Internet radio streaming - Do you do it?

[JimmyNeutron]

Last night my wife had this dream that my 2 year old son had his playroom out in the area room outside the upstairs bedrooms. Incredible idea!!! You see, for the paast 2 years our son has made our bedroom into HIS bedroom. Toys everywhere, stains on the carpet, the 35" Mitsubishi with the TiVo is now HIS Mitsu and TiVo. It's very difficult to listen to my bedroom system because he is always in there. My music server that I built went into the bedroom system - to my McIntosh system, but have I enjoyed it for more than 5 minutes? Nooooooooooooo, because my son's world revolves around Dora the Explorer and The Little Einstiens. So that's where my wife's dream comes in. I moved a small 27" LCD TV and the TiVo out to the area room and all his toys and stuff - it's now HIS play room, and the bedroom is MINE AGAIN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!! IT"S ALL MINE AGAIN!!!! SO I spent the day shampooing the carpet and rearranging the room. Well that's all great and spiffy, but what the hell does that have to do with internet radio streaming? Well, all day I've been listening - uninterrupted - to my music server and to radio stations streaming into my system. The Meedio front end that my music server uses has internet radio capability. I don't know enough about how to find my own stations and make them my favorites, but the ones that Meedio finds are totally awesome! Right now I'm listening to a 70's and 80's station. Earlier I was listening to a nice jazz station, a classical station, and a latin station. All souond just like my FM radio - excellent quality!!! No drop outs, no buffering - just great selections and great music. Using the server is so much more convenient than using my computer and say....Windows Media Player or Winamp to search for and play the internet stations. The server works just like a radio - very cool and very fast (instantly actually). Anyway, I've heard internet radio many, many times before but now it's so much more enjoyable. Maybe because it sounds like radio?, or because it's interface is just like it? Or maybe it's because I finally get to enjoy the music a bit more? I don't know, but I wanted to share with ya'll that I'm totally pumped right now and for those that have not experienced a good internet radio player and music streaming to your home system, well then just go out and do it. And those that do? Who are you and how do you do it? What player do you use? DO you have it streamed into your big Hi-Fi system or do you listen thru some small computer speakers?

 

[Fisherdude]

I have a decent sound card, and excellent Harman/Kardon pc speakers. When I listen to cd's through the pc, they sound great.

I have a hi-speed 3-4 mbps internet connection, and I've listened to lots of streaming stations, and I've never found one that sounded decent. So compressed they sound like they're under water.

Maybe I've just never found the right one.

 

[JimmyNeutron]

I have a hi-speed 3-4 mbps internet connection, and I've listened to lots of streaming stations, and I've never found one that sounded decent. So compressed they sound like they're under water.

Maybe I've just never found the right one.

Those are the ones I've always experienced too - very bad and garbled. But the meedio front end is just picking up FM and CD quality stations - awesome!! I'm listening to an 80's station now and it's totally CD quality - and it hasen't buffered or stopped streaming once. Maybe the meedio just seeks out high bit streams?

 

[tentoze]

Nope, I'm particular about what I listen to.

 

[BeerCan]

I use Jinzora (www.jinzora.org) for all my music server needs. I set radio stations up as link tracks. I like this system because it has an easy interface, but I will warn the interface can be very slow at times. It is hooked to all of my computers and 2 of my stereos. I use it quite a bit at work. I also use slimserver and softsqueeze. Soon I will own a squeezebox

 

[uofmtiger]

I have used many of the media frontends for my computer. I am a big fan of Meedio and all the different plug ins. I am still messing around with it, so I have not had time to check out the internet radio aspect of the program. My next project is getting the Meedio XM radio plug-in up and running.

I can listen to internet radio streaming using the Linkplayer network DVD player that I have mentioned on this site many times. However, I am not a fan of the sound quality of their links.

My favorite internet source is Rhapsody where I can customize a radio station to fit my tastes. I also just discovered www.pandora.com which is free and works in much the same way.

I have music in my living room via a direct connection via coax digital cabling form my soundcard and a VGA cord for video to the television. I have the computer in a separate room. I control the system using an All in wonder remote and a Belkin mediapiot wireless keyboard.

