The one-hit wonder band The Buggles was wrong. They prophesized in 1981 that Video Killed the Radio Star -- but they didn't count on the Web. With the aid of streaming technology, the Web is extending the reach of radio. Stations whose wattage approximates a dim light bulb can now equal their mega-watt brethren. Faster than a speeding jingle, they can even jump continents.

With the Web, broadcasters don't need to shout from every transmitter to be heard. It's all digital -- squeezed down the copper wire that the phone company snakes into your home. Internet Explorer 5 has taken this technology one step farther.  With Internet Explorer 5's new Windows Radio feature, you can play radio stations from around the world by simply clicking a button.

Don't fence me in
Windows Radio works in conjunction with WindowsMedia.com: your gateway to more than 300 radio stations around the world. Remember the tropical vacation that turned out to be a week of rain? You spent it inside playing gin rummy and swatting the flying cockroaches in-time to that incredible island music. With Windows Radio, you can find that station and others from around the world: Jazz from Senegal, news from Prague, cricket from Sydney, flamenco from Buenos Aires. To find what pleases your ears, you can search by:

• U.S. state
• Country
• Format (talk show, country music, news radio, etc.)
• Zip code

After you find the station you're looking for, WindowsMedia.com will send you straight to the radio station's home page with a quick click of a button. And thanks to handy Windows Radio button on the Internet Explorer 5 toolbar, regardless of where you wander, it's easy to come back for more.

Susan Hutton especially likes listening to House of Blues on the Internet.