I always wanted to find a way to get XM to play thru my Fisher amp. do they make a tuner I could connect to aux ?
RADIO- FM vs. Internet
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Luxuria Music is terrific - have been a fan for years!
Arkay
Lunatic Member
I used to enjoy listening to the local English-language radio stations. I still occasionally listen to the mostly-classical station on FM, but the other one that used to play classic rock, etc... finally drove me away by playing too much modern rap-crap, club/rave music, etc... I prefer my music sans the ubiquitous and gratuitous rap-crap, thank you!
I will sometimes stream online radio stations, but that, too, hasn't lasted as much as I expected. Not sure why - probably the lower-quality sound.
I have used a few of the services like Pandora and Spotify, but if you live outside of the U.S., you have to go through a lot of hoops using proxy VPN, etc... and as soon as they catch you or detect it, you have to start all over again. Also, the connections are not as stable, and not always as fast as I'd like (i.e., sometimes noticeably slower than my usual Internet connection). Not really worth all the hassles, so I've largely abandoned that, too. It bugs the %&(@*&#$)@ out of me to see all those icons on the screen (including Hulu and others) of the Oppo that I paid so much $$ for, and none of them work outside of the USA!
Maybe I'll go back to streaming more one day soon, but for now I've been "driven" to my own music collections (and to forums and YouTube for finding new music).
I will sometimes stream online radio stations, but that, too, hasn't lasted as much as I expected. Not sure why - probably the lower-quality sound.
I have used a few of the services like Pandora and Spotify, but if you live outside of the U.S., you have to go through a lot of hoops using proxy VPN, etc... and as soon as they catch you or detect it, you have to start all over again. Also, the connections are not as stable, and not always as fast as I'd like (i.e., sometimes noticeably slower than my usual Internet connection). Not really worth all the hassles, so I've largely abandoned that, too. It bugs the %&(@*&#$)@ out of me to see all those icons on the screen (including Hulu and others) of the Oppo that I paid so much $$ for, and none of them work outside of the USA!
Maybe I'll go back to streaming more one day soon, but for now I've been "driven" to my own music collections (and to forums and YouTube for finding new music).
sKiZo
Hates received: 92644 43.20°N 85.50°W
I let my XM/Sirius subscription lapse when I stopped doing the daily commute. For home, I can always tune it up on Dish Network ...
That said, most of the subscription services that were once commercial free are sneaking up there in the BUY ME minutes ... can't see paying good money to have someone poking me in the wallet every chance they get ...
That said, most of the subscription services that were once commercial free are sneaking up there in the BUY ME minutes ... can't see paying good money to have someone poking me in the wallet every chance they get ...
I really started getting interested in radio over fifty years ago with my first three transistor pocket radio given to me by one of my grandfathers...one of the first songs I remember as being popular
(and a nearby buddy having a brand new piano roll for their player piano!!!) was "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini....I remember the song "Wolverton Mountain" first hitting the charts, and "Ring of Fire" as being current...
Then I got into Shortwave Radio in 1965 and made a receiver from a kit, and later got a "real" multiband portable transistor radio for my 14th birthday in '66...I was hooked and bought my first "Radio Amateur's Handbook" and have been on a radio discovery route ever since...culminating in my attaining an Advanced Class Ham Radio license in the early '90's and having a pretty darn expansive Ham Radio station with full digital and satellite capability, plus all the usual shortwave accoutrements, and a large collection of classic AM and Collins gear....
The Cold War ended and Shortwave Radio slowly started dying...electricity costs unburdened by state imposed rates skyrocketed and also contributed to the death of many international broadcasters...plus, it didn't help if your entire country suddenly evaporated...
Local AM, once a good venue for finding out the latest news and what's happening in Pop radio, has all but died for their versions of talk radio, Hispanic music, or religious broadcasters, not much use for my Sansui AM stereo receiver, eh?
