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RECENTLY the only local classic rock station in the area changed format abruptly to a me-too "Jawaiian" style. All that was left on the dial was Marilyn Manson on one extreme and Tiny Bubbles on the other.
What's a forty-something to do?
Necessity reared its head and came up with the Internet invention known as "streaming MP3."
MP3 is shorthand for the MPEG-3 standard file format put together by the Motion Pictures Entertainment Group. It compresses audio files to conserve on storage space while maintaining what is described as "near-CD" quality.
One of the cool side effects of the MP3 format is the ability for server jockeys to "stream" or "broadcast" a continuous flow of this compressed music over the Internet.
Boutique radio
What this means is the boutique radio station has been born.Not constrained by ratings, market share, advertising revenue or geography, the boutique Internet broadcaster can pump out a 24-hour/7-day musical menu reflecting his or her taste. And they do.
Thousands of streaming MP3 "radio stations" have popped up in the past year covering every musical genre from rock to folk to rap, polka, hip-hop, blues, country, Indian ragas, metal, classical, trance music and just about anything else. There are stations devoted to single artists. There are stations that play artists from a specific city or area.
Most of these "stations" have no advertising or announcer. They simply play a huge variety of music with no interruption. Some have companion Web sites with playlists and requests by e-mail.Independent artists have begun publishing their music via the Internet in the MP3 format. Bands are building an international following without ever leaving their home state.
They provide full high-fidelity MP3 files for download by listeners to collect and play back any time.
The files can be stored on computer hard drives, burned to CD-recordable disks for later computer playback or converted and burned on to audio CDs with CD-ROM recorders for play on the home or car CD player.
Starbulletin.com has featured full-sized MP3 songs from two Hawaii artists willing to share their music with Web listeners.
Fiji was the first, releasing his remake of Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay" last year. Eric Gilliom followed with last week's release of his new album, "Like Chow Fun." Gilliom chose the album's second cut, "Back to Honopo" for release online.
You can take it with you
Another nifty device has come of all this: the portable solid-state MP3 player.With no moving parts, no rubber bands or motors to wear out, no sensitive laser beams to bump or skip in the middle of a song, the portable MP3 player is a jogger's dream. It is quickly becoming the hip item for the high school or college student, as well.
Light and compact, portable MP3 players hold one to two hours of music which you load from your computer using a cable and software. The music remains in the player's memory until you erase it or replace it with new tunes.
Players start at about $150. Some of them feature removable memory cards that hold music data. They can be swapped at will to provide you with even more portable music.
Get started now
Instead of turning on the radio or CD player when you get home, connect to the Internet and fire up RealAudio (realaudio.com) -- one of the myriad programs that can play MP3 streams -- and select a "station." A short connection time later, new music is coursing through your computer's speakers.The speed of your Internet connection affects the quality of the streams. Slower modem connections can't deliver a sufficient flow of data to present near-CD quality music, but there are plenty of stations that can provide a smorgasbord of music at a lesser quality level.
A constant flow of new and upgraded software for accessing and playing these music streams over your personal computer has followed the music.
Much of it is available for free or for a small "shareware" fee to the software author.
The beauty is that no local radio station caters to my musical tastes, but I have found many around the world that do. And they do it better than the local stations ever did.
One problem: if you hear a song you especially like, you won't always be able to find out who the recording artist is. But what do you expect for free?
GUIDE TO MP3 GOODS
Information, software, music links:
www.mp3.com
Click for online
calendars and events.
