Since the advent of the internet and worldwide connectivity, online radios have also come of age and usability.
Radios were the foremost means of entertainment and media information dissemination and also the earliest media tool, coming even way before the television.
It may be thought of that since we are now in the computer age that the radio has gone the way of the dinosaur, but some may think otherwise.
It is true that perhaps as a medium in more urbanized and industrialized nations the radio is not as prevalent as a medium of entertainment and news as people tend to be more connected and have more use of the internet and television.
But the radio is still a viable cultural and personal tool as will be examined.
And this is even more so true now with the advent of online connectivity.
Listening to your favourite radio station online may sound silly for some since its way much cheaper to use an old fm or transistor radio rather than turning on a computer system.
And why should one listen to a radio anyway when you have the mp3s and video files in your system? The fact is however that there may come a time that you will not be able to listen to that radio station any longer.
Supposedly one leaves his or her hometown and relocates somewhere far and strange.
No doubt this person will feel homesick and may hanker for a taste of home.
This person will not feel so lonely should he or she be online and there is an online radio service for his or her favourite station.
Or perhaps I want to know live newsfeeds from another country without wanting to hit the refresh button all the time on the news website.
I can look for an online radio news service of a particular country and I will be able to hear the news as it happens.
This is indeed a great innovation of an old technology using modern processes.
Thus online radios are not really corny or even stupid as some would say.
The personal applications of online radios are endless and this is true for information applications also.
Given the flexibility of radio and the ubiquity of the internet, it will be quite some time before we see this old media dinosaur die out.