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As with most of the Internet, the trick to Web radio is figuring out where to look. Here are some of the most interesting Net-only sites:

3WK (http://www.3wk.com) -- Indie rock, underground artists, plus alternate tracks from mainstream albums.

NetRadio (http://www.netradio.net/

index.html) -- More than 150 stations here overall, including a great blues station, 11 channels of electronica, plus everything from Christian hits to news broadcasts.

TheDJ (http://www.thedj.com) -- Probably the most sophisticated and ambitious Internet radio site. You'll need either lots of memory or their special player to use it properly, but once you've got it running, 60 genre-specific music channels are at your fingertips. The name of each song flashes onscreen as it plays, giving you an opportunity to rate it, buy it, or ignore it.

wRAP (http://www.wrapradio.com) -- Of all the hip-hop stations on the Net, this is the only one that steers clear of Puffy and his admirers. More hardcore and Strong Island, dabbling in the old school.

iMusic (http://www.imusic.com/

radio) -- Four stations that don't exactly play radio; they generate a mix that loads song by song. There's iMusic Radio1 (modern rock), Club iMusic Radio (electronica), Indie Radio, and Radio Retro ('80s and early '90s modern rock).

And since the entire Internet seems to cater to the obsessive, it follows that bands with psychotically devoted followings get represented online. There's the much-publicized Deadradio (http://www.deadradio.com) and the next generation, StashRadio (http://www.phishradio.com), which serves up neo-Dead jams from Phish. And for Santa fanatics, it can always be December 25 with XMAS 101 FM (http://www.radio.audionet.com/radio/special_broadcasts/XMAS).

Not every audio site is a radio station. Here are a handful that use the same software to let you choose what you listen to.

AudioNet Jukebox

(http://www.audionet.com/jukebox) -- Like an online version of an in-store listening station, this site lets you download albums and play them on your computer as if they were CDs. Never mind that the CD itself is in Dallas.

MetroRadio (http://www.metroradio.com/metro) -- Choose among full-length albums and singles, as well as bootlegs and vintage TV commercials.

iRFU (http://www.stitch.com/studio/mixes) -- Construct your own mix from an enormous catalogue of songs from the '80s and '90s.

LiveConcerts (http://www.liveconcerts.com) -- A fantastic archive of shows in small clubs, plus a huge selection of in-studio performances and interviews at Los Angeles-based KCRW. For live shows mostly in New York, try SonicNet (http://www.sonicnet.com/cybercasts).
-- D.T.

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