Post by Dave on Sept 30, 2007 2:25:24 GMT
Hello everyone,
I've just spent a very nice few hours listening to music on the BBC's "Listen Again" service and especially the new and equivalent service from Classic FM. I suspect that some of these programmes may not be available outside the UK, especially BBC shows but I'm sure similar services will soon be developed in other Countries too, if not already.
With the BBC and Classic FM, every radio show is now available to "listen again" for one week after broadcast. Even more important for me is that the broadcast quality has been improved too. The BBC now broadcasts most "live" and "listen again" programmes at 64kbps, which is the maximum they are allowed by music copyright holders. The quality is noticeably better than the former bitrate of 40 kbps, in particular I have noticed that there is far less cutoff of high frequency sounds so the music doesn't really sound at all 'dull' any more.
But Classic FM is twice as good! They broadcast at 128 kbps on the Internet and must have negotiated a special agreement because it's classical music.
Even better is this: Both the BBC and Classic FM "Listen Again" streams are allowed to load at more than double the "live programme" bitrates, which means after a minute or two, your computer builds up a massive buffer that almost guarantees perfect quality with none of the all too common stops and starts you used to get with Internet Radio. Therefore, Listen Again is THE way to listen to radio on the Internet - it's absolutely brilliant. You just scroll down the programme lists and listen to anything you want that was broadcast in the last week!
Try it if you can... it's the best way ever invented to listen to radio!!!
Cheers, Dave
I've just spent a very nice few hours listening to music on the BBC's "Listen Again" service and especially the new and equivalent service from Classic FM. I suspect that some of these programmes may not be available outside the UK, especially BBC shows but I'm sure similar services will soon be developed in other Countries too, if not already.
With the BBC and Classic FM, every radio show is now available to "listen again" for one week after broadcast. Even more important for me is that the broadcast quality has been improved too. The BBC now broadcasts most "live" and "listen again" programmes at 64kbps, which is the maximum they are allowed by music copyright holders. The quality is noticeably better than the former bitrate of 40 kbps, in particular I have noticed that there is far less cutoff of high frequency sounds so the music doesn't really sound at all 'dull' any more.
But Classic FM is twice as good! They broadcast at 128 kbps on the Internet and must have negotiated a special agreement because it's classical music.
Even better is this: Both the BBC and Classic FM "Listen Again" streams are allowed to load at more than double the "live programme" bitrates, which means after a minute or two, your computer builds up a massive buffer that almost guarantees perfect quality with none of the all too common stops and starts you used to get with Internet Radio. Therefore, Listen Again is THE way to listen to radio on the Internet - it's absolutely brilliant. You just scroll down the programme lists and listen to anything you want that was broadcast in the last week!
Try it if you can... it's the best way ever invented to listen to radio!!!
Cheers, Dave
