Starting your own Internet radio station is relatively pain free and inexpensive – with a credit card and dream, you can probably get started tonight. Kudos for finally deciding to take matters into your own hand.

Live365
Live365 is the top Internet radio network of stations, and they offer easy opportunities to become part of their music community. For a low monthly fee, you get 100 MB of space for your MP3s and a fully-featured control panel to manage all aspects of your station. You simply upload your songs and create your playlists. Listeners can then tune-in at their leisure.

The next step up is the Premium Package which gives you the capacity to do live broadcasts. From here, you can add a variety of options, such as more space, the ability for more people to listen to your broadcast at one time, and replays of live broadcasts.

If you think you might want your radio station to generate some cash, Live365 offers a professional package that lets you create your own station identity and launch a radio station directly from your own website. Prices for this vary on the features you require.

The best thing about Live365 is that your monthly fee includes royalty payments, something that can be extremely complicated for a novice. Also, you are never locked into any package you select at Live365, so you can make decisions about where you want your station to go as you become more familiar with the world of radio.

SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast provides a means of starting an online radio station as well, free of charge, though the methods are a little more involved that Live365. First, you will have to either run your own server, as per their direction, or have someone run it for you. Then, you will need to download their Winamp software. Their website can guide you through the process. This is free, but you will need to be comfortable configuring your computer to their guidelines, and you need to consider the question of royalties, should you want your station to be more than a hobby.

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