About the Internet Radio Phenomenon

Internet radio started broadcasting in the year 1994. A band from Seattle was the first to ever be heard on the internet with the help of a Seattle based start-up. In that same month the first online live concert followed as Mick Jagger sent a message in the opening of the Rolling Stones concert, welcoming everyone to internet radio and hoping it will work.

In the years that followed and by the early 2000s internet radio became very popular as streaming media online helped many radio stations gain more fans and the fans to listen to music across a new media channel. In order to receive radio over the internet something called a streaming technology is employed over the web. Data is sent in packet form over a network; the files that are most popular in streaming media are MP3, Windows Media Audio, RealAudio or OGG Vorbis.

The MP3 along with better bandwidth introduced in early 2000 allowed more stations to start off and broadcast over the World Wide Web. The whole thing with listening to radio on the internet is a good idea because it allows people from all over the world to enjoy any radio station, regardless of their geography. Normal FM radio stations are limited by the area they broadcast in, leaving some listeners to be disappointed whenever that particular broadcast does not reach when moving to another location within the same city or country.

Streaming allows people to listen to music online using a computer and the simple MP3 format in which the music comes in promises a very good sound, while keeping bandwidth consumption low. Internet radio music is also free which means that all one has to do is stream over the internet and hear some of the greatest hits of the moment or anything else, without having to pay for each song or for a monthly subscription.