How to Listen to SHOUTcast Radio Stations

Woman relaxing and listening to radio at home.
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Updated September 08, 2016

As well as being a great software media player for playback of audio and video files, Winamp can also be used to access thousands of Internet radio stations. SHOUTcast radio which is built into Winamp is a large directory of SHOUTcast servers that stream audio over the Internet (Web radio). This short tutorial shows you how to use Nullsoft's (creators of Winamp) SHOUTcast radio to bring Internet radio straight to your desktop.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: Setup time - 2 minutes per station max.

Here's How:

  1. If you haven't already got Winamp installed on your computer, you can download the latest free version from the Winamp website. Once installed, run the program and continue to the next step.

  2. Ensure that the Media Library tab is selected in order to display Winamp's options. In the left pane, click on the triangle next to Online Services to open up this category. Click on the SHOUTcast Radio option to switch Winamp to radio mode -- you should now see the SHOUTcast Radio Directory displayed in the main screen.

  3. To choose a radio station genre, click the drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the screen and choose an option. use the + symbol next to each one to expand the root genre to see more sub-categories. Alternatively, you can also search for a particular station or genre using the text box on the left-hand side of the main screen -- simply type in a keyword in the text box and click the Search button.

  1. To listen to a SHOUTcast radio station, click the Tune IN! button. To get more details about the particular broadcast, click the down-arrow button underneath the Tune IN! icon. To change stations, click the Tune In! button next to another station.

  2. When you find a radio station that you like, you can bookmark it so you don't have to go through the process of finding it again. To add the station to your bookmarks folder, Click the small icon that appears at the end of the station name. Alternatively, click File > Play Bookmark > Add Current As Bookmark. There's also a keyboard shortcut that you can use to quickly add stations which is CTRL+ALT+B

  1. To check that your station has been added to the Bookmarks folder, click the Bookmarks option in the left pane. You should see all the stations you have added using the above steps. If you want to continue to add SHOUTcast radio stations, simply click the SHOUTcast Radio option in the Online Services folder.

What You Need:

  • Winamp Software
  • High-speed Internet Connection