Local FM, which started out so promising and innovative, has become just so much more of the same over-processed dreck, full of the formulaic simulacrum of non-distinguishable vocal entities and music that has not seen any real innovation since the early 1990's (at the very latest), and is a complete wasteland except for the local college stations and the performing arts channel.
One of the university stations is quite good, KRTU, and not only broadcasts over the air but on the Internet....I really can not tell much difference between the OTA hybrid digital stream and the I-net stream sound quality, but I really don't listen to it intently trying to ascertain the sound quality aspects, it's just music that plays when I'm doing stuff around the house...
And Ham Radio? Well, like "Video Killed the Radio Star", the Internet killed the Ham Radio operator...at least that's what I think...the Internet and the communication revolution brought about by cell phones, etc., all happened around the same time and Ham Radio went from becoming something interesting for the technically oriented into something more archaic and less relevant now that everyone could hold a portable communications device in their hands...back in the early '90's I showed how a 2M handy-talkie could access one of the local repeaters and make a phone call to the late father of a friend of mine...it really was something more unusual than normal to have a device that you could make a telephone call to anyone within the same area code wirelessly, wherever you might be (as long as you had repeater coverage)...in a few years, though, that would change!
Currently at home, I listen mostly to streaming audio...I have a lot of stations saved into the favorites of my Squeezebox Touch and Radio, and can tune into what ever strikes my fancy at that time...everything from great streams of Old Time Radio to high definition links from the likes of Linn, all are in my favorites...not to mention many of the former shortwave broadcasters that have left the airwaves and now rely on the Internet to propagate their programs...
For me, there are so many better choices available streaming that I can listen to than all my "DC to Daylight" receivers can provide anymore...much less not be subject to the vagaries of ionospheric propagation effects...that there really remains no question as to what has survived and what gets listened to the most in my setup, it's definitely the Squeezebox Touch and streaming stations.
I wish it weren't so, my UVerse Internet "pipe" is only so big and streaming while surfing and watching TV almost makes downloads as slow as my first DSL line..not quite, but still noticeable....
But that's the price of progress, no?
In my car, though, it's either CD's or KPAC and KRTU as I don't stream while driving!
(and a nearby buddy having a brand new piano roll for their player piano!!!) was "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini....I remember the song "Wolverton Mountain" first hitting the charts, and "Ring of Fire" as being current...
Then I got into Shortwave Radio in 1965 and made a receiver from a kit, and later got a "real" multiband portable transistor radio for my 14th birthday in '66...I was hooked and bought my first "Radio Amateur's Handbook" and have been on a radio discovery route ever since...culminating in my attaining an Advanced Class Ham Radio license in the early '90's and having a pretty darn expansive Ham Radio station with full digital and satellite capability, plus all the usual shortwave accoutrements, and a large collection of classic AM and Collins gear....
The Cold War ended and Shortwave Radio slowly started dying...electricity costs unburdened by state imposed rates skyrocketed and also contributed to the death of many international broadcasters...plus, it didn't help if your entire country suddenly evaporated...
Local AM, once a good venue for finding out the latest news and what's happening in Pop radio, has all but died for their versions of talk radio, Hispanic music, or religious broadcasters, not much use for my Sansui AM stereo receiver, eh?
Local FM, which started out so promising and innovative, has become just so much more of the same over-processed dreck, full of the formulaic simulacrum of non-distinguishable vocal entities and music that has not seen any real innovation since the early 1990's (at the very latest), and is a complete wasteland except for the local college stations and the performing arts channel.
One of the university stations is quite good, KRTU, and not only broadcasts over the air but on the Internet....I really can not tell much difference between the OTA hybrid digital stream and the I-net stream sound quality, but I really don't listen to it intently trying to ascertain the sound quality aspects, it's just music that plays when I'm doing stuff around the house...