BTW I have also used the Slimserver frontend and it was a little slow, but I liked all the options for music. I especially liked the Moodlogic plugin.

 

[s0up0rn0t]

i listen to streaming radio all the time; wfmu, college radio, cbc etc. i have cable internet, an old soundblaster hooked up to the aux input on a pioneer sx-535 and some big old YORX speakers. i use winamp usually, but cbc only comes as windows media. i find that if the bitrate is 128 or better i can't tell the difference from local fm on the tuner. plus i don't have to listen to the interference my computer puts out at some frequencies.

 

[Reel 2 Reel]

I have a decent sound card, and excellent Harman/Kardon pc speakers.

I've listened to lots of streaming stations, and I've never found one that sounded decent.
Maybe I've just never found the right one.

I use the Musicmatch Jukebox On-Demand service for my streaming audio...but it is for pay...only $5.95/mo...or about $18/3 mos...and its worth it ...to me anyway...I can type in what I want to hear....be a single tune ....or whole CDs...

There is a radio service too...for free...also.

And to make the streams sound good I use 'DFX' processing. Give this a try...I have been using it for a couple years now...and am very happy with the results.

Give it a try...what the hell...you might like it ..




What 'HK' computer speakers do you use?...I have the HK-695s...they sound great..........for their size....

 

[dshoaf]

I've been into it....

for about 2 years now and am still running across some decent sounding streams. Many are university-based stations or public radio stations (NPR-type) with engineers who understand what it takes to get the audio right. I'm convinced that many of them just plop the same compressed audio that run through the transmitter onto the internet.

If you'd like to find more stations, I've found that Slim Devices' Slimserver along with a downloadable, software version of the SqueexeBox player will give you access to lots of them. I'd suggest Radioio.com, for one. 128K streams of all kinds of programming.

Also, I've found the Swedish Broadcasting folks have excellent quality streams at 97Kb/s here: http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/Mall/index.asp?programID=1603. Click on the Lyssna Direkt box to kick off your Media Player and try some. Much as I listen, I still can't get the hang of Swedish. I believe it defaults to the Classical stream, which has lots of recorded-live performances.

Also, some of my favorite jazz stations are: www.KPLU.org and www.KCSM.org. Classical stations are: www.KUSC.org.

I've pretty much stopped listening to most anything that's less than 97Kb/s anymore and *nothing* with a compressed signal.

Cheers,

David

 

[Manitoulin]

Try http://www.jazz.fm/

A great all jazz station from Toronto

 

[soundmotor]

Who are you and how do you do it? What player do you use? DO you have it streamed into your big Hi-Fi system or do you listen thru some small computer speakers?

I was streaming music when 16/kbps was about all you could link to from pre-CNET mp3.com. It did not become my primary music source until a few years ago when the bitrates started going up and fidelity dramatically improved. Between work and home, internet radio streams are going pretty much 24/7.

Since 2003, this has been my setup -

Sony VAIO (XP)
Winamp 3.0 player
Yamaha DP-u50 USB preamp
Parasound HALO A23 amplifier
(Also Parasound T3 tuner & Sony X555ES CD player)
ADS L300e minispeakers
Pinnacle SubSonic subwoofer (new today!)
Audioquest cables

I use Shoutcast to find new stations plus it lists by genre & bitrate. FM listening has dropped off to nearly zero & my CD purchases have skyrocketed. Anyone not using streams to find new bands is missing out. Bands breaking on FM were being streamed via internet radio 12-15 months earlier.

 

[jfhughes404]

I listen to a music service called "Rhapsody". I hook my lap top up to my big system and listen just about non-stop when I am home. I have been thinking about hooking up a small system for my desk top. I might take a little Kewood KA 2000 amp and a set of JBL62 speakers and hook them to my desk top just for the heck of it.

 

[rulerboyz]

I like to listen to the Italian radio station on RAI Italia :

http://www.radio.rai.it/

It's mainly to practice my Italian listening skills. However there is also great classical music programming on one of the stations. No understanding of Italian needed to appreciate that.

 

[Cleve]

I'm listening to Soma FM's "Drone Zone" as I type this, so obviously my response to the titular question is AY-Firmative, 10-4 and all that jazz!

