CD Quality Internet Radio on Low Bandwidth
It’s a given that fat broadband lines are the future of online media. But right now, for Internet radio, the future is about slimming down—creating skinny little streams of data that don’t eat up too much bandwidth. The key is a new and better audio compression format called aacPlus, or sometimes HE-AAC, which has been chosen by the industry committee that standardized MP3 13 years ago (the Motion Picture Experts Group). If you’ve tried to listen to online stations, you know they sound grainy if they’re streamed at any less than 128 kilobits per second—maybe 96 kbps if you’re not fussy. That makes a broadband connection a must. But aacPlus sounds nearly as good as a CD, even when it’s compressed enough to play through a dialup line. Don’t take my word for it—see the results of the European Broadcasting Union’s listener tests, in which aacPlus was deemed the “clear winner” at a dialup-friendly 48 kbps.
[ Read ]
Know more about aacPlus codec.
Try aacPlus Radio now:
- Install latest Winamp (VLC, if not on Windows).
- Goto Tuner2 website.
- Select any station listed there. Recommend CD quality stations.
- Enjoy CD quality music at 40kbps!
Thought:
I immediately grab the latest Winamp version – 5.08d and randomly select a station from Tuner2. “Wow! This is great!” Though it is encoded to only 40kbps, but it is comparable to 128kbps MP3!
Recently I am looking for good online radio station. For some unknown reasons, online radio in Windows Media Player does not play. I can’t find good station from RealPlayer, and it eat up too much system memory. Winamp radio required high bandwidth for good quality…
Now, I can listen to quality music without worry about the bandwidth problem. I have listening to Club 977 for half hour and don’t experience any low buffer problem. :grin:
