In May I blogged about being in auditory hell. After hearing Maroon 5’s “Love Somebody,” off its appropriately named album Overexposed, it occurred to me that the Internet makes avoiding overexposed…overplayed songs, possible.
There are two services I’ve used: Pandora and Rdio. I’ve heard plenty about Spotify, too, but have yet to try it.
Pandora was my first radio venture, aided by Unblock-Us. I like how it lets me customize stations, to a point, and used what I had previously listened to as a basis for suggestions. Took me down memory lane with its 90s Alternative station, not to mention its 90s Hip Hop station. For me, though, I like to find new music. I can appreciate suggestions based on previous patterns but I don’t like to be pigeon-holed.
Like Pandora, it has some set channels or stations, but that’s where the similarities stop. At least on the free version of Pandora. Rdio has search functionality, and whole albums that I can listen to, share, tag and add to a playlist. I can create playlists, in addition to Rdio automagically customizing lists for me based on previous listening habits. I can also go back and listen to a previous song. If I add it to a list, I can always listen to it!
I’m blown away by Rdio. It’s the best features of Pandora and iTunes, accessible from a web browser. Pretty cool.
Keeps my music selection broad, mixed and a little surprising. In a word: fresh.