Down by the Old Stream

Music was always a commodity. As kids, we'd put quarters in a jukebox to get it. It could be bought on 45's or LP's. In the mid-1970's, I even joined Columbia House and for a penny got twelve 8-track tapes of it. For these reasons, to this day, I labour under the misconception that it's necessary to possess it. I have an external drive with over 50 GB of music files. My computer outputs DTS and has an optical cable running into an Onkyo receiver. Even poor quality stereo mp3 files sound acceptable when coming out of five speakers.

Not all music had to be physically in one's possession though. Before the Internet, another option for listening to music was, of course, radio. That system worked well for the first three-quarters of my life. Music companies needed stations to advertise their catalogues. Listeners could get music for free by simply putting up with a radio station's advertising.

The Internet replaces the free experience of radio with many improved twists. I've owned computers since before the days they had onboard sound cards. I can recall playing with the first version of RealAudio at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai in the mid-1990's. I strongly felt the bandwidth required to stream live broadcasts over the Internet was very extravagant. Imagine using a continuous 12 kbps! Over the years the pipes got bigger but I still found no easy interface to make listening simple. A number of encouraging websites came and went. Regular online listening always seemed more trouble than it was worth.

Yesterday, I heard reference to AOL Radio on one the podcasts I regularly listen to. If one wishes to stream rather than consider podcasting, it really is the way to go. I am sitting here at the moment listening to Super 70's and some of the very same tunes I once played on the Clarion, 8-track player I installed in my Ford Pinto in high school.



The greatest benefit seems to be the way it can expands one musical experience. Maybe it's time to switch to Pop: Fresh 100, Acoustic Blues, or a real CBS affiliated station from any major US market. Try clicking the graphic to load the page and listen up for yourself.