Author RaeAnne Thayne

FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE ...

I've recently started listening to streaming radio stations. I used to listen a little here and there but until we moved into the new house a year ago I only had a dial-up connection so any audio experiences online were choppy with lots of frustrating "buffering" messages. When we moved, we set up all the infrastructure for an ethernet network between our two family computers (my office and the one in the kitchen) but we didn't have it all hooked up until recently so my office was without internet access.

Now I have it, though, and I'm absolutely hooked. I've always listened to music while I work and have a pretty extensive CD collection but my writing music needs are pretty specific. I like instrumental music best since I tend to focus too much on the words and singing along. Classical music puts me to sleep. Jazz is my favorite but it can't be too acidy or my head starts to hurt (My all-time favorite writing CD is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis!).

I'm loving internet radio! Whatever mood I'm in, whatever kind of scene I'm writing, I can find a station playing just the right kind of music.

One of the best new finds is Whisperings -- http://www.solopianoradio.com -- This is a great station when you just want background music, nothing that takes a lot of concentration.

I also love http://www.smoothjazz.com. Another favorite is the smooth jazz station at sky.fm and I also like radioiojazz.

Still, when I'm working alone late at night, I must admit I go back to an old favorite and listen to KUER, the public radio station from Salt Lake City -- http://www.kuer.org -- for really tasty jazz. They've been my favorite station for years but I could only get them on a tinny-sounding old radio in my office. It sounds fabulous through the speakers on my computer.

What are your favorites stations broadcasting over the net?