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Media Clients
To listen to Radio Freedom online you'll need a streaming media client capable of receiving and playing live MP3 broadcasts. Listed below are the four main clients available for Windows, MacOS and Linux. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are hundreds of clients out there for several different platforms. For more information on alternative clients search for "Media Players" or "Streaming Media Client on CNet or Google.
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Winamp was a compact & straight forward media player. Versions up to 2 will only play audio files, version 3 could play video formats too but was very buggy. At the start of 2004 Nullsoft skipped 4 and released Winamp5 a much larger & seemingly more resource hungry version of the classic player, It has lots of built in extras, is more stable than version 3 but also demands a lot more than v2.
- Winamp 2.81 from oldapps.com - Winamp2 is a small, stable little application, plays tracks.
- Winamp5 - Larger and more versatile again than both versions 2 and 3, it requires a much more powerful machine to run, but has also been updated with lots of bells and whistles.
To enhance your enjoyment of Radio Freedom further, our very own Mr Fish has been on the lookout for the most impressive skin he can find. Being a bit of an old hand at this radio lark he recommends Steve Moss' Frequency Skin which apparently, "...accurately reproduces the look & feel of a classic bit of radio kit." So says the man, check it out here, alternatively take the plunge & download it here.
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QuickTime from Apple is a favourite for cross platform compatibility, chances are you've installed it to watch a video on a CD. Although the software does pickup the stream, we were unable to get any sound from the thing - you may have better luck.
- QuickTime - A little like Winamp, QuickTime is available as either the whole package or in only the bits you require. The latter option requires an active internet connection & a lot of patience if you're on a narrowband connection. Since Apple bundled iTunes and QuickTime together just getting QuickTime is a bit of a chore, and worthwhile if you're low on disk space and would rather not fight yet another application which wants to optimise and file your tracks for you.
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RealOne is the new name for the RealAudio player from Real Networks, If you've ever wanted to listen to the BBC's web site you'll have had to install this subscription hungry program.
- RealOne Player - It's not small and it won't do anything 'till you've entered registration details (genuine or otherwise), even for the free version. Unlike it's previous incarnations RealOne is a bit of a system hog on slower machines, if you find your desktop grinding slowly to a halt try their G2 player or one of the alternatives on this page.
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Windows Media Player is now up to version 11 with all the DRM and integrated hoops, it comes with it still needs third party software to play DVDs. Compared to Winamp2, WMP is a huge program to install. As with QuickTime, it seems versions 7 and 8 will pick up the stream but not play it, versions 9 to 11 up appear to work with no issue, unfortunately Microsoft broke WMP in Vista and now throws up puzzled expressions when you try to play a stream.
- Media Player - Again, not a small download & it all comes in one big chunk. The link takes you to the MS Download Centre from there you can choose your preferred version of the software.
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All programs are downloaded and installed at your own risk. Inclusion of programs on this page does not imply recommendation. There are very probably far better programs out on the Web to suit your needs - take a look around for half an hour, you never know what you'll find.
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