(IDG) -- Internet radio may never replace your home or car stereo, but it does offer the very cool ability to tune in radio stations from around the world. The dominant player, RealAudio from RealNetworks, is now getting serious competition from Motorola subsidiary RadioWave.com.

The RadioWave player, available as a free download, offers higher-quality audio than the standard RealAudio player. It also can display changing visual information, such as the title and artist of the song that's playing, and show advertisements tied to local stations. Like banners on Web sites, the ads pay the freight so the player is free.

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I downloaded and tested the player from the RadioWave Web site. Unfortunately, this is a test of patience with a dial-up connection. The home page took about 10 minutes to load during the busy evening hours when I accessed the site, and downloading the 3MB player took more than half an hour. Installation is a snap, although you do need to enter basic demographic information (name, age, gender, and e-mail address) before it loads.

Once you're up and running (and connected to the Internet) you can "tune in" about 300 radio stations from around the country, choosing by format, location, or call letters. I'm a finicky listener with high-end speakers, and found that RadioWave's audio quality is considerably better than standard RealAudio, and lacks the trademark "jittery" sound that's become familiar to Internet listeners. RadioWave is closer to (but still not quite reaching) what you'd get from a good-quality FM radio. Some stations also sound better than others, which is a function of how much audio processing that stations add to the music before it's broadcast.

At press time, the only station that shows the visual potential of RadioWave is KKZN in Dallas. When you're tuned in and the station is playing music, you see the album cover, artist name, and title of the song. And from time to time, advertisements and promotional messages pop up for 10 or 15 seconds.

As good as G2?

Although RadioWave does produce good-quality audio, it doesn't quite reach the quality of the RealNetworks G2 player. I downloaded the G2 beta and sampled some demo content, including albums from record companies. Currently, only one classical station is streaming G2 audio of its programming. Overall, the G2 player produces excellent audio, particularly strong on the bass end, but still missing high frequencies.

Although RealAudio is ahead of RadioWave in market share and channels, a battle is brewing for the future of high quality Internet audio. According to Robert Shotwell, vice president of Cardwell Broadcasting in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, RealNetworks offered the original RealAudio software free to allow the company to broadcast its WPVQ country radio station on the Internet, but is asking $7500 for the G2 software. (Pricing for the software that stations use for RadioWave wasn't available.) And Motorola is a big name in the broadcast field, and is known for aggressive marketing. But that doesn't guarantee success for RadioWave--Motorola was the driving force behind AM stereo broadcasting, a technology that has gone nowhere.