Pledge-Free Stream is a live stream of KQED Public Radio that's only available online. Pledge-Free Stream is hosted live by a second on-air announcer and carries all regular KQED radio programming, including live news reports (except for traffic updates). It omits all fundraising breaks, which run on weekdays from 6am – 7:30pm, Saturdays from 7am – 2pm and 6 – 9pm, and Sundays from 7am – 2pm beginning May 8, 2013.

Your donation for this gift lets you access Pledge-Free Stream through the entire Spring 2013 Fundraiser. Pledge-Free Stream is accessible on up to four compatible web browsers via your computer, tablet and/or smartphone.

KQED's Sustaining Members who give $12.50 or more per month may be eligible to receive Pledge-Free Stream as a thank-you gift for their current membership year. Sustaining Members make ongoing monthly contributions, with automatic yearly renewal. To find out if you're a Sustaining Member and eligible for Pledge-Free Stream, e-mail member@kqed.org or call (415) 553-2150. If you're interested in becoming a Sustaining Member, you may choose that option on our online donation form, call (415) 553-2150, or email member@kqed.org.

Other members and recent donors will need to make an additional donation of $55 (or current offer) to receive this service as a separate thank-you gift. This financial support will help us offset the costs of producing Pledge-Free Stream, from equipment to announcers and technical staff.

Visit kqed.org/donate or click on one of the yellow "Donate" buttons on this page to donate and receive this special service. You can register as early as April 25, 2013, and Pledge-Free Stream will be available from the start of our fundraiser on May 8, 2013 through the end of the drive.

When you submitted your donation to KQED, we sent a confirmation email to the same email address used on the donation form. This email contains your personalized Pledge-Free Stream access code. If you can't find the confirmation email, please check your "spam" or "junk email" folder as it may have been misdirected there. If you still can't find the email, please call our Member Services Department at 415-553-2150 or email us at member@kqed.org. A member services representative will verify your donation and give you an access code.

To log into Pledge-Free Stream, you'll need two things:

1. The email address you shared with KQED when you completed the online donation form.
2. The personalized access code we sent to you by confirmation email. If you can't find that email, please call our Member Services Department at 415-553-2150 or email us at member@kqed.org. A member services representative will verify your donation and give you an access code.

If you have a Pledge-Free Stream access code from a previous Pledge-Free Stream, you will not be able to log in to the current Pledge-Free Stream. The codes are good for one fundraising drive only.

You should only have to sign in once per browser. The first time you sign in successfully, the KQED website sets a browser cookie that retains your sign-in information.

If your browser keeps asking you to sign in, try checking your browser's preferences to make sure it is accepting cookies. If it is, then send us an email and we'll try to help troubleshoot.

The KQED Live Stream player has been designed and tested to work with the following platforms and browsers:

Windows 7/Vista/XP

• Internet Explorer 7.x or higher
• Mozilla Firefox 3.x or higher
• Google Chrome 9.x or higher
• Safari 5.x

MacOS X 10.4 or higher

• Safari 4.x or higher
• Mozilla Firefox 3.x or higher
• Google Chrome 9.x or higher

The Live Radio Stream requires either that the Adobe Flash plug-in (version 9 or higher) be installed, or that you have a browser that supports RTMP streaming of MP3 audio in an HTML 5 player. Most modern browsers are able to support this. If you encounter difficulties, consider updating to the latest version of both your browser and your Flash plug-in (available for free at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/).

Pledge-Free Stream requires cookies for authentication. If you are logging in to Pledge-Free Stream and seeing the "Congratulations!" banner, but are still hearing pledge breaks, check to make sure you do not have "Private Browsing" turned on in your browser preferences. If Private Browsing is set to "on", cookies will be disabled. Also, you should make sure any other privacy preferences are set to allow cookies.

If you've been listening to Pledge-Free stream successfully and it suddenly begins buffering, here are some things to try:

• Reload the page.
• If you're listening via a computer, try a different browser (see recommended browsers under the previous question).
• If you're listening on a phone via cellular data connection, try using wi-fi from your phone instead.
• Check to make sure there isn't something else running on your connection that's using excessive bandwidth, such as streaming video or a software update.

If you're trying to listen for the first time, the first step is to check to see if you have one of the recommended browsers (listed under the previous question) for listening to our stream. If you do have a recommended browser and you still can't hear anything after clicking on the live stream link, make sure that your speakers are on and the volume is turned up.

