Listening Īn early Kerbango Internet radio receiver Internet radio is also suited to listeners with special interests, allowing users to pick from a multitude of different stations and genres less commonly represented on traditional radio. Nevertheless, some major networks like TuneIn Radio, Entercom, Pandora Radio, iHeartRadio and Citadel Broadcasting (except for news/talk and sports stations) in the United States, and Chrysalis in the United Kingdom, restrict listening to in-country due to music licensing and advertising issues. This has made internet radio particularly suited to and popular among expatriate listeners. Internet radio services are usually accessible from anywhere in the world with a suitable internet connection available one could, for example, listen to an Australian station from Europe and America. In the U.S., unlike over-the-air broadcast radio, an FCC license is not required to operate an Internet radio service. As of 2017, the most popular Internet radio platforms and applications in the world include (but are not limited to) TuneIn Radio, iHeartRadio, and Sirius XM. The first Internet radio service was launched in 1993.

Many Internet radio services are associated with a corresponding traditional (terrestrial) radio station or radio network, although low start-up and ongoing costs have allowed a substantial proliferation of independent Internet-only radio stations. Internet radio services offer news, sports, talk, and various genres of music-every format that is available on traditional broadcast radio stations. Internet radio is also distinct from podcasting, which involves downloading rather than streaming. Internet radio involves streaming media, presenting listeners with a continuous stream of audio that typically cannot be paused or replayed, much like traditional broadcast media in this respect, it is distinct from on-demand file serving. It is distributed through a wireless communication network connected to a switch packet network (the internet) via a disclosed source. Internet radio is generally used to communicate and easily spread messages through the form of talk. It can either be used as a stand-alone device running through the Internet, or as a software running through a single computer. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means. Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet.

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