itunes, win-amp, pandora
I like classical music and Country/Western. The classical is no problem in Germany, but I really hate the lectures on the radio stations here...you know the kinds: "Before we play this charming little piece, allow us first to inform you of what the recording engineer's cute little dog did the morning before the recording."
C/W over here is worse than useless- as someone commented in the thread on Mexican radio, there is a strong similarity in the melodies. Which would be ok, if just once someone would dare to be different. The texts are, sadly, stuck in the "mah truck done up and died, she ran away wid my best friend and my dog don't roll over for me no more" stage.
Internet streaming is not all the same, tho'. Magnatunes offers a great collection of classical based on periods. I love 20th century jazz (the real heir to classical music), but the atonal screeching of most of that century is not music, classical or otherwise, however good math it may be.
The 50's and 60's Britrock you get on Winamp is really well done.
Same for C/W on I-Tunes. No surprise there, they have always pushed good country. Gary Allan and Shania Twain are proof that you can be country without the treacherous best friends and broken down trucks.
Pandora is the only one of the "new breed" of music, based on extensive data bases, which really succeeds in surprising me with music I have never heard before on a regular basis. I like their set-up.
What I will not do is pay anyone for streaming radio. That is why I dropped the Windows Media Player model a few years back. Besides, their DRM mentality drives me crazy. Sure, if I really try, I can hear the difference between a 64K and a 192K stream. Who can't? But the compression algorhythms have reached the point where you really can take this stuff seriously.