Virgin Radio — already present on FM, AM, DAB, digital television, the Web and mobile telephones — is seeking new listeners via gaming consoles.
In early April, the British pop station announced that its streaming broadcasts could now be received via Nintendo Wii or Sony PlayStation 3 gaming consoles. A solution for Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles is still in development.
Gamers simply open the console’s Web browser, go to virginradio.co.uk/listen, and click on “Listen Now.” That launches the Flash-based Virgin Player, providing streaming MP3 access to the main Virgin Radio channel, as well as its Classic Rock, Groove and Xtreme digital channels.
Listeners also will be able to buy CDs, concert tickets and music downloads via Virgin Player.
Virgin Radio bills itself as the first radio station to offer an audio stream for game consoles, although several gaming message boards and blogs responded to the announcement by noting that the Wii and PS3 can stream other music services that offer an MP3 stream and a Flash-based player, such as Finetune. Also, Xbox 360 users with a PC running Windows Vista or XP Media Center 2005 can similarly run an streaming station through their Xbox.
