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If music be the food of love, play on....

Postby Bobby Hundreds » Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:53 pm

OK, so here's the rub; we all love music now don't we? don't we?
Well I do anyway, so I thought I'd take a little time to share with you lovely folk some of the means by which I indulge my addiction to this wondrous gift.
I've been on the interweb since donkeys wore hats and have come across many ways to listen to music for free, some good, some just downright awful but over the last two or three years the technology available and the imagination of developers has come on leaps and bounds.
Obviously there are the standard ways of purchasing your fix of mp3s, ITunes, Amazon et al and of course there is the route of illegal downloading using torrent clients and file lockers such as Rapidshare.
However what I'm really into is streaming music either to my PC or my Android (other smart phones are available, I hear Apple have knocked something together) and the social networks associated with these sites.
Oh, I forget to mention, these are all free for your delectation.
OK then, let's get started......


First up is my absolute favourite: Image

Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the songs the user listens to, either from Internet radio stations, or the user's computer or many portable music devices. This information is transferred ("scrobbled") to Last.fm's database either via the music player itself (Rdio, Spotify, Clementine, Amarok) or via a plugin installed into the user's music player. The data is then displayed on the user's profile page and also compiled to create reference pages for individual artists. By April 2011 Last.fm reported more than 50 billion scrobbles.
Credit to Wikipedia for the above description.

So to summarise you open a free account and download the Audioscrobbler to your PC and that's all the hard work done.
Just type and artist or a genre into the search box and Last.fm generates a personalised radio station for you which consists of the artist you typed and other similar artists.
You can generate an infinite number of "stations" and the more you listen to the more your library builds up. I have found myself listening to music I would have never dreamed of listening to, it's a real voyage of discovery, absolutely all tastes are catered for.
By downloading the Audioscrobbler to your PC you have also enabled the install of a plugin to your media player whether it be iTunes or Windows Media player or whatever. This is a cool piece of kit as what it does is every time you play some of your own music it is added to your Last.fm library thus increasing even more the listening potential on the Last.fm site or player.
Apps are also available for smart phones which enable you to take Last.fm on the road with you.
Happy Scrobbling!

Next up is: Image

Remember back in the day when we used to do a "mix tape" for a friend or loved one or even a friend you were hoping would become a loved one?
Well look no further 8Tracks is great.
Once again you join for free except there is no software to install with this one.
Users create mixes using a minimum of eight tracks by uploading mp3s from their PCs or Macs, add artwork and then share them with everyone on the site.
Of course, you don't have to upload your own mixes you can just sit back and listen to the squillions of them already shared on the site.
Trust me, it's fantastic and once again absolutely all tastes are catered for, just search by genre.
An iPhone app is available and one for Android is imminent.
Happy Mixing!

Here,in slightly less detail but certainly no less groovy and foot tappingly, head bobbingly wonderful are some other places I visit:

Image

TheSixtyOne named after Americas Highway 61 a route with deep connections to American music culture is a place for new artists to get their work to the marketplace.
Again though, it is totally free to sit and listen to a huge array of music using this attractively designed website.
I have discovered a whole world of new artists this way and feel much better for it. once again it is possible to open a free account and get involved socially.

Image

Mixcloud is a social networking site that offers thousands of radio shows, podcasts and DJ mix sets uploaded by individuals and music publishers.
The site refers to itself as “the YouTube of radio”, as all content is audio only.
Users can search the site by cloudcasts (this is what the site calls individual files on the site), people, tags or artists. Users can also browse cloudcasts using categories such as Popular, This Week, Featured and Tags. Playback is entirely browser based, clicking on a cloudcast brings up a player in a separate browser window which shows a tracklist while playing the cloudcast. Registered users can also maintain a profile on the site as well as upload music to the site.
Credit to AppAppeal for the above description.

I'm fairly new to Mixcloud but once again it's free and offers a plethora of musical delights.

Image

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.
Credit to Wikipedia for the above description.

Again, loads of music here, much of it downloadable. I come here for my fix of cutting edge dance music. Loads of exclusives and remixes.
Join for free and start following artists, it's very cool.

Image

OK, not just music here on TuneIn Radio but with this site you have access to over 50,000 of the world's radio stations.
It is epically good! Open a free account to save stations as presets.
The App for Android is pretty damn good too. With the paid version you can even record songs off the radio shows directly to your Android.


That's it from me for now, I hope I have been able to convey a little of my love of music and hope you enjoy trying out some of the services I have mentioned.
Obviously there are more places like the ones I have talked about (Spotify, Grooveshark etc.) so why not share your experiences and likes and dislikes.


Peace and let the good times roll.

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Re: If music be the food of love, play on....

Postby Nevis » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:27 pm

What a wicked post! :thumbsup More please... :-D
You have a gift with words. x

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Re: If music be the food of love, play on....

Postby Bobby Hundreds » Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:59 pm

Thanks, you're most welcome.

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