Internet Radio

I have a respectable collection of music, but sometimes it's nice to listen to something new and different. I could spend a bunch of time hunting around the iTunes store or just switch on one of my favourite internet radio stations. Shoutcast.com has been going for years, it's free and has a huge selection to choose from. My two favourite stations are "Radio Paradise" and "French Kiss FM". Radio Paradise plays an eclectic mix of old and new rock, folk, and alternative that I like to listen to at work or just puttering around the house. French Kiss FM broadcasts an electronic mix, they always satisfy my appetite for hard house or techno.

Shoutcast has a very easy to navigate website and their new design features a convenient browser based player. They also have an iPhone app that is just as easy to use and works great on my 3GS. Radio Paradise has their own app, but I find that it's just easier to use the Shoutcast app because if I don't like what they are playing I can switch to another station without having to exit the app. The big feature of the dedicated Radio Paradise app is its ability to switch to a lower bandwidth stream, which could be useful if you are trying to conserve on your mobile data usage.

Another site that I've found useful when I'm looking for a specific song is GrooveShark.com. They have a vast music library and a uber slick interface. Their browser based player also features an automatic playlist generator based on your initial music selection. I really like that feature because when I'm working on something I don't like to have to waste time messing around generating playlists etc.

One last note, both Serius and XM Satalite radio offer a free selection channels that can be streamed via the internet, if you are already a subscriber there are even more channels available. Both have iPhone apps (Serius app or XM app). To my mind they offer the best selection of talk and news programming. Neither of which I get excited about. They have a nice list of music channels which I have played with but I find the programming available through Shoutcast to be better.