I Don't Listen to the Radio Anymore

I used to, though. I would get in the car, and as I drove, I'd hit one after another of my programmed buttons, hoping that the disc jockeys would choose one of my favorite songs or that I'd be able to catch something interesting on NPR.

Those days are gone, thanks to Internet radio. There are many forms of "Internet radio," but my focus is on the 3 examples that I'm really enjoying at the moment.

The first is "Pandora" (www.pandora.com). To use this service, you set up a free account with your e-mail address as your username and a password. Then you can start making your own "radio station." One way is to choose a genre. I began by selecting "New Age" from among the 19 genre categories. Then I chose "New Age Instrumental" from among the 7 subcategories under "New Age." With that, I had my first "radio station." When I clicked "play," I began to hear songs from one after another of my favorite artists, including artists who were new to me. If they played a song that I didn't like, I clicked on the "thumbs down" icon, and the song immediately stopped, and another song came up. In this way, I've had hours of music that I really like, with negligible commercial interruptions.

The other way to set up a "radio station" in Pandora is to choose an artist or a song that you particularly like. I think the first I chose was the Oak Ridge Boys. Having made just that much selection, I had a new station with just music from the Oak Ridge Boys and similar groups. I've gone on to make new stations based on Fleetwood Mac, Steve Winwood, Sarah McLachlin, and Clannad. When I navigate to Pandora, the last "station" I was listening to starts playing. One click, and I can change stations.

Now here's the coolest part. Pandora has an application for the iPhone that coordinates with one's account on the Internet. I open the Pandora app on my iPhone, and there are all my "stations," and I can choose among any of them. Connecting my headphones to my iPhone, I can listen to my favorite music anywhere. And when I'm in the car, I connect my iPhone to the auxiliary input on the car stereo, and Pandora plays through my car's excellent speakers.

I'm beginning to forget what the buttons on the car radio are set to. Why should I listen to those stations anyway?

Another service, called "Slacker" (www.slacker.com) is similar, and I use it, too. There, you can also create a station by genre, or by artist or song, but when the station is created, you get a long list of similar artists, whom you can individually include in or exclude from your new "station." Slacker, too, has an iPhone app that links to the account I set up on their website.

Finally, there is the NPR iPhone app that I mentioned in an earlier post. Any time of the day or week, I can listed to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" or "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" or whatever -- on demand.

Is it any wonder that I don't listen to the radio anymore?