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- Written by Chris Boylan
- Category: The Net Untangled
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The Gathering Storm is my look at the future of internet audio and the opportunity and threat it presents to broadcast radio. It started off by splitting the comparison between the two media into three parts – output, delivery method, and content. In the first column, I covered how internet audio, while not quite there yet, is approaching the quality of broadcast radio. In last week’s column, I explained that the delivery method of internet radio is improving every day – to the point where it may be equal or superior to broadcast radio in a few years.
So that leaves us with content, or the input part of delivering audio. As I explained last week, even with internet audio gaining, radio still has quite the ingrained advantage. It will take years for internet audio to approach the ease of use of radio – and even with the development of 4G and WiMax, wireless internet in cars is still going to take many years before it even approaches the penetration of radio. Even then, wireless internet will not replace radio in cars. I doubt car manufacturers will be pulling out radios to make room for wireless internet when radio is so common and free.
All of this does not mean that radio should not be concerned, however. This storm will be bigger than the iPod or the CD player or the cassette deck. Those forms of entertainment require planning, and they aren’t updated unless the listener thinks about it. Unless you remember to rip more music to your iPod or bring out a new CD, those options will remain the same. Internet audio is like radio in that the listener is presented with a multitude of changing options without even lifting a finger.
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- Written by Chris Boylan
- Category: The Net Untangled
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This is the second column in my New Year’s look at the future of internet audio and opportunity and threat it presents to broadcast radio. As I explained last week, I’m breaking it down in three parts: output, delivery method and content. The parts intertwine somewhat, but are worth looking at individually. I’ll also be using the term internet “audio” instead of internet “radio” because it comes in so many forms, from streaming audio to podcasts to short embedded audio segments, like on NPR.org
Last week, I explained how if internet output, or the audio that leaves the speakers, has not risen to the quality of radio yet, it is certainly close and will get there soon. With increasing bandwidth and better codecs, internet audio quality will soon be approaching CD quality in many situations.
This week, we take a look at delivery method, which is the most interesting of the three. I will assume that everyone who visits this site knows at least the basics of how radio works. Sound is transmitted wirelessly to receivers, which output the sound to speakers or headphones. The receivers are everywhere and cheap. If this is news to you, its probably best you read no further.
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- Written by Chris Boylan
- Category: The Net Untangled
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While this is mostly a column about radio industry web sites, I figured I’d take some time in the New Year to take a look at the broader internet picture for the radio industry. Everyone else seems to take the first few weeks of the year to prognosticate, so why not jump on that bandwagon? We’ll have the rest of the year to look at websites themselves, so let’s examine online streaming.
There are many options for streaming your station’s audio online and The Net Untangled will get into them in the coming weeks. For now, I want to explain the opportunity and threat that online streaming will provide over the next few years. To examine the differences and similarities between internet audio and broadcast radio and how they will change into the next decade, it’s useful to break both into three parts and examine those in depth.
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- Written by Chris Boylan
- Category: The Net Untangled
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The Net Untangled is a weekly column looking at the Internet side of the Radio Industry. You can read the Introductory column for a look at how to approach site design, and how to think critically about your site’s presentation.
Last week, we explored a few options for morning show websites. This week, we’ll get back to basics again with a look at the most basic part of a web page – the hyperlink. Yes, in order to improve your website, we’re going to give people reasons to leave it. As I’ve said before, in order to make a good radio website, you first have to make a good website.
