Article  Free MP3 Streaming and What That Means to Consumers Primarily in the last few years, Internet radio and free MP3 streaming have hit it big.  Particularly now that many people carry smart phones, Internet radio is often used to stream music from the Internet over cell phones as well as desktop computers and laptops.  But what exactly is free MP3 streaming?  Simply speaking, it is Internet radio, just as it is often termed.  Instead of tuning to a certain frequency on your tuner, you are going to a website using your computer or cell phone.  Internet radio services typically require you to create an account and sign in every time, so that they can keep track of your radio stations and music preferences.  There is a variety of streaming music services online of both the free and paid subscription kinds.  Just like free news sites and free television, free Internet radio typically means that you will have to view some advertising.  Depending on the service, you might encounter audio ads after every few songs, ads on the website, or a little of both.  These services run the ads in order to pay their costs and turn a profit.  Paid subscriptions for music streaming, on the other hand, are typically ad-free: Since you are paying for the service, they have no need to sell advertising space in order to make their website profitable.  When you stream music through the Internet, you are not downloading the songs, so you cannot save them or listen to them again later.  You may be able to pause the music, but the file is never on your computer.  Just like traditional radio stations, you will hear a random assortment of music based on what type of station you are listening to.  One feature that is quite nice about Internet radio, however, is that you can often note whether you like or don't like a certain song, or even choose to skip one that you don't care for.  Since you are signed in to an account, some services will remember your preferences and use them to help determine what songs to play on your custom radio station in the future.  Free mp3 streaming is also one of the few ways to get the newest music online for free without breaking any laws.  We all know that downloading pirated music is illegal, but listening to streaming music online is perfectly fine.  If your personal music collection is limited or you want to listen to something different, you can do so by signing up for an Internet radio service.  Finally, streaming music from the Internet is also being done more and more from cell phones and smart phones, such as the Android and the iPhone.  Usually, you just go to the website as you would on your computer, and either sign in or elect to keep yourself signed in always.  Then you can play music through your phone, so that you always have Internet radio with you, no matter where you go.  Free MP3 streaming music is just one of the many ways in which technology and the Internet are changing the way our music industry operates.  Traditional radio stations, although still used by many people, are threatening to become a thing of the past.  If you can listen to music through the Internet, choose between thousands of stations, and have the ability to completely customize your radio station to play only the music you want to hear, why would you ever want to go back to traditional radio?  Category Internet Author Anonymous Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On Mon Apr 19th,2010