Radio Paradise Part II (Outlaw Version)

The three big guns in internet radio these days are for copyright and licensing reasons, each region-restricted: Last FM to the U.S., Germany and UK, Pandora to the U.S. only, and Spotify to the U.K. and a handful of European countries. These are not radio stations but highly intelligent applications which figure out the music you like and deliver it to you in spades. We're talking of millions of songs at the ready.

Funny, Cambodia, whose existing copyright law protects only Cambodian content, somehow got left out. Despair not, those of you willing to cut a few corners. I'm sure you'll be in violation of your user agreements by cutting those corners, which I would never do, but for your information here's the lowdown.

To get Last FM and Pandora on your computer the workaround is fairly simple, one simply has to fool your computer that you're in the US by using any US proxy server to download the software and stream music.

To get the iPhone apps for each running on your non-U.S. based device is more complicated but straightforward. Rather than use a proxy server to run the apps, one must install a VPN (virtual private network) which routes data through a U.S. server. Hotspotshield is one such free VPN. The instructions for installation of Hotspotshield on the iPhone are on their website, which you'll be taken to once you run the setup application. From there you'll obtain your VPN account ID:

Settings -> General -> Network -> VPN -> Add VPN Configuration:

* Select the IPSec tab/pane
* Description: HotspotShield
* Server: 68.68.107.101
* Account: [Click "Get Account ID" button]
* Password: [Click "Get Account ID" button]
* Use Certificate: OFF
* Group Name: hss
* Secret: hss

Once you've instructed the iPhone which VPN to use, you simply activate the VPN when you want to run either Last FM or Pandora. Your download speed will be reduced somewhat by using the VPN to route your data but not much. With a decent 3G or EDGE connection certainly you wouldn't have a problem. The SB Settings application on the iPhone (available on Cydia) allows you to easily toggle the VPN on or off.

Spotify is a different story unfortunately. Using a UK based proxy server such as Dave Proxy one can easily download and use the free version of Spotify on your non-UK computer (and it's a great application). You can download the mobile version from Apples' store easily by setting up a UK Itunes account (using perhaps the address of your summer home in St. John's Wood).

That's as far as you'll get in all likelihood. Unfortunately, the mobile version for iPhone and Android requires a Premium Subscription and as far as I know there's no way to pay for this unless you have a UK or Swiss bank account (or have a friend who has). If you can somehow figure out the payment (about the same as US Satellite Radio subscription) you'll have access to a bazillion songs in a beautifully put together app. Streaming at 160kps, response is near instantaneous, and the music database is said to dwarf Last FM and Pandora by a wide margin. One hopes it will make to the US soon.

Cambodia, well that's another story.

Source: Phnom Penh Garage Notes

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