Closing the gaps in internet radio?

[tfarney]

OK, first, a confession. I'm hooked on internet radio. Pandora. Accuradio. Quite a few individual stations. I know, I know. 128kbps is not hifi. I don't care. All that new music is far too seductive to resist.

 

But the drop outs are really distracting.

 

Do I just need a fatter pipe (faster connection?)? I have standard DSL. It isn't a constant thing, just a little hiccup every now and then, but if there is a simple cure, I'd seek it out. Right now? A little Dvorak. Not something I'd ever think of buying, but it sure is fine....

 

Tim

 

[BobH]

Hi Tim,

 

You could play spot the reason with this one for ever and a day, methinks! The most likely causes are Pandora struggling a bit, someone else joining your connection downstream of you or something on your machine hogging the connection for a little too long. Whatever, you could be there for a very long time trying to track it down!

 

I notice that there are no buffering settings for Pandora so you're basically restricted to making sure you have the latest version of Flash running. There is a link to check this in the Help pages of the Pandora website.

 

You could also try disabling any update checking in the programs you have running at the time of the glitches. If you're struggling for bandwidth a little then your Anti-Virus program, running off to check for the latest definition files every ten minutes, may well be enough to upset the apple cart.

 

Personally I wish I had the problem! I absolutely adored Pandora for the brief time I could get it! Unfortunately, here in the UK, the people who control performance fees are complete idiots, rather than just normal idiots, and wanted to charge Pandora about £50.00 a song or something!

 

Anyway, good luck with it!

 

[tfarney]

Thanks, Bob. And you're right. Any minor problems that come with Pandora are good problems to have. Sorry you can't get it any longer. Have you tried Accuradio? It isn't the "build your own station" concept of Pandora and Last FM, but it is mighty good radio nonetheless.

 

Tim

 

[BobH]

Hadn't come across that one - I shall try it. My usual fix is Hober, which never fails to please.

 

[shenzi]

Okay, so that's Pandora (except for us benighted souls in the UK), Sccuradio, Last.fm and Hober ... keep 'em coming. Any more recommendations for internet radio? I'm still getting to grips with this stuff.

 

PS Oh, and modesty ought to forbid but it won't ... anyone streaming http://www.citytalk.fm on 8th Feb between 7 and 10 am GMT will hear a CA contributing cartoonist attempting his latest radio cartoons.

 

Sorry, advert over. Back to the thread.

 

[chilest]

Tim, LIke yourself, I am hooked on internet radio. While off topic, I thought I add a couple of web sites that you may or may not be aware of that offer a very wide range of internet radio stations in the US and Europe.

 

Shoutcast (http://www.shoutcast.com/) offers the ability to search/choose a radio station with a specific kbps, often times higher than 128 (for example 320), genre of music (Jazz Classical etc) as well as search stations that are playing a specific artist or song.

 

Listen Live (http://www.listenlive.eu/) allows you to choose a country and city in Europe and a particular genre of music.

 

I find these stations at or greater than 128kbps sound better than Pandora and Accuradio from my MacBook Pro>BelCanto USB 24/96 link>Bryston BDA-1 DAC> McIntosh C2200 preamp>McIntosh MC275 amp.

 

Tom