Nash said:
I don't have broadband, but my father does. He asked me about listening to
the radio from distant cities. I installed a new XP home on his box, but
have no idea if/how this is possible. Is there a freeware program that does
this? Or do I need to install a card? Thanks for any input;;
A few radio and tv stations provide a live feed on the internet,
accessible using an ordinary web browser. However, the program will have
to be run through some sort of media player software. There are
different formats used.
If he wants to listen to public radio programs, excellent talk shows are
often archived at the individual stations and every program is available
via simple menus. The key here is that broadcasters own the copyrghts to
this material; being public, there's no problem for them to upload it.
Most public stations in the USA that produce their own programs stream
exclusively with Real Networks technology. So does the BBC. A welcome
exception is the program _On The Media_ (highly recommended)from WNYC in
New York: this program is streamed and/or downloaded only in MP3.
I think that virtually everyone on this newsgroup will caution you
against installing Real Player in order to listen to Real streams. The
reason is that Real Player takes over the (victim's) computer to a
degree that boggles my mind -- and severly compromises its performance
even when the Real software is shut down. Installing Real Player on my
computer made over FIVE THOUSAND changes to my operating system. Once
this software has been installed, chances are that it won't ever be
possible to reverse the installation and completely remove it (I was
able to, but that's a whole 'nother story).
You can play Real streams with free alternatives -- search this
newsgroup for more intormation.
You may be pleased to know that you, too, can listen to this excellent
programming over dialup service. The sound will be compromised. But Real
streams often sound almost as bad as cell phone service, so the
difference between running them via broadband vs. running them via
dialup isn't that great, especially when your material is speech.
What you'll need is a web browser (you already have at least one) and a
media player capable of rendering Real streams via a third-party set of
special files in order to decode Real streams.
Such players are: Media Player Classic; JetAudio, and one other I can't
recall. I'm fairly sure that JetAudio contains some form of light
spyware associated with its digital rights management. MPC does not.
Both players are freeware. There's also a routine that uses one or two
sets of plugins with IrfanView, which is a wonderful image
manipulation/viewer free program.
Public and listener-supported sources are:
BBC
WNYC (New York)
KQED (San Francisco)
WBUR (Boston)
WBEZ (Chicago)
Pacifica Foundation
I recall that National Public Radio provides service, too, but I've
never been able to make it work probably because I'm using security
routines that block it.
In my own case, I've been downloading programs from these sources
directly to C-120 audio cassettes for later listening on a personal
stereo. I'll soon change this to an MP3 player because I can't keep
repairing my cassette recording decks forever, and I keep trashing the
little stereos when they fall off my belt -- these little machines are
impossible to find any more of any decent quality, and the cassettes
themselves will become scarce.
So, I think that you're all set!
Does this ring your chimes?
Richard
