Website Review: Anywhere.FM

Although it is still in beta, everyone should hear about Anywhere.FM. This website takes all of your personal music that you've built up on your computer and forms it into your own internet music radio station. You can create your own playlists and share them with friends. Then you, or anyone else, can listen to your music on any computer that can access the internet. And best of all, it's FREE.

Uploading Music
The first step is to get your music from your PC to the Anywhere.FM website. They make this simple and easy. There are two main ways to do this. You can either upload them directly on their website, or download a desktop uploader that can do it for you. The upload software can take your songs directly from iTunes, too.

The only problem with the act of uploading your music is that it's pretty slow. If you have a lot of songs, this can take hours. I suggest uploading your songs overnight if you can so that you don't have to sit around and watch it happen.

Right now, there is no limit to how many songs you can upload onto your account at Anywhere.FM. They mention in their FAQ that they might institute a limit once the website goes out of beta status. In the meantime, you should hurry up and upload as much as you can before that happens.

Customizable Interface
Purely for aesthetic reasons, you can change the interface of your Anywhere.FM panel. They have built in color schemes and backgrounds that you can choose from. You can also customize your own profile to show a picture of yourself when anyway listens to your station. This is a way for you to stand out and differentiate yourself from the pack.

Personal Playlists
After you've uploaded your music library to their website, you can make different playlists for your songs. This is completely optional but can be a lot of fun. For example, you could make a playlist full of '80s music. Or, you could have a playlist that plays nothing but death metal music. It's completely up to you. When a person visits your station, they can choose to listen from any of these playlists.

Stat Tracking
When you set up your account, you'll see that there are a few playlists already made for you. These are based on how you listen to your music and how you rate it. Every song that you upload can be rated from one to five stars. They have a playlist that lists the top 25 best rated songs in your list. They also have a list for the most played songs and the newest songs added to your account. All of these stats are based on what you do with your account, and only you. If someone else would rate your song a two instead of a five, it doesn't change the status on your own Anywhere.FM station.

Sharing
The main purpose of Anywhere.FM is to share your music. This is different from other sharing sites because there is no downloading involved. Your fans are just listening to your songs. They can't download them and they can't add any to your station. This takes care of any copyright problems.

When you sign up for your account, you are given a unique web address to share with your friends. Just give them the URL and they can listen to your favorite music. For an example of this, you can listen to my own channel at http://anywhere.fm/goldferris.

The Verdict
Although it takes a while to upload your song library, it is still worth it in the end. I love the interface and the stat tracking. I also like the fact that you can share your library with your friends. You could even take advantage of this by listening to all of your music while at work. And all without worrying about bringing an mp3 play. This is a great free website that you should definitely check out.