Tuning Into The WWW

There’s apparently no dearth of music these days. Our Radio & TV channels pump out music 24/7 in this country and more channels are on the verge of starting their services. Yet, even with so many choices, people have been found complaining about the lack of quality music, especially that is different from the norm. This trend has occurred mostly because the channels’ content, especially with regard to music, differs very slightly from each other.

The channels’ fixation to milk ‘Popular’ songs for all their worth (meaning at least 3 times an hour) has left their listeners begging for ‘anything else’. However, because of the lack of experimentation on the part of the networks, it had been getting harder and harder to find new music these days. Infact, the situation is so bad, that aside from the limited word of mouth method or as a fluke, you might never had been able to listen to anything different than what the channels make you listen to. I say HAD, because as with all the other areas which ‘Information Technology’ has leveled, it has also freed the area of music from the clutches of large labels & media networks. Now small & private labels as well as independent musicians can bring their music to the world at a very low cost.

What is this IT revolution you might ask? Well, it’s as simple as Internet Radio. Commercial radio or Television channels may be going down the tubes, but Internet radio is alive and kicking. Just some of the more popular styles available online include: Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Jazz, R’n’B, RAP, Soul, World, Easy listening and there are hundreds of other styles out there.

The best part about Internet radio is that there’s (mostly) no waiting for commercial breaks to end (since many WJs (Web Jockeys) are hobbyists) or wait impatiently for the RJ to stop telling you about their last night’s dinner, so you can listen to the song that they’ve been promising to play for the last 15 minutes. Most online radio stations also display artist, album, and track information while the songs are playing, so you can always find the lyrics, or download the song through P2P software.

Of course given the sheer number of stations (in millions), it can take a while to find a station you like, but once you do, you’re likely to hear lots of new tunes and all tuned to your listening pleasure.

How to get Jamming?

So you’re excited and want to get started. Remember, the sheer volume of internet stations and musical styles out there can make it hard to sort out the good stuff, but there are plenty of ways to find a station that you like; you will just have to work a bit. Here’s how to get started.

The easiest way to get on the ‘Radio WWW’ ‘BANDwagon’ is to use ‘Shoutcast’. SHOUTcast is a free-of-charge audio homesteading solution. It permits anyone on the internet to broadcast audio from their PC to listeners across the Internet or any other IP-based network (Office LANs, Cable users, etc.). The SHOUTcast system can also deliver audio in a live situation, or can deliver audio on-demand for archived broadcasts. It also permits anyone who has the SHOUTCast plug-in to listen to those webcasts. SHOUTcast’s underlying technology for audio delivery is MPEG Layer 3, also known as MP3 technology, the files that we all use to listen to music now.

So where do you get it from? Chances are you already have it. The Shoutcast plugin is available in all the latest versions of WinAMP (www.winamp.com) and is supported in mostly all other media players as well.

To access these millions of stations webcasting all kinds of musical styles, all you have to do is install WinAMP on your system and then go to www.shoutcast.com. Select the kind of music channel you want to listen to, and just click!. A file will download to your system, WinAMP will start and that’s it. Instant Gratification. However, please remember, you have to be connected to the net at all times you’re listening to the music. Also, remember, for dial-up connections, speeds faster than 56 Kbps streaming is not recommended. This is because the bandwidth on the modem is not fast enough to support such high data transfers. Anything faster than 56 Kbps and your DataStream will periodically pause or keep breaking up.

WinAMP and SHOUTcast technology are not the only way to listen to music online, however. Other media players like Apple ITunes (also available for the PC), MusicMatch Jukebox, as well as the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger now have built-in Internet radio browsers, which you can use to directly access their music channels. Musicmatch goes one better with its Musicmatch Radio service, which lets you build customized streaming radio stations with a staggering degree of control. Its ArtistMatch feature uses related-artist data to create a custom radio station based around each artist in the Musicmatch library that features tracks from that band and others like it.

