From Business Week Online: "Tired of listening to the same old playlist on your iPod? Want background music at work that's more in tune with your tastes than the local radio station? Hankering to listen to talk shows on your own time? If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes,' then it's time to try radio, Internet-style...

"If you're looking for something that's... an alternative to the standard formats of traditional radio, Internet-only radio stations from new-media giants such as MSN, AOL, and Yahoo!, and lesser-known upstarts such as Soma and AccuRadio, offer polished Internet music channels.

"The Internet also makes local radio global. Want to listen to the BBC, but reside in Brooklyn? Want to find a Cox radio station from the Midwest, but live in New England? Want to check out the cutting-edge programming of KCRW, a Santa Monica (Calif.) public-radio station that has been on the forefront of Internet radio, but you're in Miami? The Internet provides those options...


Homemade radio: Podcasting
"Let's start with podcasting. It's just the latest evolution of digital radio. New software allows anyone to create radio shows and distribute them automatically over the Web to a PC, where they can be downloaded onto an MP3 player such as the Apple iPod...

"For the most part, regular folks are doing these shows, although a handful of traditional stations, primarily National Public Radio affiliates, have joined the podcasting world. So you can find podcasts of a variety of talk and news shows from stations including WNYC, KCRW, and WGBH...

"You can... subscribe to podcasts and have them automatically sent to your computer. To do so, you download software, called an aggregator, onto your computer. The most popular podcast aggregators now are www.ipodder.org and iPodderX...

"Aggregators put all the podcasts you subscribe to in one place. These services also provide more information about podcasting on their sites, as well as directories.

"Such directories are springing up across the Internet, making the task of finding a podcast much easier than it was just a few months ago. Podcast Alley is a popular directory... Allpodcasts and audio.weblogs.com...


Internet radio offers a world of music variety
"Podcasting is just one Internet radio option. There are plenty of Internet-only radio services. Free, independent stations such as SomaFM and WOXY broadcast over the Internet and are supported by contributions or ads...

"Big Internet radio services, such as Live365, Yahoo, and MSN create their own music channels and cull thousands of online radio stations into one big network. You subscribe to these services -- typically, they have a free version with ads or a paid offering costing as much as $4.95 a month. In general, the paid offering is commercial-free and offers higher quality and more stations.

"The beauty of either of these Internet radio networks is the variety of music channels they provide. You can choose from broad or niche music channels. In one afternoon, you can skip from a channel that plays top-40 rock hits to martini-lounge jazz to movie soundtracks. With many services, a listener can also skip through songs. And at MSN Radio, you can even download -- for around 99 cents apiece -- many of the songs.

"Radio devotees can even customize their own station, based on individual tastes...

"These services work best on PCs, although wireless operators such as Sprint and Cingular are starting to offer them on high-speed wireless networks...


Broadcasters make the move online
"More and more traditional radio stations are available online. Granted, NPR and the BBC have been the most innovative, but stations from some traditional radio giants such as Cox Radio are available, too. They provide live streaming straight from their sites. You listen to them using the popular media players, such as RealMedia or Microsoft's Media Player.

"The more innovative traditional radio stations offer other goodies as well, though. KCRW... provides popular programs on demand... And besides the live stream of what's playing on-air, it offers two others -- one that combines other music programming and a third that collects news from NPR, the BBC, and Voice of America."

Read the entire Business Week Online story here.

From Engadget.com: "Now for all the services in Japan that we want in our phones, Finland still has a few tricks up her sleeve.

"Finnish radio station Kiss FM is the world’s first station to use Nokia and HP’s new Visual Radio system, which is being pitched as an opportunity for radio listeners to interact and provide feedback to the station.

"The system... streams information on the currently playing track, including album and tour information, straight to your cellphone (your Nokia cellphone, natch), and will also allow listeners to interact through competitions, audience polls, and live ticket purchasing options.

"It’s nice to know that [while] the Finns will be able to reject the latest Britney single quickly and easily, FM seems to destined to remain a wasteland over here in the States for years and years to come.

"Anyway, Nokia’s 7710 [pictured], 3230, and 6230i are the only handsets compatible with Visual Radio, though there’s already some chatter about integrating all of this with car stereos."

Read Engadget's entire article online here. See previous RAIN coverage here.

From the press release: "Harry Shearer, the voice of many characters on 'The Simpsons,' and an actor, director, writer, producer and radio satirist, adds his voice to the podcasting lineup announced last week [see RAIN coverage here] by public radio station KCRW...

"'Le Show' is Shearer’s weekly one-hour satirical romp through the worlds of news, entertainment and politics, airing Sundays at 10am Pacific Time, and streaming live at KCRW.com.

"Now listeners will be able to automatically download the program to their computers, and sync it up to their MP3 players, to hear it wherever and whenever they want. Listeners will hear Shearer’s talk and humor segments only; because of copyright issues, music on the program will not be available via podcast...

"Shearer’s program debuted on KCRW in December 1983. It continues to be one of the most popular programs on the air. KCRW distributes the program via satellite to public radio stations nationwide; it is also heard around the world on numerous other broadcast venues."

From the press release: "With an extensive database including call letters, genre/format, and contact information for more than 13,000 radio stations throughout the United States, OnTheRadio.net puts a unique spin on radio advertising by offering radio listeners and advertisers the ability to locate radio advertising information that was unavailable prior to its launch.

"Created in 2004 to help radio listeners find phone numbers and websites for commercials broadcast on the radio, OnTheRadio.net has evolved to allow users access to its recently expanded database of radio station information...

"A commercial search at OnTheRadio.net using the selected criteria, for example, the date and time the commercial aired, or the state in which it was broadcast, will generate a list of advertisers who are registered with OnTheRadio.net and the commercial aired with criteria matching the user's search terms. The same applies to any advertiser, or listener, seeking information about a radio station that caters to a particular audience: a list of stations registered with OnTheRadio.net within a 65-mile radius will be displayed that matches the specified criteria...

"In the coming months, OnTheRadio.net will launch a song title and artist search allowing users access to playlists for radio stations registered with the service."