THING 42. MUSIC 2.0

This Thing could have come sooner. I have heard about internet radio and streaming for some time but have never delved into it. Since I listen to music often on the radio, this Thing was very interesting to me. I have heard of Sirius Radio, so I looked at their website. I could have signed up for a free, 7-day trial, but I'm tired of signing up for accounts. Using the Internet, I listened to news on BBC World Service and to music on MPR. I listened to 365live. I tried Radio-Locator, but there was a problem with Windows Media Player. I made a personal list with Pandora, but I didn't sign up for an account. I also tried out Grooveshark and Songza.

I created a quilt album widget with Aretha Franklin albums on Last.fm. The only part that uploaded was the red border. I tossed that and tried to upload a widget of classical radio stations from 365live, but that wouldn't upload, either.

I hope internet radio does not totally replace broadcast radio. I'm concerned that if it does, we'd have to pay for all radio. Besides, it's easier to turn a radio on and tune to the station you want. I don't want to have to log on everytime I listen to the radio.

THING 19. PODCASTING

Before doing this Thing, I think I had listened to maybe 1 or 2 podcasts in my entire life. For this Thing, I started with local podcasts. I heard two from On the Road with MINITEX: one with Sue Colton from Hennepin County and one with Beth Kelly, former director of the Duluth Public Library. I also listened to some of MPR's podcasts.

I explored the podcast directories. I liked Podcast.com and the Educational Podcast Directory. Both had jillions of selections. On Podcast.com I heard a Bloomberg news segment from 10/13 with the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. From the Educational Podcast Directory I listened to a feature about eating an ounce of nuts a day. The link under Podcast.net is no longer active. Yahoo Podcasts offered few selections. I wasn't interested in any of them. You have to search to find anything beyond those.

I posted Policast with Mike Mulcahy from MPR to my Google Reader account. Then I found websites about how to post podcasts to Blogger. After a few tries, I was able to post Policast to my blog. Click on the Thing 19 title to listen.