Online Music

[temporus]

I was telling someone recently about a website where you can listen to the music for free, and if you like it you can buy it.  Or license it if you want.  It's very interesting system.   Of course, the problem is that I don't remember who it was I was telling about this, because the weekend was so jam packed with things, it could have been just about anyone.

So here's the site:   http://magnatune.com/

What I like in particular about this site, as opposed to say, Pandora (which I also enjoy and use) is that I can stop, and change songs, rewind and relisten, as much as I want.  Whereas Pandora really is much more of what it says it is: internet radio.  Though you can skip a stinker of a song, you can't really go back and relisten to a song you liked *right now*.   You have to wait until it just shows up naturally in the play list again.

With Magnatune, you can listen to what you are in the mood for, when you're in the mood for it.  Or you can listen to one of their "radio channels."   Mind you, it doesn't do what Pandora does.  At least not as far as I can tell.  So you can't tell it that I love Anonymous4 and it won't give you tons of suggestions based upon it.   It won't create custom radio stations tailored to YOU.  But it's got an eclectic collection, particularly of music types and styles I haven't so far found on Pandora.  

Props out to Wil Wheaton for introducing me to the site.

Hopefully the person that I was speaking with about the site will come across this, and will now be informed.   If not, hope the rest of you go check it out.   It's cool stuff.

Comments

[dqg-neal.livejournal.com]

That sounds like one of those instances where you just wish technology desingers would listen to you and create something with all the features you like.... and not have to pick and chose between different items to get the desired results.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

You know what though, sometimes it can be better this way. In some cases, people who try to design something to do everything end up with a device that can do each task, but it does none of them so well as the right tool for the right job.

IE, not everything should be a swiss army knife. Given the choice, I'd much rather open a bottle of wine with a nice fancy new decorker than use my old trusty camping knife. Will both do the job? Sure. But one is much easier, and why strain when it's not providing any extra benefit in return. (Such as needing to only lug along one tool on a camping trip, as opposed to an entire toolbox.)

[akaalysia.livejournal.com]

Recently, I've joined last.fm. While they have streaming radio-like feeds, you can also choose a song and play it at your will. It also has an app that you can download that tracks what you're listening to when you're offline listening (I think it will even look at what's played on your Ipod if you use Itunes) and then it helps to customize your listening experience. the one downside that I've noticed so far is that there are only a limited number of full tracks available, and for some artists there are none. But it's free, so I can't complain too much.