The number of TV channels and radio stations has grown rapidly over the past few years but online there's an even larger and more dizzying array of entertainment options available. Whether you’re after a hard-to-find video, have missed your favourite TV show or want a classic track by your favourite artist, everything you need is at your fingertips.
To help guide you through the options, phone and broadband company, TalkTalk, with the help of TV’s best known face of technology, Jason Bradbury, has compiled a list of the best entertainment sites around.
Sitting back in your favourite armchair and flicking through the TV channels or twisting the radio dial used to be such a straight-forward affair, but if you didn’t like what was on, there were no alternative choices.
Now with the overwhelming amount of content available through your PC, portable players or Internet enabled TV sets, the internet has changed the way we consume entertainment.
From black and white classics or spaghetti westerns to the latest blockbuster and from classical music to hip-hop and rock, soaps to the latest series of 24 it's all just a few clicks away.
Tech expert Jason Bradbury says; “The availability of digital entertainment content is astonishing. There’s now multiple series on multiple platforms – from BBC iPlayer on your Wii, to movies on your Xbox 360 and all manner of on-demand services that deliver music, movies and TV, literally into the palm of your hand; it's like having your own personal entertainment assistant!”
As the wealth of choice can sometimes be mind-boggling, phone and broadband company TalkTalk has been checking out the best sites from the mass of online entertainment.
Let it stream
The quickest way to access entertainment online is to sign up to a streaming service. This means your content is delivered from the website “on -demand” so there's no need to download big files and use up precious space on your computer.
Music medley
In the music arena three players are doing battle right now:
www.napster.co.uk is the most established of the streaming pack and has over ten million tracks available instantly. A monthly subscription gives you unlimited access to this impressive collection, either through your computer or music player, plus you’ll get a number of free downloads to keep.
Recent arrival on the streaming scene www.spotify.com has caused competitors to up their own game, through its simple to use service and expansive library. It’s free to use although you’ll notice the odd advert, similarly to radio. Aficionados can pay a monthly fee to get the service ad-free and listen on their mobile phones too.
If you’re not so sure of the tracks you want, try www.last.fm, where you can type in your favourite artist and generate a list of music and video recommendations; then it's just click and play.
Finally, if you’re trying to track down a tune but can’t remember its name – try the mobile service at www.shazam.com. It allows you to point your handset at the music source and it'll track it down and tell you what it is.
Fancy a film?
A market very much in its infancy as we Brits still enjoy having a physical collection of shiny DVDs, lovefilm.com has launched its streaming service in the UK with a few thousand titles ready to watch and the latest releases available to everyone on a pay-per-view basis.
Telly time
On-demand services which let you watch TV in your own time have been wildy popular in the last year with www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer attracting more than 90 million programme requests in 2009. Not just accessible on your computer, PS3 and Wii console users can access the service on their TVs as well as a growing list of other devices allowing access to Aunty’s library.
Alternatives include www.channel4.com/4od, www.five.tv/ondemand or www.itv.com/itvplayer to watch the latest soap or catch up with an entire series of your favourite show uninterrupted.
For up-to-the-minute current affairs and financial updates from around the world, look no further than www.livestation.com which brings together the best channels from the four corners of the globe 24 hours a day.
Fans of American television will find their fill at www.hulu.com which features plenty of the nation’s favourite comedy and dramas all free to view.
On the air
There are thousands of radio stations broadcasting online offering all manner of content from Icelandic folk to Caribbean chat shows and just about everything in between. Check out www.internet-radio.org.uk for an exhaustive list.
And if you want a more tailored music experience, Jason Bradbury recommends www.jango.com. “All you need to do is type in your favourite artist and the site will automatically generate a ‘radio station’ for you,” he says. “It’s a quick and simple way of finding content you’ll like without having to search for every single track.”
Pay to own
In order to keep your content you'll have to download it to store on your computer. The most popular place to download is at www.apple.com/itunes; an unrivalled application where you can not only buy loads of content, but easily file it, create playlists and arrange it by genre so it’s easy to find. Not to be forgotten, Apple TV is a computer in a small box, designed just to stream iTunes’s amazing selection of pay to view films, TV series and music.
Most of the streaming services listed earlier allow you to purchase and if you're a member of one then you'll probably find you’re entitled to some free tunes. iTunes restricts you to downloading onto their own devices so other MP3 player owners should head to www.7digital.com or www.tescoentertainment.com which isn't pretty but is certainly one of the cheapest.
For serial downloaders signing up to www.tunechecker.com is a must, as each week they'll email you the cheapest files to own on the web.
Video all-sorts
When you're not sure what you want but know you'd like to be entertained, immerse yourself in the world of online video available at www.blinkx.com. Browse footage of almost anything you could imagine, with handy search icons that will help you find something specific amongst the 35 million hours of available videos.
Jason Bradbury loves instructional video site www.videojug.com for a more educational experience. “I’ve picked up all kinds of tips from VideoJug,” he says. “I actually used it on a TV challenge I was set, to learn to cook from the Internet. Suffice it to say, my judge, Anthony Worrell Thompson, thought my eggs benedict showed promise! Whether it’s Crème Brule, Kung-Fu or Breakdancing - Videojug has endless tips you never knew you needed!”
News and reviews
From the endless list of news and reviews places online, Jason Bradbury recommends www.digitalspy.co.uk for a one-stop TV news shop and www.popjustice.com for music news, reviews and gossip with an irreverent angle.
Deciding on what film to go and watch is made easier with the outstanding advice from www.empireonline.com or for something a little more gossip based try www.behindthescenes.tv.
Box out
Phone and broadband company TalkTalk is opposed to Government proposals to crack down on filesharing, and they're not alone, with consumer rights organisations and MPs joining the opposition.
Lord Mandelson has laid out plans to disconnect filesharers without any court process thus enacting a "guilty until proven innocent" approach and constituting an infringement of human rights.
"The approach is based on the principle of 'guilty until proven innocent' and substitutes proper judicial process for a kangaroo court," said Andrew Heaney, the executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk. "We know this approach will lead to wrongful accusations."
TalkTalk hopes to provide a single online forum for all opposition perspectives through the launch of the www.dontdisconnect.us campaign - a website designed to act as a news and information source on the Government’s proposals, a forum for people to air their views, and a focus to campaign against the proposals ever becoming law.
