aurembs asked:


In today’s hi-tech world, a lot of time is spent working on the computer. While clicking away on either a desktop or a laptop, listening to music may help to make the day go by a bit faster? You can buy music albums and CDs to listen and enjoy, but if you’re worried about spending too much money, there is another option. The Internet of course! With the Internet in your fingertips, you can easily access a wide variety of music. You can gain access to whole new genres of music and visit thousands of radio stations that broadcast through the Internet. For this very purpose USB radios are available in the market. Compactly designed, you can use USB radios to receive and listen to FM radio broadcasts with your PC.

The Aluratek USB Internet Radiois one such USB radio available at Tupelo Super Store. The Aluratek USB Internet Radio Jukebox is a device that’ll help you listen to more than 13,000 internet based radio stations from all around the world quickly and easily. As it does not require any software installation, you can simply plug in the Aluratek USB Internet Radio Jukebox into the USB port of your computer to use it. With such a convenient plug ‘n’ play functionality, you can carry it anywhere. The Aluratek USB Internet Radio Jukebox lets you explore music by different genres from rock and pop to jazz and rock.

The Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. With the Aluratek USB Internet Radio Jukebox, you can listen to music from radio stations in over 150 countries at no extra fee. When you find a favorite station, you can add it to your favorites folder for future use. You can search and find top ten lists of music genres and stations in each country. The Aluratek USB Internet Radio’s end lights up when inserted into your USB port that allows you to know whether it is working or switched off. For a trouble-free and fun musical experience, get the Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio.

James asked:


What is internet radio?

Internet radio is ‘broadcast’ using the Internet as the connection to the radio rather than radio waves. Conventional AM/FM radio is broadcast using transmitters at fixed locations. The further that the radio is from the transmitter, the weaker the signal becomes until beyond a certain distance and as a result, the station cannot be heard.

What do I need to listen to radio stations?

The basic requirement to use internet radio is that you have a broadband Internet connection to your home (or wherever you intend to use the internet radio).

As all of our internet radios have wireless capability, you can take the internet radio wherever you like (providing it is within reception of a wireless internet access point). If you do not have wireless internet access, but have broadband, you can still use an internet radio by plugging it into one of your internet access points using a standard RJ-45 cable (usually the same cable that your PC will therefore use to gain access to the internet) making it ideal for home and office. All internet radios are simply “plug and play”.

How do I set up the internet radio?

If you are using the radio with a wireless network, you may be prompted to enter a security code to gain access to the wireless network (Common practice to prevent unauthorized wireless access). This is also known as the “wireless network key”.

If you are in an office, contact your IT helpdesk for the “wireless network key”.

If you are using the internet radio with your own wireless access point and you have the WPA/WEP security enabled for your wireless connection, you will need to enter the “wireless network key” the first time your radio connects to the network (the same security key as your computer) you will only need to enter the ‘key’ in once. The radio will store this information for future use on this network.

Most standard wireless internet access points, for example the Orange Livebox or other A/DSL routers, have the default WPA/WEP key printed on the manual or internal packaging. It sounds complicated, but all you need to do is input this key and you’re away.

What internet stations are available?

Contrary to popular belief finding internet radio stations is easy…

You can now access nearly 20,000 radio stations from all over the world. These stations cover every type of radio broadcast imaginable; Music, Talk, Sport, Religion, Kids. You name it you will probably find it.

How do I get the stations I want to listen to?

When you buy an internet radio you will find that the radio will already be set up to link to one of the internet radio providers such as Reciva who already have 1000’s of stations on their portal. When you connect your radio to your wireless network it will automatically gain access to these stations and you can listen straight away.

You can then browse these stations via your internet radio. The internet radio manufacturers have made this very easy for you and you can see on the built in display all the information you need. You can search by:

* Genre (Music Style, News etc)

* Country/Location

* Preset Favorites

If you like you can take a chance and browsing around the countries/locations is great fun and you never know what you might find.

