On the consumer level, the concept is fairly simple. Radio stations, partnered with a broadcast Web sites, stream their content across the Internet. The process of streaming the broadcast is what makes it possible for us to hear the station over common modems.

Basically, streaming continuously downloads about 30 seconds of the broadcast ahead of what you hear at any given moment. That way, you only need to download a small bit of information to hear the music!

As far as software needed, most will play on Windows Media Player or Real Player, which pretty much covers any computer out there.

A good place to start your online radio experience is Yahoo! Radio (http://radio.broadcast.com). They boast hundreds of stations broadcasting many music genres, news, sports, business and talk radio. Their interface also includes presets so you can keep your favorite stations just one click away.

From the opening page, you can search by keywords for call letters, city, state or frequency. Or, you can browse by genre.

I was in the mood for some jazz while writing this column, so I clicked on "Jazz" from the category options and then selected WWOZ 90.7 FM out of New Orleans, La. Within a few seconds, I was listening to the station.

Another great radio station resource is Radio Locator (http://www.radio-locator.com). With nearly 10,000 stations in their database, you can use their powerful searching abilities to find the station you are looking for. Included is a tool to find stations with streaming radio, categorized by genre.

The next site I reviewed is Radio Tower.com (http://www.radiotower.com). This is a worldwide resource with music from many different countries. Right off the bat, you are given simple navigation to browse by station, country or category.

Another great thing here is the site has a more community-based feel as opposed to Yahoo's corporate feel. Listings are based on an interactive rating system that anyone can participate in. So, if you like the station you find, you give it a higher rating and it will appear higher on the search results.

Lastly, the Internet Radio Index (http://www.internetradioindex.com) indexes over 1800 radio stations broadcasting live via the World Wide Web. I didn't like the organization of this site when compared to the others listed here, but it did seem to take a more helpful resource angle on the subject.

Keep in mind, when finding a station you like, it is normal to come across some technical problems. After all, this is new technology. I certainly experienced a few browser crashes and quite a few stations that just didn't work. But, don't get frustrated.

Finally, don't feel limited by these few sites. I have barely scratched the surface here. To find the site that works best for you, go to your favorite search engine, type in something like Internet Radio Broadcasts and surf away!