Ember, I feel your pain. (I was also bummed when rock from my formative years all of a sudden appeared on "oldies" stations, but I digress.)
My audio gear is currently minimal (sad!), and I really dislike listening to music over the computer, however I am fan of internet radio out of necessity, whether it's terrestrial stations streaming their broadcasts or web-only stations. It's a way to at least get out there. And it's free. And I get the impression there's more variety than Satellite, which I think might be more corporate dictated (that's just my impression).
I like the radio section of iTunes. I kind of have musical ADD, and there, at your fingertips, are stations from Africa to Iceland, or right down the street, in every genre (doom, polka, Pat Boone, etc.). There might be a way to get rich sound from internet, but I don't know it, having no gear and lacking tech knowledge. But at least it's a window, instead of being stuck with the local airwaves. There might be other services than iTunes that provide the same access to thousands of radio stations.
