Using a VPN to stream live radio stations over the Internet

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a piece of software that essentially keeps your devices anonymous when browsing the internet. It can also be used to trick trackers into registering your location somewhere else, and using a different device altogether.

This is pretty useful when listening to radio stations over the internet, especially from other countries.

For example, a certain amount of radio stations in the USA are Geoblocked, where the radio station cannot be accessed from outside of their country. Some radio stations in the UK do this too. This is for a variety of reasons, mainly for copyright & distribution agreements.

A VPN can be used to overcome this restriction in most cases. So, if someone in the UK wants to listen to a radio station from New York City that is Geoblocked to the USA only, the user simply launches a VPN app, chooses a server (system or computer located in the USA) and connects to it through the app. What the user is doing then is using the internet connection of that computer or system in that country. The radio station will then think that the user is in the USA, therefore is allowed to listen to the radio station. Clever stuff!

There are, however, a few services that can detect whether a VPN is being used, and if it detects one can block the connection. BBC iPlayer is a great example. If someone from Spain accesses iPlayer from a VPN, it may take a while but the BBC's systems may detect a VPN and shut down the connection.

There are thousands of VPNs out there, some are free and easy to get hold of. Some are even built into browsers to allow ease of use. They don't always work though. The best and safest way to do this is to buy a subscription to a decent VPN app.