What if I can’t find a station I want on my internet radio?

If there is a station you find on the Internet that is not listed on your internet radio then you can contact the portal and request that your station is added to the list.

Besides searching via your internet radio you can search on the internet directly as all internet radio stations have their own websites.

So if you wanted to search for ‘Country Music’ stations simply type it into any search engine and you will come across all relevant links to ‘Country Music’ stations. You can then get the website address and contact your internet radio portal operator who will add that station to their portal.

What is a Podcast?

It is becoming difficult to ignore the growing trend of podcasting. The boom of MP3 players really took off in 2001 with the release of Apple’s iPod. The iPod ushered in a new way to listen to music, and many others followed. There are currently hundreds of different MP3 players on the market today, and they have become a common possession among both young and old. Podcasting became popular in 2004 and nowadays you can find it on a huge amount of websites. Despite this popularity, many people are finding themselves thinking “But what is it? Where can I do it? What equipment do I need?” If you too are feeling a little lost about it all, then read on…

The word ‘Podcast’ is a mix of the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’. This has lead many people into believing that you need an iPod to be able to access podcasts, but they would be mistaken. You do not need an iPod – nor any other MP3 player – to podcast, or listen to a podcast for that matter. All you need is some audio-playing software on your computer, and of course, some form of device to allow you to hear it. The majority of people have both speakers and some form of audio-playing software – step one accomplished.

Podcasting is a type of online media delivery, but different to any that have existed previously. Put simply, podcasting allows you to download files via a feed (such as RSS) onto your computer and MP3 player. These files can be music, talk shows, interviews, discussions, news… the list is endless. However, there is more to it than that: The significant characteristic about podcasting is that you can subscribe to a series so that it automatically downloads on to your computer and MP3 player. Many believe that it is for this feature that podcasting became so popular in 2004.

Aradhana Gupta asked:

The FM Radio has seeped into every household and has become an ideal companion during the monotonous and dreary moments of life. Not only music but radio has now evolved as a wonderful medium to voice public opinions as well as for playing daily contests and games. Today, we have mobile phones with integrated radio. While traveling or on a boring day at home, there isn’t a better companion than a radio set.

Radio has an element of uncertainty to it. You never know which song is to be played next. That is the reason, why the craze of radio refuses to subside despite having numerous other means of musical pleasure available.

Now the radio is integrated with the Internet and we can quite conveniently listen to it as we do on our radio sets. The trend of live Internet radio is quite recent but has gained a tremendous momentum of appreciation in a short span. The laptops give a significant boost to the usage of the Internet radio, as while traveling one can listen to the FM and keep himself entertained. The radio sets are undoubtedly nearing ‘extinction’, basically due to the fact that radio comes embedded into a number of other gadgets, like a music player, iPod, mobile phone, PDA etc.

With the mobile phones being transformed gradually into computers due to the integration of cutting edge technological marvels like GPRS, high end browsers etc., accessing the Internet radio websites no longer depends on the availability of a computer. Online radio not only allows FM audience, but you have a provision to access AM radio as well. Internet radio has myriad forms. There are websites that provide everything ranging from custom radio stations, to AM and FM streaming stations. They also facilitate instant download of the songs. Some of the websites offer pure musical experience and absolutely 0% commercial interruptions. No irritating advertisements, no radio jockeys; just pure music.

Radio on the Web is the next big leap of the Internet towards engulfing the entire world into it. The radio is now almost omnipresent. You pick up a mobile and you have the FM radio facility in it; if it is an i Pod, you can switch from your own collection of songs to the unlimited play list of the radio. Many radio stations are now concentrating on this new face of FM and AM entertainment. Internet voice streaming is a prerequisite to facilitate radio on Web. The Live Internet Radio has definitely boosted the popularity of this mode of entertainment a great deal.

