Steaming So Far
Its October 26, 2015 as I begin to
write this. The options for streaming Radio are pretty amazing for
the person with Internet, router and cell phone. There are lots of
great choices of things to listen to and enjoy. For Christians it is
also a great time to listen to teaching and some great music from
many providers that cover everything from Christian Rap to Christian
Rock and all in between. Good ole Gospel and Choral music is also
there if you search for it. My particular love is CCM before the 90s
going back to the origins of it in the late 60s. Think Larry Norman,
Evie and Dogwood. I can listen to several outlets that play this take
on CCM.
As I have explored this topic and just
shared what I have been doing. I am finding that not a lot about
delivery of music has changed in the last couple of years. I think
more people are streaming with cell data as the price of that is
going down or plans are adding data. In the bad ole days of streaming
you almost had to have a good computer and a pretty good connection
to listen to Radio on a computer or even a streaming station. Well
computers have improved and connections by and large are faster than
dail-up. When I started this blog, I had been streaming on various
sites with various programs to play music like windows media (still
good) or winamp (have to search now, but still downloadable, just not
not supported again, best I can tell.) But that meant all music
listening had to be down around a computer, just like the days of
gathering around the radio. Many ministries have been streaming for
many years and many ministries do that quite well. I later got a
internet radio that hooked up to small radio with inputs for phone or
any other device with aux outputs. This radio used www.vtuner.com as
a source of stations. That site can be accessed for listening for
stations around the world by a computer with a good player program
like winamp or even windows media. (it will not play some sound files
for some stations, amp will play most)
In that time period some very nice
internet radios came on the market, like squeezbox and you can still
Google the rest.
Later I found that a ROKU TV box makes
a great internet radio. Most TV's have good speakers or are hooked to
home stereos so the ROKU makes pretty good sound. This is a box that
gets a internet signal from a router (some wired) and then developers
give you channels that have individual stations (Klove, Air One), or
small batches of stations (Christian radio from Salem, CBN) or big
market radio channels like Tune In and I Heart. Also Christian
movies, music videos, networks and other religious ministries are on
ROKU. Matter of fact a lot of ROKU stations are religious and of many
flavors and types.
Eventually I began to to use and
Android cell phone to stream a lot of Christian and other radio. They
are becoming the new pocket radio for the next generation. Many are
taking notice for this, as apple has put a lot of money into a
customizable streaming station. I choose an Android because I got my
wife's old one and they really are cheaper than apple. On most cell
phones you can get the Tune In, I Heart and a host of other streaming
music apps. Most of these apps have a tun of good Christian radio and
ministry. Lots of apps are also just for one stations. If you are a
fan of a particular station or group of stations you may want to
check and see if they have a specific app or if they use any of the
major streaming outlet.
Now this is not the whole streaming
universe. Most major phone apps have a good PC equivalent so you can
listen on a lap top or your phone. Podcast are huge too. Most
preaching ministries have podcast for certain messages and usually
they are free. The steaming service are numerous and they have huge
listings. This is good for CCM and Christians because most stations
will be some where on the net for you. I am listening to Lead Me to
the Rock Radio out of California on my PC though a WinAmp program.
The sound is a solid 128kb and sounds great. Some Christian stations
are breaking that speed and sound crystal clear.
I have used steaming radio to go to
trouble spots in the world in order to pray for people on the ground
or use the info about other cultures to pray about evangelism.
Some closing thoughts. Do you have a
type of music you like. Stream it. Do you have a church you follow.
Try podcast. Do you like to hear new and pray over situations. Look
up a local station and stream it. I would like to talk with any
readers at scotttalbert1963@gmail.com
