most website builders are compatible for generic  website building, including online stores, blogs and generic websites, some are better than others depending on what your website type.

        • Website Builder Reviews

          GoDaddy

          IM Creator

          Jimdo

          Squarespace

          Voog

          Weebly

          Wix

          WordPress

        • Store Builder Reviews

          BigCommerce

          GoDaddy Store

          Shopify

          Weebly

          Wix

          Yola

        • Comparisons

          Wix vs. Weebly

          Shopify vs. BigCommerce

  • Start A Blog
  • How To Guides
        • With over 500 pages of detailed tutorials and guides, our guides cover a large chunk of online topics.

          Learn crafty tips and tricks to make your time online smooth. Our directory is useful for internet newbies, as well as aspiring website builders.

          Check out the full directory.

        • Building a Website

          How To Build a Website

          Name Your Website – Domain

          Picking a Web Hosting Service

          Content and User Experience

          More

        • Searching and Research

          Searching the Web

          Doing Research Online

          The World of Wiki

          Finding Videos Online

          More

        • E-mails – Basics and Advanced

          Getting Started

          Sending an E-mail Message

          Opening Attachments

          Sending Attachments

          More

        • Social Media & Communication

          Instant Messaging

          Online Networking

          Facebook

          LinkedIn

          More

        • Files, Downloads, Software & Installs

          File Formats and Extensions

          Install Plug-Ins

          How to Download Files

          Downloading Software

          More

        • Making Money Online

          Making Money with Facebook

          Affiliate Marketing

          Virtual Assistant

          Writing Articles

          More

        • Online Shopping

          10 Tips for Smart and Safe Shopping

          Smart Shopping

          Protecting Personal Information

          Looking for Discounts

          More

  • Website Builder Tools Your Business Can’t Do Without (+ Links To Useful Resources)
    • HTML Character Codes
    • Advertiser Tracking Cookies: There ARE Ways To Opt Out – Here’s How
    • Website Glossary
  • Our Blog
        • Recent Posts

          When you have awesome writers, it is easy to spread wisdom. Take a look at some of our recent posts on various internet and website related topics.

          Have any suggestions on topics? Don’t hold back, send us your ideas:

          [email protected]

        • 12 Simple Rules on How to Use E-mail Politely

          Live Chat Software: Is it Worth It? Facebook Says Yes.

          Algorithmic Warfare: Is it the Beginning or the End?

          How to Promote Your Pet Business Online

          DIY Marketing: 7 Steps for any Business Owner

        • 20 Ideas to Generate Your First Online Sale

          Complete Guide to Content Marketing

          8 Best Free Photo Editors for Product Photosraphy

          Press Kits: DIY to Free Media Hype

          Why Backlinks are Essential for SEO – How To Build Them

  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • How Did You Make This Site?
    • How the Website Is Funded
    • Our Team
You are here: Home / The Complete List Of How-To Tutorials For Internet Dummies / Brilliant Online Tips And Tricks To Make Life Easy And Save Money / Listening to Web Radio

Listening to Web Radio

Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more

Using your computer to listen to the radio may seem like a strange thing to do, until you realize that there are thousands of radio stations around the world and most of them only broadcast locally. By putting their programming online, these stations now reach a global audience.

Let’s say you just moved to London from Dallas and long for some twanging country guitar. You can listen to country & western hits from 99.5 The Wolf right over the net. Best of all, Internet radio puts you in control. You can listen to what you want, when you want.

The technology that makes this all possible is called streaming audio. “Streaming” means that you don’t have to download an entire audio file before the sound starts playing. Once a small amount of the file is buffered, the audio begins. So the audio file is sent to you as you listen to it — more or less in real time.

Contents

  • 1 Tune It Up
    • 1.1 External Media Players
    • 1.2 Direct Connections
    • 1.3 Automated Music Recommendation
  • 2 Turn on Those Tunes

Tune It Up

To listen to Internet radio, your computer must be equipped with a sound card and speakers — or you’ll need headphones. One problem that audiophiles have with streaming audio is that the sound quality is often not very good. This can be due to the source — either because of limited bandwidth or because the source is sending low quality sound. But usually, the problem is local. If you really care about sound quality, you should invest in a good set of speakers.

External Media Players

There are various ways to listen to internet radio. The oldest way is to do it using an external media player.

Windows Media Player
Most Windows users should already have the Windows Media Player on their system. To find out, click on the Start button, go to All Programs. Now check the list. If you don’t have it, you can download Windows Media Player from Microsoft for free.
iTunes
Another popular and versatile media player is Apple’s iTunes for both the Mac and PC. Here’s where to get a free download.
RealPlayer
Another useful audio/video player is RealPlayer from RealNetworks.

These media players are not cross-compatible; they can’t necessarily play all of each other’s files. But the standard files, like MP3s, will play on everything. All of these programs allow you to open up audio streams and listen to them.

Just like with physical media players, software audio players have control panels, so you can play, pause, fast-forward, and rewind at will. Also, some online radio programs are indexed, which means you can jump right to the content you want, for instance skipping the weather report to take in the sports scores.

Direct Connections

Most radio stations now provide their own streaming right from their websites. You just go to the website and one of the first things you will see is a little play button that allows you to listen to its live programming with a single mouse click. In addition to this, many particular shows offer the same service. And, of course, there are now many online only “radio” programs.

Automated Music Recommendation

One of the newest trends in online audio streaming is the rise of the automated music recommendation services like Pandora. These allow you to create your own radio stations. Are you a big fan of Bruce Springsteen? Enter that and then the system will play music that appeals to people who like his music. They also allow you to fine tune the radio station by adding other artists and giving a thumbs up or down to particular songs.

There are many such services, but here is a list of the better-known ones:

  • Pandora
  • Spotify
  • Google Play Music
  • Last.fm
  • Songza
  • Slacker
  • Tidal (pay only)

Turn on Those Tunes

So what are you going to listen to? For radio stations in the real world, the Radio-Locator is the ultimate source. The site boasts thousands of stations worldwide that have websites. Not all of them “broadcast” over the internet, but most of them do. All you need to do is enter a city or a zip code for stations in the United States, or the country for stations worldwide.

When it comes internet-only radio stations, it can be a bit more tricky. But a good place to start is Wikipedia’s List of Internet Radio Stations. That will get you going and probably keep you entertained for the rest of your life.

If you just can’t live without A Prairie Home Companion and This American Life, the National Public Radio website streams them weekly (although you can go to the show websites and listen to archived episodes). Or if you are more into the international scene, there is BBC Radio, which offers talk, sports, world news, and music. Parlez-vous français? Check out Radio France. And much, much more. There has never been a more exciting time for the adventurous listener. So get out there and tune into all the things that the internet has to offer!

Latest Posts

Hosting

Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated]

Uncategorized

Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare)

E-mail Internet

E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail

Marketing social networking

Live Chat Software: Should You Invest In It? (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Computer Science

Never Heard Of Algorithmic Warfare? Then You’d Better Read This

Marketing

How To Successfully Promote Your Pet Business Online With Minimum Effort

Most Popular Reviews

  • Website Builder Reviews
  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • Squarespace
  • GoDaddy Website Builder
  • Shopify

Recent Posts

  • Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated] November 5, 2019
  • Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare) March 23, 2019
  • E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail November 15, 2017

About WebsiteBuilders.com

Everything you need to know about the WebsiteBuilders.com team.

About Us

Our Team

How The Website Is Funded

Privacy Policy

© 2017-2022 Website Builders.com | Sitemap