Okay, now what happens if you don’t want the hassle of downloading & installing software? Than point your browsers to www.live365.com or www.freevirginradio.com. These sites have their own media players, which let you listen to the songs without needing any special software. The players are downloaded like plug-ins directly onto your computer. These two websites are counted amongst the best sites on the web. Live35 is amongst the top rated sites on the internet with regard to the choice of music stations available. Virgin Music (the website of the International Label) plays only the latest English music, from Hard rock and Heavy Metal to Classical music and Symphonies, and these are being streamed 24 hours a day. Both are totally free of charge. You can subscribe to either’s premier services for even better quality sound (CD-Quality and better) and even more web channels for very nominal amounts too, if you so desire.

What about Urdu Then?

By now the reader is going to say, okay fine we have all these great websites for English songs, but I’m not interested in English songs. I want to listen to the latest Pakistani and Indian Songs. Aren’t there any good sites for that?

The best Pakistani website in my opinion for listening to the latest Pakistani songs is www.muziq.net. For this website, however you will require the (Free) Real Audio Player from www.real.com. This website has been providing free internet music for a long time now, and I have personally found their content always updated and fresh. From Ghazals & Classical music, to Rock and Pop music, you’ll find enough music here for any ‘Musicphile’. They even have videos in Real Audio streaming formats, which you can watch as well. Another good Pakistani music website is www.gerryslive.com. The website offers streaming music and has some of the best Indo-Pak music online. You’d love it even more, if you like listening to the ‘oldies’. And why are we forgetting the Pakistani band’s websites. Want to listen to Junoon’s latest song, than www.junoon.com is your answer. Other popular musicians too have taken up this medium of getting their music to the masses too and you can visit their website to listen to their latest albums.

For Bollywood music, Aside from stations on Shoutcast.com, you have almost unlimited number of choices. www.radiosargam.com/, and www.dishant.com, for example have the best and latest collection of ‘Bollywood’ music online. A small search on google.com with the keywords ‘Bollywood music Radio’ will turn up even more channels online, which are serving IndoPak Songs only. You’ll even have the choice between Punjabi (inc. Bhangra), Tamil, Teluga, and other local dialects of India with some of the sites.

If you’re sharing a network connection on a cable network and you’d rather browse the playlists and collections of your friends, rather than listen to music online, what you’ll require here is Napster, Rhapsody or Apple’s ITunes. You can use ITunes especially to share music with others on your network (legally) by streaming songs from your PC to others (Just choose Edit, Preferences, Sharing and check the "Share My Music" box).

Want To Own Your Own Radio Station?

You’ve searched the internet and have decided you can do a much better job than all the other radio stations. If this is the case and you have been harboring these secret dreams of becoming a famous Disk Jockey, than give that dream life with ‘Radio WWW’. Use the Shoutcast Server (Visit www.shoutcast.com for the very easy installation instructions) and setup your own Internet radio station (Free of charge) and let other users connect to your computer and listen to what you have to say and offer. Be your own WJ and prove to the world that you can do a better job than all the DJs on our commercial channels. If you’re good, companies will start advertising with you as well. So you can make money from your hobby too.

Want even more Entertainment?

The Radio fun on the web doesn’t just stop at music. Music is just one part of the growing importance of ‘Radio’ on the www. There’s something here for everybody from the age of three to a hundred plus.

Want the Urdu news online, than tune into www.bbcurdu.com, to hear the latest news from around the world brought to your desktop live. For local news, you can listen to some of the local FMs online through their website.

If you want the latest Cricket Commentary on how Pakistan is faring in some match, there are plenty of channels online to satisfy your thirst. But you don’t have to be restricted to cricket only. Other sports stations abound too online and you can find the latest news of Soccer, Basketball, baseball or any other that you can think of.

Need a laugh badly; comedy stations are a dime a dozen here and there’s something to tickle anybody’s funny bone, from outright disgusting jokes, to satire and light comedy (see shoutcast and Live365 stations). Infact from entertainment to drama, you can listen to it all on the Radio WWW.

What I have described above, is just a small part of what you can actually discover on Internet Radio. My advice to you, get on moving and discover for yourself, the fun, the excitement, and most of all the discovery of new and exciting music and more that awaits you online, when you tune into the WWW.