Internet radio Day 2: More research

We had a strong idea that we could run with. We needed to find out more about it, so we went looking on the Internet. We soon learned how difficult it is to separate useful stuff from misleading information.

We needed to find an angle on the subject that would get people interested. We don't want to just talk about technology; it's got to have a wider appeal than that.

Andy: "I realised we've got to explain why we think Internet radio's so interesting. I think the political aspect's the key, you've got all these huge corporate broadcasters pumping out boring music, it's in the hands of four or five even bigger record companies who in turn are controlled by old men in suits who don't care about music, but do care about money. The Internet levels the playing field. Anyone can become a broadcaster; if you don't like what you're hearing on Radio 1, do something better yourself..."

Rich: "I'm interested in new ways of accessing music and listening to new artists that don't get played on mainstream radio. Internet radio is one way to give airtime to unsigned or unknown bands - like live365.com (external website)."

Meanwhile Rich and Sudeep are looking at just how easy it is to set up a radio station online. Could we do it ourselves, or are we just going to talk about it? It would make the site so much better if we could actually broadcast ourselves.

We got back together later in the afternoon to share our findings. We decided to pick three central themes for our site:

• The story of our 'technical adventure' - the problems we had setting up our station and how we overcame them.
• The possibilities - what can you broadcast on Internet radio, what is it best suited to and why is it so cool.
• Legal/ethical problems - the PRS, royalties, and broadcasting laws. The law in this field is being defined right now - it's an open frontier that's becoming regulated.

Then we agreed who was going to do what. We each picked an area that we'd be responsible for and arranged to meet up the next day for another 'show-and-tell' session.

Angela: "It looks like I'll have to read through the wads of paper I printed out yesterday and then write something that makes a complicated issue sound a bit simpler. I've been doing all this research on copyright issues and only now does it dawn on me that it mostly relates to US law. Searching on the Internet doesn't bring up much information on UK copyright. Luckily, I come across a magazine with a whole feature on Net Radio, so back to the office to do some reading..."

Of course, we can't just rip off whatever we find in a magazine. Aside from the fact that it would be illegal, who knows where the author got his information from.