I doubt many folks who read this site now remembers when I used to stream my music over the internet.  Long before Spotify, iHeartRadio and Pandora.  I used good old Shoutcast.  I’ve long since had the issue of not liking local radio stations as they hardly ever play my kind of music.  Unless it’s 70’s, 80’s and Metal or Acid Rock.  I have a love for the classics, but listening to the same songs for 40 years gets old.  Real old.  And today’s pop, crap..er I mean rap just isn’t my bag of tricks.  I guess what I listen too is called Pop Punk (at least most of my new favorite bands are all listed on it), but it sounds more rock and roll than some of the crap that 105.1 plays.  Their stuff is like a mix of metal and whiny pop rock.

So, I learned how to use Shoutcast and listen to my own music library anywhere I had an internet connection.  Though in my car I was still stuck with commercial radio if I didn’t have a CD player or audio in connection.

Mostly I’d listen at work.  For some months I left the broadcast running 24/7.  Made up more sweep MP3 files, added a bunch of fake, funny commercials and some comedy bits.  I had a few listeners for a while.

At least until the RIAA started making internet streaming a real pain in the ass.  Then I had to make it private.

These days I spend a LOT of time in my car.  Way more than I’d like too.  It’s old and only has a cassette player.  I had to come up with a solution or be stuck in radio hell.

IF it weren’t for iHeartRadio and Spotify, I’d never hear any new music I like.  With two exceptions of my liking Highly Suspect – Lydia (hate the video though) and Nothing More – Jenny (also not a great video) in the past 2 years.

To get musical satisfaction while on the go, I’ve tried using my internet radio apps on my phone and playing them through some wired and Bluetooth cassette adapters in my ancient car.  Both would play but eat up my data, sound terrible and crackle if anything was physically connected.  Such as my charger.  Plus volume was an issue.  Then I loaded my MP3 collection on to my phone, but much of the same result.  No real happiness and I had to keep charging the Bluetooth adapter.  It would only work for a few hours on a charge.

But then I found the Scosche freqIN.  I can put all my MP3s on a flash drive and play them through my radio like I was my own radio station.  Just pick a dead channel and go.  Currently I use 88.7 FM.  I can charge my phone while it endlessly runs from the cigarette lighter/power outlet.  This thing is cool.  I get great sound and volume.  The player is a bit lacking in ability to pick and choose songs but I can deal with that.  If you drive near me, you can pick up my very own station.  Music I like.  Plus when I want new music, I can use my favorite apps on my phone and go.  Screw commercial radio and their … um… commercials 🙂  (and corporate run playlists of teenage hormone music)