The technology, which makes this, all possible is called streaming audio. Streaming means that you don't have to download an entire audio file before the music starts to play. To listen to radio online, your computer must be equipped with a sound card and speakers or you will need headphones. Then you may need an audio player or plug-ins for your web browser. The two most recommended programs for this application are RealPlayer from RealNetworks and the Windows Media Player from Microsoft. These plug-ins

The niche markets as mentioned earlier are tighter because of the capabilities of Internet radio than they could have ever been with traditional radio. Already, versions of this are beginning to appear. Imagine Radio lets Web surfers create their own stations, with a process that includes checking off as many as 11 musical genres for the station to play. And RealJukebox will shuffle all kinds of digitally stored music. You can load on tracks from your own CDs and you can pull in MP3s from around the Net. The RealJukebox Web site helpfully includes links to hundreds of other sites offering songs for free or for a small fee, many of them far from the musical mainstream.

37% of U.S. radio stations now offer their sound via computer. It's possible to sit at your computer and tune in to local news stations from virtually every major city in the world. And a recent study released this past fall concluded that the number of Americans who have listened to radio online has more than tripled in the past two years, from 6 percent to 20 percent. For a radio station, the start-up costs of going onto the Web are minimal, about $10,000. Though some experts on future technology say that it will be at least two years before mass adoption of streaming as a way to listen to news and music, early adopters are out in force, and mostly they are wandering around the Net, searching, largely in vain, for something different.

If researchers at XM and Sirius are correct, satellite radio will quickly reach a nationwide audience, thanks to widespread installation in new cars and near-giveaways of units for older vehicles. Although both companies plan to charge a $9.95 monthly subscription fee, “anybody who pays for the service the first year is an idiot," says Lee Abrams, a legendary FM radio programmer who has gone over to the dark side as XM's senior vice president for programming. You'll get it free if you test drive a Chevy. Both companies project breaking even by signing up four million subscribers within three years. According to some consulting firms, it is predicted that satellite radio will have at least 25 million subscribers by 2006.

· SATELLITE RADIO: Two companies, New York-based Sirius and Washington, D.C.-based XM, have lined up deals with almost every major automaker, radio manufacturer and electronics retailer to produce, distribute and install radios with three bands--AM, FM and satellite. Starting in 2001, each satellite company will sell about 100 channels of programming, about half of it music and half news and other spoken word, for $9.95 a month. Both companies have signed agreements with major news organizations such as CNN, BBC, NPR, Bloomberg and CNBC to provide newscasts and talk shows; in addition, XM is putting together its own newsroom of reporters and editors.

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