I mentioned .wav files in the last column. It's the most common digitized sound format for PCs and is also quite common on the Web. I described a program that would let you edit or create your own .wav files. But there are vast numbers of sound files available on the Web for you if you're interested in them. Most of what you'll find are digitized samples from movies or TV. I haven't found anything like a canonical collection for sound files, so I'll just give you some advice on how to find what you want. Let's say that you would like to find sound files for your favorite TV show or movie. You're interested in sounds from Hal or Bart or B-9 or Cartman or Spock or Kryten or Hawkeye or ET or Rick Blaine. Fire up your favorite metasearch engine, like Metacrawler and ask for something characteristic, like one the above names, and/or the name of the show and also ".wav". You'll find your sounds. Another way to find movie and TV sounds is to use The Internet Movie Database, mentioned in a previous column, at http://us.imdb.com/ . It has an external links section that includes sound clips. If IMDB knows about a site that has sound files, you'll be able to jump to it.
One specific source of .wav files that I will mention is the Guide to Animal Sounds on the Net at http://www.io.com/~hmiller/AnimalSounds.html . I found it by asking Metacrawler to show me sites involving "cat" and ".wav". This site was high on the list. It has a tremendous set of links to bird sounds; other animals are somewhat less represented, but it is still a rich source of interesting animal sounds for both educational purposes and for fun. No nighthawk file, though ... bummer.
The rest of the column is about The MIT List of Radio Stations on the Internet at http://wmbr.mit.edu/stations/list.html . It is a listing of over 6000 radio stations that have information published about them on the Web. Besides the URL for each page, it also includes locations, frequencies, formats and whether the station broadcasts its signal on the Internet (bitcasting). You can search the list for stations broadcasting in your area, by format, by call letters or by type and frequency. It has a good FAQ, too.
Bitcasting was what got me interested in exploring the list. You'll need a plug-in for your web browser to listen. The most common one is RealAudio. Most sites have a link to download the proper file and it's easy to install. The list includes stations world-wide, although most of the stations in the list are US stations. Those stations that bitcast have a little lightning bolt icon beside their entries in the list. By going to one of these web pages, you can attempt to listen to the station. I say "attempt" because I'm often not successful in connecting with some of these stations. Perhaps the site has ceased bitcasting, or is off the air or is technically flawed or is using a different plug-in, but a fair number of the stations seem to be inaccessible. If you find a station you're interested in, but it doesn't come up the first time, persist.
Another problem with foreign stations is the language of the site. If it isn't English, and often it isn't, you might have problems figuring out how to access the station. Depending on your outlook, that might be less a problem than part of the fun.
Catherine's listened to a number of European stations, muddling through the Dutch and Luxembourgish instructions. I've spent a bit of time listening to an Antarctica station. In my opinion, most U.S. radio is unlistenable; I'm looking for exceptions. There do appear to be a number of quirky stations which may or may not bear extended listening. I'm still looking and now you can, too.
CATBAR - Brain Candy 15 - More Sounds / Brian Rock / November 9 1998