Radio@Netscape

Radio@Netscape started out as Spinner. Spinner rocked. Just a simple download, and it would stream track after track of music over the Internet from any genre imaginable, all for free. I spent countless hours doing homework and surfing the web at college with Spinner faithfully cranking out tunes in the background.

Like all other good things that come to an end, Spinner was bought out. I knew that couldn't be good, but Radio@Netscape promised it was the same service with only a new name, and for a long while, that was true. The front end graphics changed, but it was still a high-quality audio stream with hundreds of stations to choose from.

Then Netscape linked up with AOL, and like when anything links up with AOL, things began to suck. AOL Broadband took over Radio@Netscape, and forced users to download an upgraded version. This new version was supposed to be an "enhancement", a version 2.0 of sorts. What a joke. Audio quality was about 50% of the original, and audio options were reduced from a full equalizer to a simple volume control. And the old, full version of R@N was unusable.

The straw that broke the camel's back just happened minutes ago. I was checking the news around the 'net while some clothes were in the dryer, waiting for them to finish before heading to the grocery store. While surfing, I had what was left of R@N playing in the background, when a a pop-up box appeared: "You have reached your listening limit for the day." WHAT?!?! I clicked the "more info" button. It said due to operating costs, the R@N stream was limited, unless you were an AOL Broadband subscriber. What a crock. AOL comes in and screws up another good thing.

Time to find another internet music stream run by a small-time operation, like Spinner used to be...