Hamburg  - If you're one of those people who can never find anything good on the radio, it might be time to check out web-based radio and expand your music collection free of charge.

There are thousands of internet radio stations out there. Many of them focus on niches such as jazz from the 1920s or Puerto Rican salsa.

Streamripper, Screamer Radio, clipinc, Phonostar Player and Nexus Radio are all programmes to help listeners sort through the stations. Some allow listeners to legally transfer individual songs to their permanent collections.

Streamripper, a free, open source program, has a lot going for it. It can receive and store broadcasts sent in shoutcast and ice cast formats. All kinds of music fans can find something here, whether their tastes vary from classic, ska, house, country, drum and to bass or heavy metal. Nullsoft, a division of AOL, runs the Shout cast service and estimates that it has 18,000 channels.

Available at streamripper. sourceforge. net, the program is operated via command lines. But as many people found that system too complicated, simpler user interfaces have been created and are available at sourceforge. net/projects/streamrippergui.

Meanwhile, people who use the Winamp audio player can also access Streamripper with a plug-in. Apart from playing songs, Streamripper also provides a host of metadata or information about the artist and the song. It also and provides ready-to-use audio data that can be easily incorporated into a personal, private library. Quality is determined by the data rate of the recorded programme.

Swedish freeware Screamer Radio offers a sleek and easy-to-use package, available at www. screamer-radio. com . Shoutcast, icecast, OGG Vorbis, WMA and AAC format files can all be easily stored as MP3 or OGG Vorbis files. It comes with pre-set stations, but users can add others and have a choice of language in the menu.

Tobit's free software, clipinc. fx lite, allows users to pick up three radio stations simultaneously, storing individual songs to a computer's hard drive. About 1,300 radio stations are available on the service, sorted by name, transmission quality and country of origin.

Stored songs or shows are kept in a special part of the user interface, sorted by download date. If the songs are not transferred to the user's personal music library within seven days, they are overwritten. Those who want to listen to multiple radio stations without restrictions have to pay 30 euros (38 dollars) for the full version of clipinc. fx.

Phonostar Player, available at www. phonostar. de , can access a pool of about 4,500 broadcasters, according to its creator. Users find themselves directly linked to preview programmes on various stations' websites. But users can also choose songs or broadcasts at the click of a button.

A free, basic version allows users access to only one program, provided they are willing to listen to advertising. Buying the full version for 13 euros provides access to five simultaneous and ad-free broadcasts. Additionally, recordings are edited to specification.

Nexus radio, available at www. nexusradio. com , caters primarily to an English-speaking audience. The service includes 8,000 broadcasts and there are versions in other languages.

Most items copied from these services lack digital rights management (DRM) tags, meaning they can be copied and stored on most devices easily. Indeed, as most of these services set few limits to copying files, the only barrier you are likely to encounter is the bandwidth of your internet connection and the memory capacity of your computer. (dpa)