Internet radio

[givendale]

I ha ve found myself listening to alot of Radio Paradise which is a commercial free station (I pay a $5 dollar a month membership which is not obligatory to stream the station) they play a huge range of stuf from all genres and eras and I have been introduced to alot of good stuff through listening.

Soma FM can be interesting but gets a bit dull after a while and radio David Byrne is pretty good too.

therfe are thousands of stations out there and I am keen to have a listen to som others. But don't have the time to trawl through the lot.

Does anyone else have any favorites or recommendations?

Thanks in advance

[MooneeBeach]

BBC World Service, BBC Radio 3 (160kbps - although to get this bitrate outside the UK you'll need a proxy such as expat network, but it sounds fantastic).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_three

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_fourfm

[Steve M]

Hi Givendale,

I'm a BIG fan of internet radio using a Squeezebox SB3 and an off board DA Converter. I subscribe to Radio-IO which gives me an audiophile stream bit rate for $9.99/mnth, its not quite audiophile quality but pretty close. This station provides a very good selection of Jazz channels and a few Acoustic and Ambient channels that I like. Other than that I have about 95 other channels on my favorites list including a dozen or so cutting edge reggae channels. I find in terms of sound quality you need a minimum of 128 kbps and if the music is well recorded then its very close to CD qulaity. I love it, the variety of music on offer is mind blowing.

[Benje]

Hi Givendale,

I subscribe to Radio-IO which gives me an audiophile stream bit rate for $9.99/mnth, its not quite audiophile quality but pretty close. This station provides a very good selection of Jazz channels and a few Acoustic and Ambient channels that I like.

+1 for Radio-IO. I haven't subscribed though.

[givendale]

Thanks Chaps, the range of music is huge and beats the hell out of anything on the radio here, although JJJ comes close

Will give radio IO and the BBC a crack. Anyody else into anything else?

[Itsmoi]

Also a fan of Radio Paradise, nice mix of all kinds of stuff. Been enlightening for a stodgy old bloke stuck in the 70's hehe. And no commercials ftw.

Other ones I listen to is Absolute Radio or Virgin Classic what ever it's called these days. Classic Rock is the genre..

But mainly Radio Paradise these days, or my own music on random song via the Squeezebox.

[givendale]

Random on the SB can be great. I've heard some stuff lately that I have not come across in for quite some time.

[encoderboy]

I'm a big fan of the DI network (http://www.di.fm/).

They do doof, and doof. There are some 37 different streams, covering everything from gabba, to psytrance, to vocal trance.

Subscriptions get you HQ streams - but you can check them all out for free.

[Under Hifi]

Radio Paradise is fantastic. New stuff, old stuff, no commercials and non computer generated playlists.

I feel really guilty for not donating I enjoy it that much.

[wolster]

Another Radio Paradise fan here. I also enjoy Paris jazz.

[Under Hifi]

I also enjoy Paris jazz.

Could you please provide me with a link? I can't find much on google.

I also listen to Swiss Groove which is pretty cool.

[LogicprObe]

I can't believe that people are paying money to listen to MP3.

Let alone trashing their ears for free!

[Boots-n-All]

Hi there,

I find that the classical station on WCPE.COM plays my kind of music - they have several streams available, but I find the Ogg Vorbis to be the best.

Internet radio is what prompted me to link an old laptop to the hifi system - which lead to an external DAC - which lead to my decision to rip my CDs to flac - which lead to a better DAC - which lead to swapping out the old laptop for a much newer one - and so the story goes!

I do feel the pressure to donate to the station, but, being retired, my pennies don't come so easily any more and have so far resisted.

Boots.

[wolster]

Could you please provide me with a link? I can't find much on google.

I also listen to Swiss Groove which is pretty cool.

Sorry, Hero Kid. Only just saw your request:

http://sradio.tv/live/23906

[Steve M]

I like internet radio too, but find it is unreliable and drops out (buffering) regularly, especially on RadioIo where I am streaming at the higher bit rate of 192kbps to achieve a more audiophile sound quality.

Have tried to trouble shoot this problem with my ISP Optus on several occasions, but to no avail ;-(( . I have been told a I am quite far away from the nearest exchange (3.8km away) which can decrease speed or reliability of the ADSL connection, so can do nothing about it?

Anyone else have this problem, and should I change ISP in the hope of being closer to another exchange?? Have been told Internode and Westnet are rated highly in user surveys...

Regards,

Steve M.

[Powello]

I primarly listen to DI.FM, but am a dance music fan. not the norm around here i know but does have good quality streams as subsciber. used to subscribe but when moved house my adsl1 isn't upto the task of streaming anything better than the free quality, so no point the one and only downside to country living!

[ford]

I like internet radio too, but find it is unreliable and drops out (buffering) regularly, especially on RadioIo where I am streaming at the higher bit rate of 192kbps to achieve a more audiophile sound quality.

Have tried to trouble shoot this problem with my ISP Optus on several occasions, but to no avail ;-(( . I have been told a I am quite far away from the nearest exchange (3.8km away) which can decrease speed or reliability of the ADSL connection, so can do nothing about it?

