If you like jazz, you probably find KPLU on the radio dial in your car. But you can also listen to jazz on your computer any time, any day, by accessing the locally produced mix of jazz music and commentary over the web.

The South Sound is home to one of the leading online radio streams. KPLU's Jazz24, which started streaming jazz music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in February of this year, attracts more than 70,000 listeners each month. Webcast Metrics ranks it among the top 20 most popular webstreams.

Jazz24 also has a "now playing" feature, updated playlists with links to buy the music you hear, links to KPLU's live studio sessions and concerts and the new NPR Music website, which features content contributed by KPLU.

Internet radio is still a growing segment of the web, even though there is disagreement over how to measure the audience (which affects advertising rates and sales). More than seven million people tuned in to the top web radio stations in December, while one report suggested that more than 20 million people listen in during an average month.

I'm thankful that KEXP has such great streaming over the web – I listen to a healthy dose of it from home (it's against the rules at work) ever since the station stopped broadcasting from Tacoma. This always-on, always-connected culture makes geography obsolete; I recently found an application to listen to satellite radio on my iPhone, too.