From Celtic to Hip-Hop, NetRadio has something for everyone

By JIM BROOKS

 Four years ago, I reported in this column what I considered to be a real Internet breakthrough -- the broadcast of President Clinton's State of the Union address over the Internet.

The technology was called RealAudio, and the sound, well, left a lot to be desired. As a friend of mine said, the quality was almost as good as what you might find on AM radio. Almost.

Of course, that was 1996. Fast forward to 2000.

Both the connection speeds and the technology have improved immeasurably; with a standard 56k modem connection, the sound quality of Net-broadcasted music is light years ahead of what it used to be.

No, it isn't CD quality, but it's not bad for casual listening.

Today, my favorite source of music on the Web is NetRadio.com.

NetRadio.com supports both the RealNetworks RealPlayer and the Windows Media Player audio formats, so if you've got a PC running Windows, chances are good you'll hear something during your first visit to the site.

NetRadio's home page, at www.netradio.com, offers links to 120 ``channels'' that provide a wide selection of musical genres for your listening enjoyment.

And simplicity is this site's strong point. Near the top you have three big buttons for your three choices of what you want to do during your visit -- listen, learn, or buy.

Under ``Learn,'' NetRadio offers background info about the artists and influences that helped define the genre of your choice.

And as you might expect, the ``Buy'' link takes you to CD Point, the online store for NetRadio. Every song you hear played on NetRadio is available for purchase.

But its the third button, ``Listen,'' is what brings me back time and time again to NetRadio.

While you listen to music at NetRadio.com, a small window opens up and gives you the artist and name of the song currently playing, as well as navigation links to other music "channels."

A handy ``Buy Now'' button in this window links you immediately to the CD Point store and to the exact CD playing. E-commerce just doesn't get much easier than this.

My favorite NetRadio ``channel'' is ``Groovin' 70s'' (when's the last time you heard 1978's ``Jack and Jill'' by Raydio, featuring Ray Parker Jr., or Bill Withers' ``Lean On Me'').

If oldies aren't your bag, there are 119 other channels for you to enjoy, so don't think you'll be stuck in nostalgia-land with the rest of us Baby Boomers.

If you've been curious about other styles of music you've never heard before, you might check NetRadio's selections. I've enjoyed classical tunes, Celtic, bluegrass and other genres.

Just like your home stereo system, your experience with listening to music over NetRadio will depend on two factors: the quality of your Internet connection, and the quality of your speakers.

My friend and coworker Jeff's computer has quality speakers on his computer system; and as you might expect, the sound from his speakers on a 56k connection are much richer than my $9 flea market speakers on my PC using a cable modem.

There's no obligation to buy or sell, no commercials (beyond an occasion promo announcement for NetRadio itself), and no cost to you to enjoy your favorite tunes.

Visit NetRadio on the Web at www.netradio.com.

'PUSH' COMES TO SHOVE. Today's new technology is tomorrow's obsolete software, and nowhere is that more evident than with anything related to the Internet.

Four years ago, the PointCast Network was all the rage with its screensaver/news and information service that automatically retrieved data while you performed other tasks on your PC.

This method of updating content was dubbed ``push'' technology, and it quickly became the buzzword of 1996 and 1997.

``Push'' meant a user didn't have to go and ``get'' the news regularly. Once set up, all a user had to do was enjoy the regularly updated news and information from his or her Web browser.

The feature caused quite a stir, and both Internet Explorer and Netscape integrated "push" into their next Web browsers.

But for the PointCast Network, push has turned to shove.

The company sent an e-mail recently to its remaining users stating the service was ending.

PointCast's fortune's fell after a canceled IPO, a couple of failed merger attempts, and criticism from network administrators who found PointCast's ``push'' delivery model was clogging up their company computer networks.

PointCast was acquired by venture capital firm Idealab and merged with Launchpad Technologies.

The new company is known as EntryPoint, which distributes a user customizable menu bar, complete with scrolling headlines and content links.

Look for a review of EntryPoint's latest software offering in an upcoming column soon.

CANDIDATE QUESTIONS? Trying to pin down exactly where a political candidate stands on some issues can sometimes be a pretty slippery proposition.

And with the primaries underway for the selection of each party's presidential candidate, it's never too early to try and determine where presidential hopefuls stand on the issues.

Political Web sites have become the norm these days, and one way to survey candidates would be a visit to their Web sites.

Researching the issues and finding that information on each site is a pretty daunting task, but there's a Web site that will ease your search for political viewpoints.

ElectionSearch2000.org is one of the quickest ways to find information on any candidate or candidates you'll run across on the Web.

You can perform a keyword search by party, individual candidate site or all candidate sites. It's an amazingly simple and straightforward Web site that delivers the goods -- pronto.

The site has a ``search activity report'' that shows what the most popular search terms, and an informal poll where you can make your mark among the other information seekers who use the site.

Visit the site at www.electionsearch2000.org.

WIN2K LAUNCHED. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates called on the talents of former Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart and musician Carlos Santana to help with last week's launch of the long-awaited Windows 2000 operating system.

Windows 2000 is the next-generation computer operating system aimed at corporate computer systems, most of which already use some version of Windows NT.

The new operating system is available in three ``flavors:'' Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows 2000 Advanced Server. An additional version, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server will ship later this year.

According to reports on the ZDNet.com Web site, the new operating systems will fix some of the problems long-associated with the crash-prone Windows NT operating system.

Non-corporate users of Windows 95/98 looking for a new operating system will have to wait a few more months for the official release of Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME for short).

Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web.

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