Reverb: The Official UTF Blog

If you’re like me, commercial radio is dead. I can’t discover new music because the radio stations are too busy playing the same playlists nearly every other day. Fortunately, there is hope: on the web.

Pandora Radio

Pandora is a service that allows you to listen to the radio right through the comfort of your favorite web browser. While I don’t listen to it is often as I could, it’s a great way to discover other artists that sound like artists you already like. You can create your own, customized radio stations that sound like any of your favorite artists. Some of my radio stations include: Paul Oakenfold Radio, Depeche Mode Radio, Donna Summer Radio, Rick James Radio, and of course, Nine Inch Nails Radio.

Last.fm

Recently acquired by CBS, Last.fm is rather popular, especially in the UK. It’s a social networking tool that is similar to what Pandora does. It allows you to also share your musical interests with other users of the site. I will say that if you don’t like sharing some of your music tastes with other users, this may not be the site for you, especially if you have some MP3s of artists on your PC that may make you lose your street cred with friends.

SHOUTcast

SHOUTcast is Internet radio brought to you by an application instead of the web browser. You have to download the Winamp application to use the radio – the media player of choice for many users during the heyday of Napster. While you can’t customize your radio station based on a specific artist that you like, you can select certain genres (metal) or eras (80s) for music. If you enjoy your privacy and don’t care for the social networking aspect of Internet radio, this may be the option for you.

Odeo

Odeo has lost some of its steam and focus after founder Evan Williams (creator of Blogger) started turning all of his attention to Twitter. It started out as a site to help users subscribe to podcasts, but it has also become a place where you can find good music…if you look hard enough. The difference here is that you can (most of the time) download the actual track(s) listed in the Odeo directory. The problem? Well, you’re not paying for any songs you may download from here, unless they’re songs distributed by an independent artist. If you’re going to indulge in downloading some music here, I wouldn’t indulge too much in case the RIAA starts looking for you.