Review of MyTvLand.net

If your favorite TV channels are Nick at night and TV land, or you like old-time radio, then check out this review of a free listening-only internet website.

MyTvLand.net is a free listening-only portal that sends you back for a blast of the past to old TV commercials, comedy, drama, game and other TV shows, and movies, and documentaries. Best of all, there is no software required, just an internet connection and a media player is needed for streaming. I've streamed shows on my computer and also on my I Phone.

How it works. Go to http://www.mytvland.net and register for a free account. You will then receive an email confirming your registration information. You will automatically be subscribed to the announcement list which sends out one daily email listing the programming available each day.

There are five channels to listen to, a comedy channel, a music/old-time radio channel, drama channel, and 2 miscellaneous channels. Last week my husband and I listened to old episodes of 25000 Pyramid, and I cleaned my house to the accompaniment of old shows like Mash, Judge Judy, and I scared myself by listening to Dragnet in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. We even found an audio-described old Star Trek episode.

Audio-description is also featured on some documentaries and made for TV movies, but only consists of about 4 shows a week. Descriptions of available documentaries, movies, and which programs feature audio description are listed in the email schedule. Programming is changed daily with some repeats, and they are always adding new shows. They are also quite receptive to listener preferences and suggestions.

How to get started. Once you log in to the system with the link they provide, you are taken to a page to choose your media player. When I am using my computer with either Firefox or Internet Explorer, I choose windows media player, and when I am using Safari on the IPhone, I choose the second option for older players.

Once your player is selected you go to a page which lists what is currently playing on each channel. You click on the choice you want and your media player will open up and start streaming the content. I usually refresh my internet page when a show is over, just so I can hear what is being played next and also what is on subsequent channels.

Anyone with an account can listen and some channels run 24 hours and some till midnight eastern time. If you don't want to sign up for an account or if you just want to hear how it sounds, you can listen through ITunes radio in the eclectic section to the MyTvLand comedy channel.

For a household without cable, this has been kind of fun, and although my kids wish there were pictures, I just tell them it’s like listening to a audio drama and they usually shrug and do their own things. I have to put up with Netflix streams of Johnny Tess, Finneas and Ferb, and now something called Tough Puppy after all, so I figure we are pretty even in the media department. Thank goodness they like American Idol, and we can usually agree on what movies to rent.