Discovering Internet Radio Stations

Some people fill up their garages with stuff they just know they're going to use someday. They might not use it, but hey, it's there if they ever want it.

The same goes for MP3 files. Some people grab every MP3 they can find and stuff them onto their hard drives. These folks may not play the songs very often — if at all — but they've created one heck of a library. (If only MP3s didn't take up quite so much hard drive space. . . .)

To combat the MP3 storage problem, many MP3 fans are eyeing an increasingly popular alternative, and that's Internet radio. Because MP3 files are so small, they can be broadcast — Webcast — across the Internet. And because the Internet allows for two-way communication, it's easier than ever to find or even create a radio station that plays your favorite music.

The more you think about it, the better those Webcasts sound, huh? Following are some of the benefits of Internet radio:

• Internet radio stations don't fill up your hard drive with MP3 songs. Instead of saving the songs, you simply listen to them, just like any other radio. Depending on how you set up your software, you can also view the current song's name and creator.

• Musicmatch, Rolling Stone, Napster, Winamp, and hundreds of other Internet sites now broadcast music directly from their Web sites. (If you don't like corporate stuff, head for SHOUTcast. Many of those stations are run directly from the computers of music fans like yourself.)

• Luckily, most Webcasting radio stations don't have commercials (thank goodness).

• The Internet carries an incredible variety of music, much more than what you'd hear within your local radio's reception area. Instead, you can listen to Korean pop, Indian sitars, African rhythms, or '60s rock, or stations that match your music mood for the day.

• The Internet lets you create personalized radio stations. Musicmatch Jukebox, for instance, lets you choose your favorite artist, click a button, and hear a station playing music by that artist, as well as other musicians playing that type of music. If you allow it to do so, Jukebox will even keep track of the MP3s you listen to and create a personalized radio station based on your musical tastes.

The better your modem connection, the better your Webcast music sounds. Cable and DSL users have near-CD quality music. Stations don't sound nearly as good with a dialup modem, but the music may still sound as good or better than your FM radio.

As with everything else associated with MP3s, the legalities of Webcasting are currently in a state of flux. Parts of the law are spelled out in vivid detail, especially the details of how to pay $20 for a "statutory license" that handles the royalty payments. To qualify for the statutory license, however, Webcasters must meet a healthy list of requirements. Here are just a few:

• In any three-hour period, you can't play more than three songs from a particular album or more than two consecutively, and you can't play four songs by a particular artist or boxed set, including no more than three songs consecutively.

• You can't say in advance what particular song you'll play or when you'll play it.

• If you're continuously playing a recorded program, the show must be longer than three hours long.

• You must identify the song, the album, and the artist when Webcasting. (SHOUTcast handles this, so you're safe.)

• You can't encourage listeners to copy your transmissions, nor allow them to make copies, if possible.

• You must pay royalties.

For the most current information on Webcasting legalities, contact the RIAA or read up on it on the SHOUTcast site. Finally, to check out the law yourself, head to The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 Summary and read the text with Adobe Acrobat Reader. A quick word of warning, though: This is not light reading.