The internet media marvel

There's an impressive range of radio stations, TV channels, internet stations, shows and podcasts now available to stream or download over the net. For someone like myself who's never happier than browsing stations from the four corners of the world, the internet is like a dream come true. There's still the problem of separating the wheat from the chaff though. As any regular internet user will profess, the web is a timehole. It will suck your time away; minutes turn into hours. Before you know it you should have been in bed an hour ago. There's just such a vast amount out there, that you can pass from one site to the next, link to promising enticing link.

I tend to use internet media as something of a replacement for the programming of shortwave and mediumwave radio, with some the content of international satellite TV if I had that option. There's the additional bonus of having much more scope on the internet to discover new and interesting content, if the chance provided.

Until now there's not been very many options for organising online watching or listening. It was largely a matter of trying to find some decent online media directories, firing up the stream, seeing what you found, and if necessary tallying this with a programme schedule on the content provider's website. It's cumbersome, time consuming, and not necessarily very satisfying, given dead links, poorly designed websites or the complete absence of schedules and explanation of the programming.

Happily, some interesting software now seem to be appearing that allow recording of streams for on demand listening of particular programmes. As time permits I'm going to see what's out there, and see just how efficiently and effectively it's now possible to make the most of online media content. The .net magazine website reviews a program called 'Replay Radio', which sounds promising. I believe there are some similar programs that also allow timed recording of live streams. It makes perfect sense, especially when you consider the complications of time zones when listening to overseas content providers.

I suppose that's one of the fine things about the internet. If there's a demand for, well, almost anything to do with exploring the online world, there's more often than not some software been written to do the job.

In any case I feel I've been spending quite long enough with the same few bookmarks in my Real Player. It's time to see what's out there.