Actually, I usually stream internet radio a goodly portion of the day with my Squeezebox 3. FM? What the heck is FM? Oh yeah, I remember that! LOL

Gary, what do you think of the idea of making a "Sticky" topic where we all can post links for our favorite internet radio stations?

 

[soundmotor]

I'm listening to Soma FM's "Drone Zone" as I type this,

If you like Drone Zone, you might also try bluemars.org for their ambients.

Same vein, different stuff.

 

[Jeffhs]

My music system

I have several music sources hooked into my stereo (Aiwa CX-NA888 CD/AM-FM/2 full logic cassette decks/200 total watts with surround). One is WinAmp 5.13 (with the Kenwood Allora III skin); it plays selected tracks from my favorite CDs, which I ripped onto the computer's hard drive. Hardly ever use the 3CD changer in my stereo now. I also have access to several XM satellite radio channels through AOL Music, part of my Winamp package; I also have many more music channels available which play almost any kind of music one can imagine, although my favorites (which I bookmarked quite a while ago) are '60s-'70s music, since that was when I grew up. My system isn't the fanciest thing on earth (I see from browsing this forum that many of you have far more elaborate installations), but I like it, because it sounds good to my ears and because it fits well into my small apartment (no room for big receivers/tuners/speakers). I'm listening to some favorite tracks from oldies CDs as I write this (through Sony MDR-24 headphones; I live in an apartment building and don't want to disturb my neighbors, as I like listening to my music at a decent level, not too loud but then not so loud as to blow my eardrums out--not to mention that I often listen very late at night after everyone else in the building has gone to bed).

Another program source I connected to the stereo, but don't use much, is the digital cable box. I use this mostly for digital cable TV, of course, but my digital service (Comcast) also offers 30 channels of CD-quality music. About the only time I use it is for easy-listening music (which FM radio ditched almost everywhere except in Arizona years ago) on channel 428. I also have a subscription to Radio365 which essentially duplicates what I get through cable and my own CDs/cassettes, but again I don't use Radio365 very much, and may drop it some time in the future.

Wow, how things have changed since I bought my first stereo system in 1982 (Zenith IS-4041 four-mode integrated system--phono/AM-FM-stereo/cassette/eight-track player/recorder--man, I should have held on to that thing; it would probably be worth something today, being a throwback into the '70s and earlier). But that's progress for you. I never dreamed in the early '80s that I would some day be listening to my favorite music in digital format (MP3, which I believe was unheard of in those days) using a computer and digital music player such as Winamp.

Oh yes, another thing I just love about Internet radio: no commercials! :yes:! The closest thing to that on standard FM radio from Cleveland is the overnight program on the oldies station, which is automated with very few commercials. :thmbsp: That's about the only thing I listen to on FM anymore, although the classic rock station isn't too bad in the overnight hours either as far as commercials are concerned. When the oldies station plays a song I don't care for (which isn't often, as I like most oldies), I will flip to the classic rock station (they are right next to each other on my digital FM tuner, memory positions 1 and 2 respectively). My FM radio reception in this small town is great, but there is much more variety from Internet radio and digital cable channels. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in Cleveland, which means most stations in the city play that type of music, the most modern type of which (IMHO) is little more than noise to my ears. The "active rock" station in Cleveland is the worst in this regard; it used to play automated top-40 when it first signed on in 1968 (and wasn't too bad with live DJs in the first few years after that), but these days it plays the darndest loud, noisy rock music I have ever heard. Needless to say, I quit listening to it years ago.

 

[Chad Hauris]

WCLV Cleveland, classical music has an Ogg Vorbis stream that sounds good to me (www.wclv.com)

There is another station from the Cleveland area, WKHR, which plays big band/old standards music, it is at www.wkhr.org.

Some of these types of music are not played on radio much if at all here so I don't mind the loss of some audio quality to be able to hear music I want to listen to. Both of these streams will work on Real Player for Linux.

