I originally tuned into virginradio.co.uk upon receiving a referral from a friend about it, at a time when they were running a competition as part of their launch or re-launch in the summer of 2000. I tried it a few times and then gave up as it kept on stopping to buffer streaming audio, which ... Read review
Advantages: great mixture of music without too much advertising Disadvantages: bandwidth hogging...
I originally tuned into virginradio.co.uk upon receiving a referral from a friend about it, at a time when they were running a competition as part of their launch or re-launch in the summer of 2000. I tried it a few times and then gave up as it kept on stopping to buffer streaming audio, which meant breaks in songs and a generally unsatisfactory experience, with the service seeming to go up and down more often than a yo-yo.
Six months ... ...collection (one hundred albums don’t go as far as you think they might!) and so I decided to return to Virgin Radio, and have been using the service on a highly frequent basis since then. The quality of transmission seems to have improved, and it is quite frequent for me to able to listen uninterrupted for three or four hours a time.
Whilst I had expected the broadcast to be punctuated between songs with advertising, I was pleasantly ... more
I originally tuned into virginradio.co.uk upon receiving a referral from a friend about it, at a time when they were running a competition as part of their launch or re-launch in the summer of 2000. I tried it a few times and then gave up as it kept on stopping to buffer streaming audio, which meant breaks in songs and a generally unsatisfactory experience, with the service seeming to go up and down more often than a yo-yo.
Six months on and I had got bored of my paltry CD collection (one hundred albums don’t go as far as you think they might!) and so I decided to return to Virgin Radio, and have been using the service on a highly frequent basis since then. The quality of transmission seems to have improved, and it is quite frequent for me to able to listen uninterrupted for three or four hours a time.
Whilst I had expected the broadcast to be punctuated between songs with advertising, I was pleasantly surprised that the ads tend to come in blocks of four or five ads, mainly for the same four or five companies, so after a few hours of listening you will find you know some of the ads off by heart (I have a similar experience when listening to live audio cricket commentary!).
There are now two Internet radio stations operating under the Virgin umbrella, with Virgin Radio and Virgin Radio Classic.
Virgin Radio
This is ostensibly the same service as Virgin 1215 provides, being a mixture of the latest releases and classics from the 1990s mixed in for good measure. You’ll get the latest chart smashes mixed in with some of the great acts of bygone Britpop, and this is mixed in with the usual DJ based radio experience, for example with the Chris Evans Breakfast Show (I tend to avoid his gingerness – does my head in…), as well as a great deal of music. The links are less intrusive than the likes of Chris Moyles and co.
Virgin Radio Classic
This is made up of more rocky music, from the 60s to 90s, with the vast majority from the 80s and early 90s. Having grown up with this music, it is great to hear it again, when otherwise there seems to be a major influx of mass-produced bubblegum pop, from the likes of Britney et alii. The sound quality is clearly not CD quality, but essentially the service is very easy to listen to, although there music can be a bit bass heavy and percussion heavy on occasions, and the mixture of music is never predictable, and there are a wide selection of artists, making for a relaxing listening experience. The service is sponsored by music365.co.uk – and their expertise is surely instrumental in making Virgin Radio such a good service.
In addition to the two radio stations you can listen to clips from new singles and albums, with music news, track listings, details of shows, and competitions as well as assorted e-commerce services, such as buying tickets online, buying music online or the online request service (so you can make your special dedication to friends, colleagues, hamsters or revolving fairies (topical joke)).
One slight minus point, as with the majority of streaming services, is that it does eat bandwidth. I am able to listen and still surf the web via a cable connection, and there is no problem with a DSL connection either, although I doubt whether dial-up allows such an experience. Overall the service is very reliable and well worth surfing in to (well you can’t quite tune in to it, can you?).
Advantages: Excellent playlist, regular news updates, good DJs Disadvantages: Connection WAS unreliable in the extreme - but is improving
I've been listening to the Virgin Radio service over the internet for some months now at work, and much as I like the music the station has on its playlist, I'm afraid it is difficult to recommend it wholeheartedly as the connection has proved to be so unreliable.
I use Windows Media Player to connect to Virgin on the internet (and on occasions the Virgin website has tried to force me to download the Ginger Interactive Media Player (GIMP), another ... ...have to go back to the website and log on again as the address saved in my Media Player favourites is no longer valid.
I appreciate that the service is continually being updated to improve reliability but the way that it is interrupted every day is quite annoying. Frequently, the connection to the server is lost, or Media Player sits buffering the transmission, which does detract from the overall enjoyment of the music. When they sort these reliability ...
JVL 18.10.2000 (17.05.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of virginradio.co.uk
Advantages: Well designed. The page uses which ever software you have, rather than demanding you download something new. No boy/girl bands. Lots of music. Disadvantages: One or two pop up ads.
...in the office) hour. VirginRadio.co.uk gives me ten songs in a row - that’s 30 minutes of music, at least. Even when the radio isn’t in the ten great songs back to back mode the combination of music and banter is very much in favour of the music.
Great Idea #2
Virgin Radio have dumped girl bands and boy bands from their play lists. This doesn’t mean that they’ll not play Aerosmith or the Police - bands which (had) only male ... ...the annoying likes of the Backstreet Brats and GirlZone. Huzzah! The reason why VirginRadio came to this decision was an attempt to lure people like me (and those listeners in their 30s and 40s) back to mainstream radio. The music on Virgin Radio is rocky more than it is poppy.
Oh, I’m talking about the main channel of VirginRadio. If you’re so interested then you can listen to VirginRadio Classic for the likes of T-Rex, the Rollingstones ...
Manx 14.02.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of virginradio.co.uk
Virgin radio is the one of the best music stations that I have tuned in on for the following reasons:
1) It has old, new and fairly new music which is incorperated with chat and callins. This shows that it has say, involed to sute a variaty of people. 2) It has regular compertions, which have many prizes.
3) Its enjoyable to listen to at work or at home and in the street.
4) You can pick it up anywhere in kent.
5) They have a great website.
...
gifmonster 24.02.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of virginradio.co.uk
Advantages: great competitions, excellent website Disadvantages: too much talk sometimes
The answer to the above question is an (almost) resounding NO thanks to Virgin Radio's Pete and Geoff on their Breakfast Show! I emailed in a REALLY BAD photo of myself to be judged by the morning crew and, frankly, hoped never to hear about it again. Such are the laws of nature that, sure enough, I received a phone call asking if I would mind being on the show the following morning. Being a game girl I agreed and then spent the entire night in a ... ...10 minutes before I was due on air I received another call making sure I was still ok about it all and to reassure me that I'd be fine despite my nerves. Well, the crew looked at my photo and made a few comments which, to be honest, I've had far worse compliments! Then it was decision time; the vote was split. Never before had I waited to be judged by complete strangers - normally they just drunkenly voice their opinions in the street. On the deciding ...
deepthought 17.04.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of virginradio.co.uk