And Ham Radio? Well, like "Video Killed the Radio Star", the Internet killed the Ham Radio operator...at least that's what I think...the Internet and the communication revolution brought about by cell phones, etc., all happened around the same time and Ham Radio went from becoming something interesting for the technically oriented into something more archaic and less relevant now that everyone could hold a portable communications device in their hands...back in the early '90's I showed how a 2M handy-talkie could access one of the local repeaters and make a phone call to the late father of a friend of mine...it really was something more unusual than normal to have a device that you could make a telephone call to anyone within the same area code wirelessly, wherever you might be (as long as you had repeater coverage)...in a few years, though, that would change!
Currently at home, I listen mostly to streaming audio...I have a lot of stations saved into the favorites of my Squeezebox Touch and Radio, and can tune into what ever strikes my fancy at that time...everything from great streams of Old Time Radio to high definition links from the likes of Linn, all are in my favorites...not to mention many of the former shortwave broadcasters that have left the airwaves and now rely on the Internet to propagate their programs...
For me, there are so many better choices available streaming that I can listen to than all my "DC to Daylight" receivers can provide anymore...much less not be subject to the vagaries of ionospheric propagation effects...that there really remains no question as to what has survived and what gets listened to the most in my setup, it's definitely the Squeezebox Touch and streaming stations.
I wish it weren't so, my UVerse Internet "pipe" is only so big and streaming while surfing and watching TV almost makes downloads as slow as my first DSL line..not quite, but still noticeable....
But that's the price of progress, no?
In my car, though, it's either CD's or KPAC and KRTU as I don't stream while driving!
I grew up in DC back in the early 60's, still miss WPGC and WEAM, 1580 and 1390 on the good ole Am dial... My Dad had 2 EV Georgians and a Fisher FM 1000... man those were the days...
FM is no longer even close to a reliable source of music in my opinion...that is unless you enjoy the same 10 songs over and over for weeks at a time with so many commercials you wonder if there is any music programmed in the first place. So for me, it's internet radio if I want to listen to radio. I do not consider MOG or Rhapsody for example to be internet "radio". They are services entirely different from the likes of Pandora and such. Pandora and the like to me are internet "radio".
For example I pick up the stations in Los Angeles and with the exception of one station that has one program on Sunday mornings the rest of the dial is revolting drivel in my opinion. We have lost a lot of good stations over time. KLOS for example used to be one of the stops on my dial scans, but now days they have become the sewer. The same 10 songs over and over and over of corp rock at best with endless ads and DJs who sound like they are just reading a script and either bored or so wrapped up in themselves that they forget to put Selector forward to the next batch of music.
Now we have Jack FM, but aside from it's own funny station IDs it doesn't have much to offer except the occasional song you have not heard in a long time.
Then there is The Sound FM, pretty much all there is for classic rock and doesn't seem to be quite as deep into the same 10 songs over and over. They also have a show Sunday mornings called Peace Love and Sunday mornings that plays 60s/70s classic rock and all good stuff including the occasional deep cut. I know of no other FM station that dares to play a deep cut off anything. In fact, some of the older classic DJs from the other stations (including KLOS) are now on The Sound.
With internet radio you get to hear new music or music by artists you like that you had not heard before or forgotten about. You get to hear "like artists" as well. I like being able to flip on a internet station say for Jazz and hear stuff I like but did not know about until that moment, discover artists I never had a chance to hear before. Same thing goes for other genre stations. My wallet doesn't always like it, but it's a slap in the face to the RIAA in that it shows that album sales in CD format or vinyl or what have you do not decline with people using internet radio, they increase if anything. How long has it been since you went and bought an album from something you heard on traditional FM radio? For me, it's been about 15+ years.
For example I pick up the stations in Los Angeles and with the exception of one station that has one program on Sunday mornings the rest of the dial is revolting drivel in my opinion. We have lost a lot of good stations over time. KLOS for example used to be one of the stops on my dial scans, but now days they have become the sewer. The same 10 songs over and over and over of corp rock at best with endless ads and DJs who sound like they are just reading a script and either bored or so wrapped up in themselves that they forget to put Selector forward to the next batch of music.
