High Tech Household

Internet Radio has come a long way in the past few years.  What started as something that a few people did as a hobby has now become a full-fledged entertainment option.  When Internet Radio started, people were restricted to listening on their home PCs or laptops.  While this may be a good option when working, it is hardly practical for those who like to listen on the go.

Podcasting helped to expand the possibilities of online radio to go by allowing users to download mp3 copies of an internet radio broadcast onto their iPods or other portable music player.  While this added some portability, in the last year, there has been an explosion of options for listening to Internet radio.

With the introduction of app-based smartphones, people have been able to stream live Internet Radio directly to their phones.  Some of the bigger players in Internet Radio (such as AccuRadio, RealRadio, and Shoutcast) either offer or have in development apps to stream their audio via the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, or Blackberry.  These sites offer hundreds of “stations” of live audio content, and some offer the ability for an individual person to set up their own radio station with a computer and a microphone.

One of my favorite internet audio sites is Pandora.  Pandora is a site that asks you to input artists and songs that you like, and it “creates” a radio station based on your preferences and music that has similar characteristics based on the Music Genome Project.  You can further refine your station by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to a particular song, or by adding other artists and songs.  What you end up with is a personalized radio station based on your tastes.  Pandora is also available as an app on the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile phones, giving you the ability to stream your radio stations to your car, while out for a jog, or while on the train.

Other devices are also being developed specifically for Internet Radio.  Logitech has developed two new devices, one that looks like a self-contained radio, and a sleeker touch-screen radio that connects to an existing stereo.  With all of these options, Internet Radio offers a wide variety of choices for entertainment and information, and only stands to gain in popularity and market share in the coming years.