Welcome to the first weekly multimedia column. Every Tuesday, look for reviews of the latest technology products and services useful for college students.

Today I will focus on Internet radio broadcasts. Internet broadcasting isn't a new service; however, with more users connecting to the Internet using Ethernet or cable modems, it is becoming more popular.

Before you can crank up the volume, you'll need a music player. Most Internet radio Web sites use either the RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.

Both are available as free downloads.

To download the RealPlayer, visit (www.real.com). There is a blue horizontal toolbar at the top of the screen. Click on "RealPlayer" and then "RealPlayer 8 Basic."

This software can be downloaded to Windows, Mac and UNIX computers. Don't download RealPlayer 8 Plus unless you are prepared to shell out $30.

To download Windows Media Player, visit (www.microsoft.com). Click on "downloads" on the blue horizontal toolbar, then click on "download center."

Choose "Windows Media Player" on the pull-down menu, and then choose your operating system.

Click "Find It", and then click on the link to download the software.

Congratulations!

You are now ready to start hunting for music, but where to look?

There are literally thousands of radio stations from which to choose. One service that offers a wide variety of stations, as well as more than 3,000 full-length albums, is Yahoo! Broadcast.

To access this service, go to (www.broadcast.com). To find a radio station that fits your tastes, click on "Radio" under "Featured Broadcasts."

If you want to listen to your favorite radio station from home, or that cool New York City station you remember listening to on your last trip there, you can search for it on this page.

Or else click on a station category and pick an appealing station.

Other categories include sports, where you can listen to live sporting events, and the CD Jukebox, offering albums for more than 3,000 artists.

Although Yahoo! Broadcast has a large number of the broadcasting sites, the service is far from perfect.

There are no State College stations listed with the service, and it can be hard to find an ideal station.

Although I'm not up to date on the latest musicians, the artists featured on their CD Jukebox appear to be little known. Plus, sometimes a station will pause for "buffering" in the middle of a song.

Perhaps the easiest way to find a station quickly is to look either in RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Both have a listing of stations you can access instantly.

In RealPlayer, click on "Radio Tuner" in the lower left corner.

Then, like in Yahoo! Broadcast, you can either find a station from a list of 2,500, or browse through a category of music. Search for State College stations, and you will find Revolution 101.1.

Windows Media Player is very similar. Click on "Radio Tuner" on the left side of the screen, and you can search for a station based on frequency, location, language or call sign.

If you still can't find your favorite station, or aren't happy with the variety, try searching for your favorite station on google.com, or a similar search engine. Most stations now have Web sites, and in many cases they include a link to listen live.

Hope this has been helpful, and enjoy discovering new and exciting radio stations.

Next week, I'll tell you how to get long distance phone service for free.