Online Radio Stations: AccuRadio

Satellite radio and YouTube have brought big changes to the American media in the last two years. This may provide a benefit to another form of media: online radio stations. AccuRadio is one station that should continue to gain popularity in the next few years.

YouTube is keeping more people glued to their computers to watch videos. The satellite radio format, which features a variety of music subgenres, is similar to the approach AccuRadio takes. In fact the

In fact , AccuRadio has 290 channels. We discovered this site when my wife was looking for some online Christmas music to play while we decorated. The AccuHolidays section actually contains 24 different channels of Christmas music. What's on right now: "I'll be Walkin' the Floor This Christmas" by Ernest Tubb & His Texas Troubadours.

Now, if I decide I don't like good ol' Ernest, I can "deselect" him on my list of the channel's singers. That way, the channel will become customized to my personal tastes. You can set and save your deselected artists, so you don't have to do it each time you listen.

If I'm in the mood for a certain subgenre of Christmas music, I can click on Sub-Channels and choose from such styles as Celtic, Country, Broadway, Classical, New Releases, and more. Listening to the Holiday on Broadway channel, I'm listening to "Link by Link," which is Jacob Marley's warning song to Scrooge from the musical "A Christmas Carol."

Suppose you hear a song that blows you away, and you want to buy the entire CD. You can click the cover of the current song's CD, or the CDs that contain the previous two songs. You can check the track list and then buy the CD on amazon.com.

When the calendar hits Dec. 26 and you're all tapped out on Christmas music, just click on Happy New Year and the songs will switch to themes like walking in the snow and getting ready for New Year's Eve. Although, be forewarned - you'll hear a lot of versions of "Let it Snow" and what I'm currently listening to, "Baby It's Cold Outside" (this one by Dean Martin and Martina McBride),

Of course, you can always hop around the rest of the site and check out your favorite channels. I'm checking out a channel called A Flock of Eighties, but with a click of the subchannels button, I can go for "No Pop," "No Rap," "No Metal" or "No New Wave." Come on - no new wave? Who likes Eighties music but not New Wave? Now playing on No Pop - "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy. Yeah, boyee!

It took a while, but I was finally able to find my other favorite music - grunge - in the Modern Rock Classics section, which has five different channels of 80s and 90s alternative rock. Let's see what on the Nineties (Grunge and Later) channel: "Letter to Elise" by The Cure. Not grungy, but it will work.

Of course, you don't have to stay in your musical comfort zone. This is a great chance to check out some styles of music you would never punch up on your car radio. For example, AccuRadio has a large section of Latin music called Radio Preciso, which of course has substations like Brazilian Jazz, Sounds of Puerto Rico and Reggaeton & Latin Hip Hop.

So if you put AccuRadio at the top of your list of favorite sites, you can punch up some cool music before you start surfing the Web.