 

[Icon]

i agree compleatly that it is great for finding new bands, find more new bands i like in one day then in the previous 2 years of my life. also can be neet (for a little while anyway) listening to the radio form other countries, ussally cant understand any of the words, but the music is not horable, and intresting. i ussally do it at school when i have several hours to kill till my next class (my univirsity is one of the most wired on the planet, ever student is issured a laptop and there is noplace on campus without a good wireless connection)

 

[Jeffhs]

WCLV Cleveland, classical music has an Ogg Vorbis stream that sounds good to me (www.wclv.com)

There is another station from the Cleveland area, WKHR, which plays big band/old standards music, it is at www.wkhr.org.

Some of these types of music are not played on radio much if at all here so I don't mind the loss of some audio quality to be able to hear music I want to listen to. Both of these streams will work on Real Player for Linux.

Chad,

I can get both stations you mention; in fact, WKHR's main antenna shares a tower with another Cleveland station. The tower is located about 20 miles south of me and is fairly high (Geauga County, Ohio, where the tower and transmitter for WKHR are located, is at fairly high elevation, which is why the area gets more snow than much of the rest of northeastern Ohio as well), so I can hear the station rather well here. Good to know, however, that the station streams over the Web; if I ever want to listen to it while working at the computer that stream will come in handy, as the CPU hash from the computer more or less wipes out WKHR's over-the-air signal in my stereo.

I knew WCLV has an audio stream, but what I did not realize is that the stream is in Ogg Vorbis format. I'm not sure my media player (Winamp 5.13) or Windows' own media player will handle this format, though, as I don't know much of anything about the format. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me one would need a special type of media player to decode it; I am not at all sure ordinary media players such as Winamp can handle it.

 

[Jeffhs]

WCLV Cleveland, classical music has an Ogg Vorbis stream that sounds good to me (www.wclv.com)

There is another station from the Cleveland area, WKHR, which plays big band/old standards music, it is at www.wkhr.org.

Some of these types of music are not played on radio much if at all here so I don't mind the loss of some audio quality to be able to hear music I want to listen to. Both of these streams will work on Real Player for Linux.

Chad,

I can hear both stations you mention very well. The signal from WKHR is very good here in eastern Lake County, as the station shares a rather tall tower with a Cleveland station. The transmitter and tower are some 20 miles south of me in Geauga County, Ohio; the area is fairly high elevation, so both stations have very good coverage of the entire northeastern Ohio area. The only problem I have with WKHR is that the CPU hash from my computer wipes out the signal on my stereo, so being able to hear it over the Web will come in very handy.

As for WCLV, I knew they stream over the Web but did not realize (until I read your post) that the stream is in Ogg Vorbis format. I don't know much about that format and am even less sure if my media player (Winamp 5.13) will decode it. I will have to give it a try one of these days; it might work after all.

BTW, I've been listening to Internet radio and my own music collection almost exclusively for a while now (except for the two FM stations I mentioned in my post), and I think it's great. The fidelity is excellent, IMHO, if you feed the output of your sound card into a decent stereo system.

BTW (2) : As to your comments about the kinds of music played over WKHR and WCLV (and other stations), the variety of music played over most FM stations across the country leaves a lot to be desired. WKHR may be one of a very few FM stations in this country that plays standards exclusively; as for classical, most major cities have at least one station which specializes in that format. WCLV lost most of its over-the-air audience here in Lake County when the station moved from 95.5 to 104.9 (there is a strong country station from the next town east of here on 104.7 that blanks out WCLV entirely in Lake); hopefully, many of those listeners are discovering the station's Internet stream and are once again able to hear WCLV, regardless of where they may live. The station presently simulcasts over WBKC 1460 AM in eastern Lake County (Painesville, Ohio), but AM radio fidelity (or the lack of it) being what it is (I don't think WBKC transmits AM stereo either), I think it is a rather poor way to get around the coverage problem in Lake County. A better solution, IMHO, would have been for WCLV's owners to have invested in a low-power translator station and to install it at the highest point in the county. The translator would have limited range, but all it would really need would be enough power to cover the county. This would also free up the Painesville station so that it could be programmed locally, as it was for many years before it became locked into simulcasting WCLV. Of course, with WCLV's Internet stream, the station's management may now be of the opinion that putting up a translator for this area isn't necessary after all.