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Okay, this is cool and fun, as well as entertaining. And I want to thank our good buddy and retired Microsoft MVP, Jeff Struyk, for turning me on to this little program. It's a radio program that connects through a database of online radio stations...from all over the world!
Also note that I installed it and always run Windows Defender, which didn't give me any spyware warning. So not only do I know that system guy Jeff would have already checked out this installation, I also didn't receive any warnings regarding unusual system configurations. This was a clean install.
The program is called Screamer Radio. You can download your own copy of the installation executible here: http://www.screamer-radio.com/ However, understand that this is not a program suitable for those of you connecting to the Internet via modem (phone) connections, because the radio connection streams, so it is constantly pulling down data. It will work, but will really bog down your connection. It is best used for those of you running broadband connections (a 24x7 connection).
Download the file. Once downloaded, just run the .exe file to install it. Be sure to check the Settings > Preferences to set it up to run in your SysTray if you want and set the option for whether you always want it on top of your screen programs or not.
Below is an image of the program itself when opened. Yup, that's it!
To run the radio, first click Presets and find a station. Click on one. Assuming the connection is good, you'll start streaming the broadcast from that station. To stop playing, click Stop. If you find a station that you really like, add it to your Favorites. There's also a handy Volume slider on the right, as well as a Mute button if needed. And if you find a station that you want to learn more about, just click the hyperlink within the Information input box.
As you can see from the above image, I was listening to one of my favorite local stations, WDRV (The Drive)...great classic rock station. Although I'd tuned into the Deep Tracks channel. Sure, I could pretty easily log into this station via a web browser, but this was so much easier. And now I've clicked Favorites > Add to Favorites, so I can easily click to it without having to hunt for the web page and the applet to run it from the web. Not to mention that I'd surely forget and close the browser and lose the connection. This runs in your SysTray until you stop it. Very cool!
I've had other radio programs and you can also get access to this type of connection via Windows Media Player, Windows Media Edition or even your Microsoft Internet Explorer...as well as many other Internet browsers and programs. But a lot of those were a hassle to me. This is just so easy...it makes it much more fun because it's so quick to use.
And just look at all the different Genre from which you can choose!
Even police, fire and airport scanners! Great stuff for a pilot chatter junkie like Greg. HA! Wanna bet that's how Jeff (retired commercial pilot who now flies his own home-built airplane) discovered this?
And it can run in tons of different languages!
Now one error message that I did get on my first station attempt was this Connection Error (shown below). It was confusing and frustrated me at first, because I thought the program wasn't working. But it's apparently a connection problem due to various web sites most likely not currently being active or running their online service. I did try one of the error sites again later and connected without a problem. But I did hit a few showing this error as I clicked around checking out various stations.
However, considering how many connections I had from which to choose, I was still having fun clicking around checking out radio stations being broadcast from all over the world! And this (image below) was only the listing for the Classic Rock category. I was in classic rock heaven!
If you should find a song or program that you want to record, you just click the Record button and it'll toss an .mp3 file of the recording into a folder so you can copy it to your mobile device if you want, or just keep it handy to play again or add to your local music folder on your computer. Note, to stop recording, click the Record button again. If you click the Stop button, that stops the music stream. And, of course, you'll want to go into your files and give each newly recorded, yet untitled, mp3 a valid name (right click the file, choose rename) so the next recording doesn't overwrite the previous one.
Finally, note that on the web site, there's a PayPal Donation button. This is free software that the developer worked hard to create and gives away free. So if you like the program and plan to use it...do what's right...and take a moment to toss the guy a few bucks to say thanks. You're not obligated to do this, but it's a great way to say thanks for his work adding to your entertainment time and by donating to developers who offer free software, it's a great way to help ensure more great, free software.
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