Now we have Jack FM, but aside from it's own funny station IDs it doesn't have much to offer except the occasional song you have not heard in a long time.
Then there is The Sound FM, pretty much all there is for classic rock and doesn't seem to be quite as deep into the same 10 songs over and over. They also have a show Sunday mornings called Peace Love and Sunday mornings that plays 60s/70s classic rock and all good stuff including the occasional deep cut. I know of no other FM station that dares to play a deep cut off anything. In fact, some of the older classic DJs from the other stations (including KLOS) are now on The Sound.
With internet radio you get to hear new music or music by artists you like that you had not heard before or forgotten about. You get to hear "like artists" as well. I like being able to flip on a internet station say for Jazz and hear stuff I like but did not know about until that moment, discover artists I never had a chance to hear before. Same thing goes for other genre stations. My wallet doesn't always like it, but it's a slap in the face to the RIAA in that it shows that album sales in CD format or vinyl or what have you do not decline with people using internet radio, they increase if anything. How long has it been since you went and bought an album from something you heard on traditional FM radio? For me, it's been about 15+ years.
You can hear human DJs from stations outside your local area with internet radio service. You can even hear them from other countries!
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I listen to radio in the car and at home a great deal, but I am lucky to have two great stations that I like -- CBC1 and CBC2. For me, internet radio is for when I'm jogging.
+48V
hi-fi or die
No sir. I've been paying a relatively hefty sum to SoundExchange, BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC for over a decade. Flying under the radar and dodging copyright law is for fly-by-night fools.
There are many "high bitrate" internet radio stations that rival if not surpass a terrestrial station's "FM quality". Seek and ye shall find. :thmbsp:
I prefer good old standard FM with live DJs myself. We're lucky to be in a great reception area with lots of choices, and with a rooftop antenna/rotator setup there's always something good to listen to around here. I've tried streaming over the internet but I didn't care for it (sounds tinny and weird) and although I have a couple of Sony HD tuners I don't really care for that format either (again, some stations sound a bit off and make a saxophone sound like a kazoo). I definitely prefer listening over the air live but I think its great that we have internet radio options for people who don't have any decent stations nearby.
TimF
Super Member
A couple of years ago I could have cared less about anything "Computer or Internet" audio. Then due to a turn of fate and needing to downsize and look at things in a different way, prompted a change of gear for one, something more simple(?). I had always enjoyed FM radio for the most part, but Indianapolis, save a couple decent stations, has become quite dreadful for anything decent programming wise or sound quality wise.
Once I purchased a Naim Uniti that had iRadio on it, I haven't looked back, give me Radio Paradise, Naim Radio and few others anyday over the dreadful FM area I live in. The thing that really hooked me was sound quality as well as just plain new stuff. Opened a lot of new music for my ears and that is what I have enjoyed the most.
With that being said, there is still that very rare occasion that I tune into a couple FM stations for a listen, but increasingly rare these days. Tim
Once I purchased a Naim Uniti that had iRadio on it, I haven't looked back, give me Radio Paradise, Naim Radio and few others anyday over the dreadful FM area I live in. The thing that really hooked me was sound quality as well as just plain new stuff. Opened a lot of new music for my ears and that is what I have enjoyed the most.
With that being said, there is still that very rare occasion that I tune into a couple FM stations for a listen, but increasingly rare these days. Tim
KrisM
Lunatic Member
Dumb question, but why do so many radio station's streams sound so bad? Are the bandwidth requirements so high that they can't at least try to get it close to FM quality? Is it hard/expensive to do, or do these stations just treat it like an afterthought?
As for the OP, generally speaking I prefer a DJ over a generated playlist. I will listen to internet stations, but if it is local and I can get a decent FM signal, that's what I prefer.
Our public broadcaster has a nice website with streaming genre stations that I enjoy, too.
Things like MOG are not available to me, so I can't comment on them.