Free music... well, almost

[TedEBearNC]

This is something I discovered a while back that I'm just getting around to setting up on my new system so I'm playing with it again.

You'll need the free media player Winamp which you can download here.

Once you have Winamp installed go to Shoutcast.com.  Here you'll find tons of internet radio stations that play music of all genres.  You can search by genre to find a list of stations that might appeal to you.  You'll want stations that have a bitrate of 128 or higher for better sound.  Once you find a statoin you want to hear click the 'tune in' button and it will begin to play in Winamp.  As this is streaming music a broadband connection is best.

Now, for the not free part.  There is a program called Ripcast that you can get here.  It's not that expensive.. only $17.95 to register for the full version.  What this program does is allow you to access and record the Shoutcast stations you like as .mp3 files.  The size of the files created depend on how the music is 'broadcast'.  If the station broadcasts individual songs or mixes of indivual songs, then each song will be saved as a seperate .mp3 with it's name, etc.  If they are broadcasting a whole cd or premixed program, then you may end up with a large .mp3 file that is an hour or more long.  You'll just have to experiment to find out which stations break it down into individual songs if you don't want one large file.  Later you can delete the .mp3s of the songs/music you don't like.

I've found a lot of new music I like and it's a cheap way to build your music collection.

Just thought I'd pass it along.