Bill Arnoldi asked:


Radio has been lagging for some years now, seeming to be a dinosaur compared to streaming internet radio, podcasting, XM satellite radio, and the plethora of other technologies that have reared their heads in the past 10 years. One of these new technologies is basically the same thing as old-school AM/FM radio, and that is internet radio. They both serve the same basic function, except with internet radio, you can set up your own station and play the music you want to play. I find this to be really exciting. So, with this knowledge in hand, how would one go about setting up an internet radio station?

Internet radio stations use streaming audio technology to deliver audio content to your listeners. Basically, streaming audio is a more efficient and effective solution for delivering audio content. Instead of someone having to download the full audio file to listen to it, it is “streamed” off of a server so the end user can listen to the content live instead of having the file’s data stored on their computer. There are special servers that deliver streaming media, and most ISPs have streaming media abilities, so you need to ask your internet provider first to make sure that you’ll be able to do so.

This tutorial is concerned with setting up and working a internet radio station utilizing pre-recorded content. (You can also broadcast live, but that’s another tutorial in itself.) So, let’s jump right into what hardware you’ll need to get going.

Gear you’ll need to get going:

1.CD Player You’ll most likely be using and audio player on your computer, such as Real Player. You can set-up your playlist as you see fit. Some ISPs offer streaming radio services that utilize your media player playlist to figure out what you want played, and when to play it. You will need to check with your ISP to find out the details, as every one is different.

2.CD ripping software (To gather your audio files) I personally use Windows Media Player to rip my audio cds, it seems to be the easiest I’ve come across. Please keep in mind that there are special rules for broadcasting copyrighted content, and you will be liable if you broadcast any copyrighted content.

3.Audio editing software If you decide to record anything yourself, station identification bits and the like, you’ll need a microphone too. I use Sony Soundforge for any audio editing, as it’s a very simple, intuitive program. This will also benefit you if you’d like to censor any of the songs, or add anything to them. It also helps out if you want to cut down on the song’s file sizes. You can pull a .wav file into Soundforge and output a compressed MP3 file in seconds.

4.A standard hosting account with an ISP Every ISP is different, so you’ll have to check with yours. All you really need to ask is if they support streaming internet radio, and if they do, you’re good to go.

This is a very simplified guide to setting up and internet radio station, but it should be an adequate primer if you have no knowledge of streaming internet radio. There are many programs out there, free and paid, that will help you get the job done too. There is a great repository of resources over at www.webdevelopersjournal.com/software/multimedia_goodies.html that I suggest you check out. Anyways, I learned a lot writing this article, I hope you learned just as much reading it.

Adam Savage asked:


With advances in technology there is much talk that terrestrial AM and FM radio could be in trouble. As mp3 players, ipods, and satellite radio grow in popularity there is a belief by many that terrestrial radio will become extinct. However, AM and FM radio has an answer to these technologies and it’s on the internet.

Radio companies across the country and the world are now streaming live through their radio websites. Listeners can simply log on to their favorite radio website and listen almost instantly to the live on-air broadcast through the speakers of their computer. These internet radio streams are usually accessible from anywhere in the world. A recent story on InsideRadio.com stated “Terrestrial radio’s doing better and better in the streaming game – up to a 38.5% share. Radio’s websites were up 18% to 19.9 million unique visitors for March. That’s the highest yet according to commScore Media Metrix.”

Internet Radio Streaming is in its infancy stage and although it’s growing rapidly, there are still things that need to be fixed. Radio stations can take up to 30 seconds for an internet radio stream to load and the feed can often be lost for short periods of time during a session.

However, the sky is the limit…

Advances in other areas of technology could potentially benefit internet streaming in a huge way. As cell phones become pocket pc’s and as wi-fi becomes prevalent in more and more areas, internet radio streams are going to become easily accessible. Further, blue tooth and similar technology, will allow internet radio streams to be sent from cell phones directly through car and home speakers systems. Imagine being able to access any radio station in the country or even the world anywhere at anytime.

The future of radio is here….and it’s on the internet.

This article may be reprinted if this credit remains intact. Courtesy of Adam Savage and