OTHER TECH

HOW ABOUT MUSIC STREAMS?

Music streaming, in the form of Internet radio stations, has been around for years and can be incredibly satisfying. Best of all, it's mostly free for the taking. You can hear lots of good music, discover new artists, and socialize with other music lovers. You don't need any equipment beyond a broadband connection, a computer, and speakers or headphones. The stations operate through your Web browser. (You'll probably need to install Adobe Flash Player plug-in software, if you haven't already.) Advertiser-supported streams are free, but you can opt for paid subscriptions that omit advertising and add more listening options. Internet radio stations include Pandora, Slacker, Last.fm, Jango, Fine- tune, Imeem, Deezer, MOG, Live365, and MeeMix. Pandora.com and Slacker.com are two of my favorites because they're particularly easy to use, don't get bogged down with lots of socializing (unless you're into that sort of thing), and can be customized to play music you want to hear.

For example, with Pandora, you create a music station by entering an artist name or song title, and the service starts streaming music in that genre. You can't play a particular song on demand, but if you want, you can adapt the station to your tastes by voting thumbs-up or down. If your musical tastes are far-ranging, don't despair - you can have up to 100 stations at any one time. And we're not talking unsigned indie bands - these Internet radio stations carry the hits.

Another version of Internet radio accesses broadcast radio stations and lets you listen to them through your PC. Sites like Radio-Locator and RadioTower let you find thousands of these streams. Some sites, such as Shoutcast, more conveniently assemble many streams for you. Shoutcast has a seemingly limitless selection of radio stations from around the world. Want to listen to Rossini playing from a radio station in Venice? Or Wagner, direct from the Fatherland? No problem. Does this diverse wealth of free music make Sirius XM Radio nervous? You bet.

Oh, to anticipate one more question: This isn't a Napster kind of deal, and you won't be getting threatening letters from copyright holders. Sites such as Pandora respect copyright and pay the necessary legal fees. As proof of legitimacy, consider that even the big players are into it. Check out music.aol.com, for example. Finally, unlike illegal file-sharing sites, these legit ones should be free of viruses or other nefarious things.

HOW DOES IT LOOK AND SOUND?

Streaming is the new kid, which means it's still fairly primitive. Generally, the bit rate of the online content and the bandwidth into your home (always variable because of traffic) aren't adequate to meet videophile standards. That means that quality is limited, at least for now. On the other hand, it's not necessarily terrible. Many for-pay video sites offer content at 480p, and their streams might run up to 1.2 Mbps. Movies look reasonably good on small screens, but less so on bigger ones. Although standard-def streams still dominate, occasionally you'll find a 720p HD stream. But no streams look as good as the picture on a Blu-ray Disc. As with an MP3 player, you trade quality for choice and convenience.

Audio streams, however, because they require such a small bandwidth, can sound pretty good. Pandora, for example, streams music at up to 128 kbps; although this is highly compressed, the fidelity's not bad. (Streamed movies, by the way, are mainly confined to stereo soundtracks.)

WHAT'S THE FUTURE OF VIDEO STREAMING: TV OR COMPUTERS?

That's another zillion-dollar question. Every technology company on the planet wants to know whether the computer or the TV will become the next electronic hearth. In fact, streams are flowing into both hearths. Because most computers are already hooked up to the Internet and most TVs aren't, computers presently enjoy an advantage. With essentially no fuss or muss, you can use your computer to partake of all the streams we've discussed.