Neel Nirjon

With the invent of Television, the popularity of the Radio was reduced. But with FM radio , people are again getting addicted to Radios. Furthermore if you have a computer and internet connection then you can hear Radio through your computer. There are many internet radio stations which broadcasts news, weather and songs. You can connect to these radio stations via internet browser and hear the radio in your computer.

Difference between conventional radio and internet radio

Radio waves are used to transmit radio programmes over the air. You can then tune into your favorite stations and hear them. Whether you can hear a particular radio station depends on the distance between your radio station and your radio. Therefore you are limited to hearing only a few radio stations.

In contrast you can hear hundreds of radio stations through internet. The distance doesn't matter any more. Just by a click you can change from one station to another station and you can hear 24 hours.

Types of internet radio

There are two types of internet radio.

1. Radio Station which requires a Player
2. Radio station which doesn't require a player.

Player is nothing but an audio software and many players are available. Among them there are a few which can download the programmes from the radio station and play it in your computer. You have to download these players and install them. Then you can start these players and goto the URL of the radio station and hear it.

There are also a few radio stations that do not require a player to listen to it. In these stations you just goto their website and then click on the link to star hearing the radio.

Free Internet Radio Player softwares download

If you are keen to hear radio through internet then download windows media player and real player and install them in your computer.

1. Generally, windows media player comes together with your Windows OS. Therefore most probably it will be in your computer already. You can also download it from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp
   
2. You can download Real player from www.real.com .
   
3. WinAmp is another popular player and it is available at www.winamp.com
   
   Most of the radio stations broadcast using real audio, windows media or mp3 formats and hence the above two players are sufficient to access any radio station in the internet.
   
   Some radio stations use proprietary audio formats. To hear such radios you need to download their players and install in order to hear them.
   
4. You can download Live 365 player from www.live365.com
   
5. You can download vtuner player from www.vtuner.com
   
6. Radio Netscape plus is another popular player and it is available at http://radio.netscape.com

How to access radio stations from audio players

1. In Windows media player select 'Media guide' and 'Radio Tuner'.Use these options to tune into different radio stations.
   
2. In Real Player, choose the 'Radio' menu and the 'Radio Tuner' to choose and access many radio stations.
   
3. In 'Radio Netscape Plus' you will see a list of radio stations under many categories. Just click on the preferred radio and listen to it.

To listen to free internet radio stations from websites

1. To get thousands of internet radio stations goto http://www.shoutcast.com . From this website you can listen to radio stations using WinAmp player.
   
   To access many free internet radio stations you can goto the following websites.
   
2. www.internetradioindex.com/iprobe/ipradio2.html
   
3. www.internetradioplaza.com
   
4. www.radiotower.com
   
5. www.webradios.com
   
6. http://launch.yahoom.com/launchcast/stations

Special internet radio stations.

1. BBC www.bbc.co.uk/radio
2. Beethoven www.beethoven.com
3. CNN www.cnn.com/audio