Launch. Again?
I’ve been waiting patiently for an eternity in web time (maybe a year) for a mac version of Launch.com, Yahoo’s customizable radio station that not only streams your favorite music but suggests songs based on your favorites as well. Plain old streaming radio doesn’t do this because you usually have to choose a station by genre (who only listens to one genre?). iTunes only lets you stream what you already own (where’s the discovery in that?). Rhapsody and Launch both do this but are Windows only, a not-so-subtle line in the sand to the galloping hordes of iPod users.
Via the Mp3Blogs aggregator, I found Last FM, which might be the answer to my prayers. It works through iTunes, it lets you create your station and will suggest based on how closely your stations matches other like you.
I haven’t quite figured out how it works yet. Like I tried to play my friend James’s station and my friend Josh’s and all I got was a one minute sample track and nothing telling me what I was listening to. (*loud hint*) Perhaps these two can help me out.
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Music that caters to your style(s) is all well & good but it can be rather limiting. Sadly, Launch relies on some very standard categories and mostly mainstream artists to determine your tastes. So if you’re looking for Top 40 radio without commercials, they’re good for you.
But if you’re really looking to discover new music and go outside your comfort zone, you’ll have to do some searching. Public Radio Fan (on your links column) is a great resource.
And so’s Radio Io (www.radioio.com). I first found them through the Windows Media Player’s radio tuner. They’ve got a half-dozen stations by now– rock, edge, ecclectic, etc. Best part is an automatic search engine that lets you find web resources on bands they play as they play them. For instance, they recently played your next favorite band, Ceili Rain (www.ceilirain.com). If you like them, you can easily find all their resources on the web and find other bands that sound like them.
Music that caters to your style(s) is all well & good but it can be rather limiting. Sadly, Launch relies on some very standard categories and mostly mainstream artists to determine your tastes. So if you’re looking for Top 40 radio without commercials, they’re good for you.
But if you’re really looking to discover new music and go outside your comfort zone, you’ll have to do some searching. Public Radio Fan (on your links column) is a great resource.
And so’s Radio Io (www.radioio.com). I first found them through the Windows Media Player’s radio tuner. They’ve got a half-dozen stations by now– rock, edge, ecclectic, etc. Best part is an automatic search engine that lets you find web resources on bands they play as they play them. For instance, they recently played your next favorite band, Ceili Rain (www.ceilirain.com). If you like them, you can easily find all their resources on the web and find other bands that sound like them.