If you still can't hear anything or the stream is buffering repeatedly, send us an email with the following details so we can help troubleshoot:

• Computer or Device: PC, Mac, iPhone 5, Galaxy Nexus, Sonos Connect, Logitech Squeezebox, etc.
• Operating System (OS): Windows 7, Mac OS 10.8.2, iOS 6, Android 4.2, etc.
• Browser version: Open your web browser and go the menu item that is named after that browser. In the menu will be an "About" option where you can find your browser version listed.
• Connection: DSL/Cable, Dial-Up, Cellular 3G, 4G
• Error: Provide a detailed description of the problem you are experiencing.

If you've already submitted your donation for Pledge-Free Stream, then point your browser to kqed.org/pfs. Use the log-in credentials you received in your confirmation email (the email address you used when donating and the unique access code provided) and log in at the top right area of the page. Once you've logged in, you'll be taken directly to Pledge-Free Stream where you just click on the "play" button and start listening!

If you haven't donated for Pledge-Free Stream yet, just point your mobile browser to kqed.org/donate and select the Pledge-Free Stream thank-you gift. Once your donation is complete, you'll receive an online confirmation page with a button that will take you directly to Pledge-Free Stream, where you'll be logged in automatically.

iPhone Users: If you're using Safari, you should know that we've identified a bug in Safari in iOS 5, in which cookie settings revert to "never" even if you've previously specified allowing cookies. Pledge-Free Stream relies on cookies for its authentication, so try re-enabling them and reentering the Pledge-Free Stream credentials:
Settings > Safari > Accept cookies (set to "from visited" or "always"; "from visited" is more secure)

Then open Safari to kqed.org/pfs and try again.

Android/Blackberry Users: We have received reports about difficulties getting Pledge-Free Stream to work on recent-model Androids and Blackberries on which Flash is not pre-installed. You may need to download Flash from Google Play if you cannot get the HTML5 version of the stream to work.

We've optimized the KQED Live Stream to make sure it's accessible by devices that do not support Flash, such as the iPhone and the iPad. In these instances, the Live Stream player automatically provides an alternate HTML 5 version of the player.

Navigate to kqed.org/pfs and log in using your PFS credentials. Once you have signed in, your mobile web browser will retain your credentials.

If you are using an iPhone and you have logged in to Pledge-Free Stream but are still hearing pledge breaks:

• Make sure that "private browsing" in the Safari Settings is set to OFF
• Make sure you have your cookies in the Safari Settings set to "from visited," "already visited," or similar (may vary in different versions of Safari)

Eventually, we'd like to be able to offer Pledge-Free Stream on a wider variety of client platforms, including Internet radios such as Sonos, mobile apps, iTunes and other desktop players. Because there is such a broad range of client platforms and not all of them support member authentication, we opted to focus our initial development efforts on web browsers, the most widely available.

No, it's not possible to access the Internet stream with a conventional radio. Right now, Pledge-Free Stream is only available though a web browser on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Several car makers have announced that they're offering Internet radio with their upcoming models. In the meantime, you can use your smartphone to stream while you're in your car.

No. Since this is an Internet-only service, you need to make your donation through our online form at kqed.org/donate or by clicking on the yellow "Donate" button on this page.

Yes! Basic membership to KQED begins at $40. Donating for Pledge-Free Stream entitles you to all the perks of KQED membership for one year. If you're already a member, the donation will be counted as an additional gift to KQED. If your membership is up for renewal (three months before it expires), the donation will renew your membership.

No. Pledge-Free Stream is only available for the current pledge drive, and only for KQED Public Radio.

That's great! Because Pledge-Free Stream is a separate gift item, you'll need to choose it when you make your donation. For instance, if you'd like to donate $75 and receive the KQED Wave T-shirt, you would still need to select Pledge-Free Stream and give an additional $55. So in this example you'd be making a total gift of $130.

Yes! We realize that lots of our members listen to us at work, at home, and on the go via their smartphones. So we've made it possible for you to enable the stream on up to four browsers. We'll be able to track the number of registered devices per person. Just use the personalized access code we sent you in your donation confirmation email and start listening!

Zero. It has no "fair market value" because it is considered a service as opposed to a tangible gift item or product.