Anyone else have this problem, and should I change ISP in the hope of being closer to another exchange?? Have been told Internode and Westnet are rated highly in user surveys...

Regards,

Steve M.

Your phone is only wired to one exchange.Changing ISP's will do nothing.

[Steve M]

Thanks...

What are your views on whether telstra, optus, iinet, internode, westnet would give better download speeds.? Or is that a 'how long is a piece of string' type question? ;-)

Steve.

[ford]

Thanks...

What are your views on whether telstra, optus, iinet, internode, westnet would give better download speeds.? Or is that a 'how long is a piece of string' type question? ;-)

Steve.

I have attached a graph showing speed versus distance,bear in mind that these are maximum speeds.

In real life they will be a lot slower.[ATTACH=CONFIG]28927[/ATTACH]

[S.O.P]

Don't forget that your home wiring can also be an issue.

Sync speed should be the same with each provider. Network reliability may differ from provider to provider. Unmetered content will differ also. But then, you can change sync speed with some advanced modems, such as the Billion 7800N.

Take Internode for example (my current ISP). Used both Telstra and Optus equipment at the local exchange, reliability has been great, unmetered content is also great. They stream unmetered a heap of radio channels which I use through my HTPC. http://www.internode.on.net/residential/entertainment/broadband_radio/

[zydeco]

An interesting option is www.pandora.com which allows you to create your own radio station from preferred artists. You just browse their list of artists (which is huge) and then select one or more to play with the back-ground graphics showing photos / videos of the artists. It's very slick. The big problem is that it's restricted to U.S.A. so you'll need a service that provides a US IP address or have to wait until a similar service is available in Australia. - APS

[wagner]

my favourite is:

www.darkenergyradio.com

they post a new dj mix every monday arvo.

[bushy007]

Right now I'm listening to the Accuradio 'app' on the SB touch. 'Classic Rock nights' stream. I think there is over 1000 streams with these guys. Earlier i was listening to smooth jazz. The variety is pretty good, started with 'The Doors' LA Woman, then Led Zeppelin -Ocean, Cars? And now Guns and Roses- Patience. The SQ isn't bad but it's free...now I'm hearing Traffic-light up or leave me alone. Never heard of it but that's why I love music.

[Benje]

Sorry, Hero Kid. Only just saw your request:

http://sradio.tv/live/23906

I found this on my denon 3808a as 'TSF Jazz'.

Also, I had a problem with my internet radio 'freezing'. AVSforum gave me the guide. Basically, the denon microprocessor gets overloaded and freezes, so the answer when problems occur is a simple re-boot, ie power off the receiver (full power-off), then power back on and the network interface reboots, and a minute later all is good, again, for a while.

Benje

Edited February 19, 2011 by Benje

[adprom]

Your phone is only wired to one exchange.Changing ISP's will do nothing.

This isn't quite true. If congestion is occurring in the backhaul or in the core network of the ISP then the ISP can very much influence things. Especially depending on how much itnernational bandwidth the carrier has bought and how much traffic is going over their international links (if streaming overseas).

Anyone else have this problem, and should I change ISP in the hope of being closer to another exchange?? Have been told Internode and Westnet are rated highly in user surveys...

This can help depending on where the issue lies. Just in advance, my opinions are my own and don't reflect my employer's etc etc. Now that is done... Optus should have an ok network, although it does seem to be hit and miss at times. Telstra, internode, iinet and westnet (westnet is owned by iiNet anyway now) have very respectable networks. Node and ii are worth checking out because they provide local radio streams from overseas. i.e. iiNet stream international radio from their own servers which can improve things an awful lot as you aren't relying on the latency and throughput of a heap of international links yourself.

That said, find out which ISPs have their own equipment at the exchange - this can be beneficial if you choose to go with a provider other than Telstra who do. Note that if you are on RIM (small type of ADSL exchange) then no matter who you go with, the 'last mile' is provided by telstra including backhaul. These types of exchanges are renowned for being congested and having bandwidth issues. In this situation, it is unlikely any change in ISP will help.

Beyond that, then any of Node, T, ii and westnet is worth looking into. iiNet and T most likely have the strongest international links. iiNet and node will have the most "Freezone" content and radio streamed from local servers. As far as international links go - with any of those 4 it shouldn't be an issue.

Hopefully that explains somewhat. As for optus, I have the least knowledge on them however from what I do know, I would personally never go with them.

As said distance from the exchange will affect things. However, if you can get ADSL and don't have anything else running - your sync speed to the exchange won't be a bottleneck for internet radio. Given the Telstra qualification to get an ADSL service pretty much means you will 1500kbps or higher and internet radio streams never go near that...

Ultimately though, the biggest issue with the internet is that there is no Quality of Service (QoS) on it. That means that if any one link between you and a server has a lot of traffic, your performance will drop just like everyone else's regardless of what you need it for or the application you need it for. So there is never any guarantee of a perfect stream. Some providers do tend to be better than others though.

Edited February 19, 2011 by adprom