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There are literally thousands of different kinds of radio stations and
webcasters already on the Internet. Some are terrestrial stations -- that is,
stations that broadcast an FM or AM signal -- that now have a stream. Some are
like terrestrial stations but have only an Internet stream. Some are large collections
of different streams, usually different "channels" playing various
genres of music. Spinner.com and Listen.com
are two of the largest of these companies.
Keep in mind that many broadcast stations are already streaming over
the internet! Do you like to listen to NPR? Check out KCRW
in California for an excellent NPR site. Like classical music? Be sure and get
a glimpse at either WRR101.com from Dallas,
Texas, a station that's been around since 1921, or Beethoven.com,
one of the most-listened to Internet-only stations. In the mood for something
eccentric? Take a look at KPIG.com, the first
broadcast station to webcast it's audio.
A good place to get started is right here at RadioJump. Go to the home
page (here), and click on the "Check
out RadioJump's new pop-up bingo board!" button. You'll get a small page
with links to a few dozen sites, hand-picked by us. Keep in mind that these
are just the tip of the iceberg! Keep checking the RadioJump home page for new
features sites, and soon you'll realize that there is plenty of stuff out there
to find.
Sad to say, there are an awful lot of things that can go wrong when
trying to listen to Internet radio. Some sites will work better than others,
for a variety of reasons. Some sites might not work at all on your computer,
and there might not be an obvious reason why. Errors will come up from time
to time, but don't get too frustrated! Generally speaking, many more sites will
work than won't work, and if a stream doesn't work, there's a good chance it's
not your (or your computer's) fault. Internet radio sites experience their fair
share of problems, too.
While it would be very difficult to give an in-depth troubleshooting
guide, we do offer a few general tips:
"It seems to be working, but I can't hear anything..."
 First,
make sure the obvious things are working. Make sure that your speakers are
properly hooked up, and that the volume is turned up high enough -- both on
your speakers themselves (if they have their own volume control) and through
Windows. For most users, you can check Window's volume control by clicking once
on the small speaker icon in the system tray -- the little area with the clock
in the lower right hand corner of the screen. A volume slider will appear. Generally
speaking, if you can hear other system sounds -- a noise when the computer starts
up, or a sound when error messages pop up, for example -- your volume level
should be fine.
If all your physical connections are in order, make sure that the player
is actually doing something. Most players will have an area where the name of
the song is displayed, and have some sort of indicator (a timer, for instance)
that something is actually happening. If you can't see any evidence that something
is playing, then the service might be down. About all you can do in that situation
is wait a little while and then try again.
"I can hear things, but the sound keeps starting and stopping..."
There are lots of reasons for this behavior, and unfortunately, it's
one of the most common problems Internet radio faces. This behavior of starting
and stopping is often referred to as "buffering." When a media player
starts to download a stream, it usually buffers a little bit of the stream before
it plays: that means that it loads a little bit of the stream into memory before
it starts playing. This works a little like skip-protection in a car CD-player:
if, for some reason, your Internet connection slows down for a few seconds,
you should still get a consistent stream.
However, an Internet connection can often slow down or stop completely
for more than a few seconds, causing a skip in the stream. If this is happening
a lot, then your connection may simply be too slow to listen to the stream you're
trying to listen to. Try clicking on a lower bandwidth stream, if it's available
(see the section on bandwidth above).
"RealPlayer and/or Windows Media Player is giving me connection errors..."
For users at home, using a dial-up connection: make sure that you are
connected to the Internet, and that the connection seems to be working all right.
If you can load web pages, your connection should be fine.
For users at an office/campus lab/etc.: sometimes, networks in office
environments aren't equipped to play streaming media. You might try talking
to your system administrator about it, but chances are you might not be able
to listen to Internet Radio. If you make a little bit of noise about it to the
proper people, however...
We hope you found this guide helpful. Please watch for more updates coming
soon! If you have a specific question about Internet radio, please feel free
to contact us via the e-mail forms available on RadioJump,or in the RadioJump
message boards!
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