Up and Down the Internet Dial

The more mature the Internet gets, the more it looks like everything else.

A Newport Beach company today unveils the final version of software that acts like an Internet-music version of a car radio’s scan button.

More than 500 cybercasters currently stream music onto the Internet using a compression format called MP3. The new tool by GameSpy Industries allows a computer user to find an MP3 station by clicking on the genre of music he or she likes. Previously, users had to know where to find real-time streaming MP3 stations, which do not always run around the clock.

A test version of MP3Spy released by the company a few months ago has been downloaded more than 140,000 times, the company said.

A chat feature in MP3Spy also allows listeners to communicate with each other and the deejay.

GameSpy is considering extending MP3Spy’s capabilities to include other streaming media formats, although there is no timetable for that, said Dave Kosak, creative director of GameSpy.

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Jonathan Gaw covers technology and electronic commerce for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7818 and at jonathan.gaw@latimes.com.