Each week, AudioFile prints the musings of Internet luminaries upon the ever-evolving online
audio revolution.
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Steve McCannell, an author and audio expert, recently published
a series of articles regarding Internet audio for use in the multimedia
section of Webreview.com. McCannell is the Head Audio Engineer/Associate
Producer for O'Reilly & Associates.
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Home Internet Broadcasting
Was there a time when you thought being a disc jockey would be the
greatest job ever? You could share your music and ideas with people
you would otherwise never meet.
But how many of us have access to a radio station? Well now,
with the emergence of
Internet radio, you, me, and just about anyone else can create and
air our own broadcasts. In this article we'll take a look at the
emerging world of Internet broadcasting, and the how it may possibly
change the way the radio industry is operated.
Create your own station
You may already
have all the equipment you need to begin broadcasting. If you own
your own server, you can broadcast straight out of your home. If you
don't own your own server, www.live365.com allows you to create
your own broadcast free of charge, using their server.
You'll need a high-speed connection that's always on,
MP3 files to broadcast, a Pentium-class PC running Windows 95, 98, or
NT, and some "broadcasting" software
that you can download.
To listen to the broadcasts of others, you can use WinAmp, MacAmp, or
RealPlayer
(depending on the broadcast), with at least a 28k Internet
connection. We have found that Real Player has problems with the .pls
file format and won't allow a broadcast to stream properly.
If Real Player is your default application for this file type, you
can still listen to a broadcast if you know the URL. Open up
WinAmp, and click on the Add URL button in the bottom left
corner, and paste in the URL.
Even though Internet radio is not regulated by the FCC, there are
copyright issues to be aware of.
For example, you cannot broadcast three songs from the same album or
four tracks from the same artist
within a three-hour period. This rule prevents rabid Led Zeppelin
fans from broadcasting "Stairway to Heaven" 24 hours a day.
Opportunity runs amok
Many stations make money by running banner ads on their site;
others sell various products. Peter Rothman, chief technical officer
for www.live365.com
, says, "We can
expect audio commercials to be placed within the streamed broadcasts
by the end of the year,
but they will not be like the commercial breaks that we currently
associate with
AM/FM broadcasts."
Because creating an Internet broadcast isn't that difficult, you
can expect hundreds of
new stations to pop up over the next year—especially if
independents can collect revenue through banner ads and audio spots.
And since there's little cost to
creating broadcasts that can be run from home, just about anyone can
get into the business.
World free radio
Companies like Sonicbox are counting on web radio
to become your music choice at home. They're planning a first
quarter release of a tuner that would allow people with a broadband
connection to listen
to any web radio
station from around the world. A base unit connects to your PC and a
remote tuner stays
with the listener, making it possible to enjoy web broadcasts from
anywhere in the home.
Web radio will also become the vehicle for music listening in the
office place because businesses usually have pretty good Internet
connections. Advertisers will be attracted to this medium because of
the favorable demographics of the listening audience (i.e., people
with more purchasing power).
What's to come
In the not-so-distant future, we'll have Internet connections in
our automobiles and web radio at our fingertips. The main obstacle
right now remains that there is not enough transmittable bandwidth.
Once we overcome the bandwidth obstacle in our cars (and other places
for that matter), our grandchildren may only know about FM radio from
their history books.
Web radio isn't just for salivating music junkies.
It's not just a passing fad or a limited niche in the Internet world.
Sure, it's ahead of its time right now, but before long, Internet
radio will evolve into a powerful industry—one that you'll be
able to access from your own home.
