Online music

You could download gigabytes of music onto your hard-drive, and it will take up precious space. Perhaps it is time to rather consider listening to music that is stored on a server elsewhere. With so many of the major streaming sites (such as Spotify) not readily available to users in the Middle East, we give a list of good music streaming sites that are available here.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark is an internationally-available online music search engine, streaming service and music recommendation web software application. It allows users to search for, stream and upload music free of charge. The music can be played immediately or added to a playlist, and Grooveshark streams 50 to 60 million songs per month and 400 000 users. The site’s user interface makes it easy to use and get the music that you’re looking for.

Last.fm

Last.fm is an internet radio and music community website that claims it has over 30 million users based in more than 200 countries. The site uses a system called ‘Audioscrobbler’ that builds a detailed profile of each user’s musical tastes by recording the details of all the songs the user listens to – whether it be on streamed radio stations, the user’s computer or portable music devices. This profile data is then displayed on the user’s profile page, and you can recommend artists owing to the site’s social networking features. Last.fm has a rich music library and comes highly recommended from the WINDOWS team.

AOL Music

America Online has quite a good music streaming service that allows you to listen to different radio stations, listen to various artists’ music and watch certain music videos.

AmazingTunes

Amazingtunes is set up in such a way that it works as a sort of e-bay where musicians can put their music for sale on the site or just put it on the site for free. Visitors to the site can then listen to the music. For all music sold, Amazingtunes takes a 30% commission. The site thus far has managed to sign a number of record labels for artists, and it gives you the opportunity to get recommendations, create playlists and then share those playlists with friends. The owners of the site refer to it as 'radio that you can control'.

iLike

iLike is compatible with Apple’s iTunes in terms of using a sidebar. The sidebar is not necessary for use of the site, but it does allow for an easier means of discovering new music. The site is still in somewhat of a beta phase but it has already attracted approximately half a million users in the first four months of its launch. In fact, the site has become so popular that even MySpace acquired it.

MP3.com

MP3.com provides information about digital music and artists and songs. It is a legal, free music-sharing service that has also become popular with independent musicians for promoting their work. The site has a long history, having been founded back in November 1997. The site obviously has a controversial history with using the name of the popular MP3 file format, but after being shut down numerous times, the site is now an establishment for streaming music.

Imeem

Imeem is what is referred to as a social media service. Users can interact amongst each other by watching, posting and sharing content of all digital media types apart from audio, such as blogs, photos, and video. Many of the core engineers of from Napster are behind the development of imeem, and because it works on an advertising based model, it is free to use. Its social network structure and browsing or filtering structure is similar to that of Flickr and YouTube.

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