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Originally Posted by AllieK
Hi i am new out here.How can i listen the RADIO on the Internet and which kind of device or software will be needd for it?  |
Hope you don't mind a new guy chiming in here with his first post.
I operate a music stream, so I'm asked about various players frequently. Any of the well-known audio players will work fine so that you can listen to internet radio, but when choosing the player that's best for you... you might consider what you do while you're listening.
If you want to interact with the station's web page (to submit song requests, to rate their songs, to chat on their site, etc.) then you might try Windows Media Player or the newest version of Winamp. Those players can serve double-duty, acting as your music player and as your browser (to display web pages) all in one application: One window, no need to keep a separate browser window open. With my webcast, listeners tend to want to use my site while they are listening (so they can rate the songs, and submit requests) so most of them use Windows Media or Winamp.
Here is a link to a large (be warned!)
pic of my Winamp 5.5 window, where you can see that I'm tuned in and using the Winamp browser to view and interact with my site:
But some listeners don't care about the station's web content. All they want to do is tune in the station and listen to it while they do other stuff. They don't need the station's site in their browser. Many of those listeners use iTunes or Winamp, and avoid Windows Media Player, because for them the sound quality is all that matters. Most them believe that internet streams sound better in iTunes or Winamp than in Windows Media Player, and in my experience I would agree with them.
Some listeners like the RealOne player because it shows a few sentences of bio information about each artist that plays in the webcast.
Regarding iTunes, a lot of people are not aware that you can use it to play internet radio stations that are *not* listed in iTunes radio listing. In iTunes, on the menubar, you can use:
Advanced > Open Stream
And in that window, paste or type in the URL of the stream source (not the URL of the station's web page). I'd give an example of that, but this is my first post and I don't want to be perceived as a spammer that's promoting my own stream.
Anyway, the point of all my rambling is... a player that works best for me might not be the best for you. Try a few players and see which you like best, and when deciding don't forget to consider what you're doing while you're listening.
