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Along with parties and late-night cram sessions, music is ubiquitous
with college and work life. While in the past college and masters degree
students or office employees were forced to find music on their own or
through sites like Napster and LimeWire, streaming music services now
make discovering new genres and artists much easier.
Where a few years ago there were just a few services, now there seems
to be a new one launching every month. Here’s a look at five of the
best, from old standbys to new trailblazers.
Of
all the services, Grooveshark is probably the easiest to get started
using. No sign up, nothing to download, just search for a song or artist
and get started listening. The range of music available through the
service is impressive, and it has just signed new licensing deals
allowing even more music to be featured. Grooveshark is free, with an
optional subscription.
One
of the older, more established providers, Pandora has been steadily
gaining popularity throughout its existence. As one of the first
services to use the radio paradigm, Pandora drew in users with its ease
of use and kept them with its large variety of music. Pandora is only
available in the U.S., offering a free ad supported service or optional
ad-free subscription.
Possibly
the fastest growing streaming music service, Spotify is rapidly gaining
momentum. Focusing almost entirely on the social aspect of the music
industry, Spotify requires a Facebook account to sign up, and shares
your music activity on the popular social networking site. Its recently
added radio feature now allows Spotify to compete more directly with
Pandora. The one caveat is while Spotify’s basic features are available
for free, many features are only available with a premium subscription.
Along
with Pandora, Last.fm has managed to entrench its position as a
mainstay of music streaming services. Last.fm’s Audioscrobbler lets
other media players to send your listening habits to the service,
allowing Last.fm to offer personalized music recommendations based on
your preferences. The service is free, with a subscription unlocking
various features depending on the user’s home country.
One
of the newer services available is the UK based We7. It offers 6.8
million tracks in the UK and Ireland, with limited content available
outside of those two countries. In June 2011, We7 secured additional
funding, hoping to expand its range within Europe. We7 is completely
free, but registration is required for many features.
► Being in India, I noticed that Grooveshark, We7 and MusicUO.com are the only among the top sites which stream all types of songs and albums free. Enjoy…
From absolutely free to pay-to-play, these streaming music services
offer a wide variety of options for music lovers. Whether you’d prefer
to launch a desktop client or simply browse to a website, chances are
one of the above services has something to offer you. If you haven’t
found exactly what you’re looking for, keep on searching, because these
are just the tip of the iceberg.
Best Free Websites for Listening to Songs Online for Free
1. Grooveshark
Of
all the services, Grooveshark is probably the easiest to get started
using. No sign up, nothing to download, just search for a song or artist
and get started listening. The range of music available through the
service is impressive, and it has just signed new licensing deals
allowing even more music to be featured. Grooveshark is free, with an
optional subscription.2. Pandora
One
of the older, more established providers, Pandora has been steadily
gaining popularity throughout its existence. As one of the first
services to use the radio paradigm, Pandora drew in users with its ease
of use and kept them with its large variety of music. Pandora is only
available in the U.S., offering a free ad supported service or optional
ad-free subscription.3. Spotify
Possibly
the fastest growing streaming music service, Spotify is rapidly gaining
momentum. Focusing almost entirely on the social aspect of the music
industry, Spotify requires a Facebook account to sign up, and shares
your music activity on the popular social networking site. Its recently
added radio feature now allows Spotify to compete more directly with
Pandora. The one caveat is while Spotify’s basic features are available
for free, many features are only available with a premium subscription.4. Last.fm
Along
with Pandora, Last.fm has managed to entrench its position as a
mainstay of music streaming services. Last.fm’s Audioscrobbler lets
other media players to send your listening habits to the service,
allowing Last.fm to offer personalized music recommendations based on
your preferences. The service is free, with a subscription unlocking
various features depending on the user’s home country.5. We7
One
of the newer services available is the UK based We7. It offers 6.8
million tracks in the UK and Ireland, with limited content available
outside of those two countries. In June 2011, We7 secured additional
funding, hoping to expand its range within Europe. We7 is completely
free, but registration is required for many features.► Being in India, I noticed that Grooveshark, We7 and MusicUO.com are the only among the top sites which stream all types of songs and albums free. Enjoy…