TechSource: How to Listen to Internet Radio on Ubuntu

How to Listen to Internet Radio on Ubuntu

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:47 PM PDT

The radio is one of the best things that happened to music. It brought people much closer to their favorite artists and yes, rocked the masses in general. Though people have switched to mp3 players, iTunes and other modern music services, the radio still is in the hearts of many music lovers. Thankfully, though, there are some great radio stations available on the Internet that allows you to listen to music for free.

Through Internet radio, you can listen to any genre for hours and hours thus discovering new music along the way. And yes, unlike services like Pandora and Last.fm, which are not free and are also restricted to US customers, Internet radio can be accessed by anyone from anywhere and at any time.

So, if you're looking forward to listening to some great tunes on your desktop, here are some handy tips that will guide on listening to Internet radio on Ubuntu:

Using Rhythmbox

Rhythmbox, the default music player in Ubuntu comes with an Internet radio player built-in. You can choose from a wide range of channels that include Absolute Classic Rock, Absolute Radio 80s and more. Furthermore, you can add your favorite Internet radio channels using the Add button at the top. Just enter the URL of the channel and you are done. The channel will be added to the browser and you can now listen to it any time.

Radio Tray

Radio Tray is an open-source streaming radio player for Ubuntu. The application is a simple indicator applet that sits on your panel letting you listen to your favorite music. Simply install it and launch it using the dash. Then, once installed, you can switch between your favorite channels without crowding up your launcher. Moreover, you can also add your own channels by entering its URL.

The application doesn't come with a mono icon yet, so it might look a bit out of place on the panel. But other than that, there are not many issues with it. For notification lovers, there is also a notify OSD notification every time you change a channel. Overall, it is a great Internet radio application for music lovers.

Tunapie

Tunapie is another excellent Internet radio player for Ubuntu. Compatible with IceCast and SHOUTcast directories, this free application can even play video streams with the help of other software like VLC. Another interesting feature about this application is that it lets you record the streams so that you can listen to your favorite songs over and over again.

Tunapie, when compared to the aforementioned Radio Tray does provide some advantages like a neatly laid-out directory browser, support for more streams and stability. However, Radio Tray is the right choice if you're looking for something simple and more Ubuntu-friendly.