Radio? Sure! Over Ten Thousand Stations
Document Source: Fred's Head from
www.aph.org
It's no secret that I love internet radio and streaming music over the
web.
I am still amazed that you can click a button and hear radio stations
from
the
other side of the world.
I've found another Windows only application that is screen
reader-friendly
and will tune into more than twelve thousand stations! If you can't find
something
to listen to, you're probably not looking hard enough. The following
directions from the AccessContent Blog will have you listening in
minutes!
http://blog.accesscontent.ca/archive/2010/10/20/online-radio-revisited.aspx
Launching Radio Sure:
If you've been successful with the install, the program should launch
automatically afterwards. An online radio station should start playing.
First thing
to do is stop the music and configure a few things. TAB through the
screen
until you hear play Button. Press the SPACEBAR and the stream will stop.
TAB to options and press the SPACEBAR to activate the option pages.
General Tab:
Remember, you can move between the tab pages by pressing CONTROL+TAB.
A few things you might consider modifying in the general tab.
. Whether you want the program to start with windows. Don't see the
advantage of this, as I'd rather control when it's playing.
. Whether you want a stream to start playing when you launch the program.
. And my favourite, Global hotkeys. I would urge you to enable this, as
it
then gives you the option of controlling RadioSure from anywhere. See
"Global
Hotkey List" at the bottom of this entry.
. Minimize the program to the system tray is handy, as it takes it out of
the way. You can summon it back to the foreground with one of the global
hotkeys
listed below.
We will skip the Skins tab, as it makes no difference to screen readers.
Recording Tab:
Yes, you can record the streams with this program. One thing you might
consider changing on this tab:
. The recording folder. The default is to put it within a folder called
music under the RadioSure program. You can point this folder to any
folder
of your
choice with the unlabelled "browse" button. You can look around the other
options on this tab at your leisure.
The Advanced Tab:
. You can choose your preferred audio device. Leave this one alone,
unless
you are having audio issues, or prefer to use a specific device.
. I'd suggest checking the Always show station in the window title, so
you
can easily hear the station name by pressing INSERT+T withmost screen
readers.
. I'd uncheck Show pictures related to songs, but that's just personal
preference.
Press SPACEBAR on the "OK" button and the setup is complete.
Yay! Let's start listening and finding radio stations.
The Main Window:
The first area on the program window is the list of all stations; over
12000
from across the globe. No non-terrestrial station as of yet, but who
knows.
Navigate this list with the UP and DOWN ARROWS. PRESS ENTER to start
playing.
Volume Control:
TABBING brings you to the volume control. It's independent from the
system
volume, which means it will not interfere with the screen reader levels.
Use
Page up/Page DOWN for 20 percent increments. Use LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS
for 5
percent increments. And finally, use UP and DOWN ARROWS for 3 percent
increments.
Searches:
Another press of the TAB will bring you to the search area. Simply type a
station name, a genre or even radio call letters and the station list
will
be
populated with the results. No need to even press ENTER when done. Press
SHIFT+TAB twice to get back to the modified listing. To get back to the
full
list
of stations, erase the search term.
Those are the main features of Radio Sure and should give you a good base
to
get started. All in all, a nifty little program if you like listening to
online
radio, but are too lazy to go surfing the web to find them all.
As promised, here are the global hotkeys. They make using the program
even
sweeter.
. (Shift + Alt + H) toggle hide/show Radio Sure
. (Shift + Alt + Number pad Plus) volume down
. (Shift + Alt + Number pad Minus) volume up
. (Shift + Alt + M) Mute
. (Shift + Alt + P) toggle Play/Stop
. (Shift + Alt + S) Stop
. (Shift + Alt + B) Back
. (Shift + Alt + N) Next
. (Shift + Alt + R) start/stop Recording.
You can use the following link to retrieve the executable file:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gtjbr5
For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
