Where to Find Great Radio Online

The internet has changed just about every segment of every industry. Perhaps the most impacted industry is the entertainment industry. Mp3's, iPods, online music, online games, downloadable content, movies, Hulu and a host of other products and services have revolutionized the way modern man keeps himself occupied. Music has undergone an absolute revolution with the advent of mp3 players, iTunes and the like and online radio. Herein I want to address internet radio and the amount of free streaming music that is available to music fans if they know where to look. Here is a guide to some streaming radio providers who are doing it the best. For fans of radio, there are still options for you. For all online radio streaming is best to do so on a high speed internet connection.

Pandora

Pandora radio (www.pandora.com) is perhaps the premiere online radio experience. Have you ever had a favorite radio station that played good music but would often go hours without playing a single song or artist you like? Well Pandora is changing all of that. Start by clicking the Register link at the top of pandora.com and sign up for a free Pandora account. Once you have gone through the set up process you can begin creating your personalized radio station. There is no limit to the number of radio stations you can create for your account. Begin by signing into your account and then click the Create Station link. You will then be able to search for any artist or song. This song or a song by the artist will begin playing. This is very important because it becomes the starting point for Pandora to begin assessing your music tastes. Pandora will begin queuing up music that is similar to that initial artist. As music plays you can click the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" button to let Pandora know how you feel about each song that is played. Over time Pandora gets smarter and smarter as it gets to know you and your musical tastes. Eventually you will have a station chock full of music you love that will also help you discover new artists that you enjoy but might never have known about.

As mentioned above you can create as many stations as you like for your account and make them all as different as you want. Furthermore you can also edit the station details such as the name of your personalized station by clicking the arrow on the station and selecting the Edit option. That's Pandora!

Last.fm

Last.fm takes a much different approach from Pandora in that it works the social networking angle. It is also a free service and all you have to do is sign up for an account to get started. Unlike Pandora, Last.fm allows you to created a customized profile page that has information about you and about the music you enjoy. Furthermore you can network with other friends on Last.fm and share music that you have found and that perhaps they would like as well. You can even send and receive private messages with your friends.

Last.fm builds a profile of your musical tastes by taking not of all of the music you listen to on Last.fm. This information is then listed on your profile page so that your friends can see the music you are into and then make recommendations to you. Furthermore the service itself also makes recommendations to you whereby you can discover new artists and songs you would not have known of otherwise. Last.fm provides some great customization of playlists and social networking.

iTunes Radio

This last option provides a large selection of stations but with no customization. If you do not already have iTunes running on your computer, you can download it for free from www.apple.com/itunes. Once you have iTunes running, select Radio from the sidebar menu and you will be presented with a list of styles and genres from which you can select your favorite type of music and then from there select a station to stream. Because the stations on iTunes are actual stations you will be able to find a station that you can enjoy yet you will not be able to control the actual songs that are played the way you can with Last.fm or Pandora. However if you are looking for a free, simple, no-maintenance way to listen to some good radio, then chances are you will be perfectly happy with iTunes radio.

There are just a few of the services that are available for free so that if you miss the days of listening to the radio and discovering new music, there are still ways to enjoy that old pasttime in the digital age. Good luck and happy listening!