Six Ways To Listen to Music Online For Free
Posted by jefferson on Jul 18, 2012 in Saving Money | 60 comments
That said, I have now reached a point in my life where I am just not willing to pay to listen to music. My family has a budget designed to rid ourselves of consumer debt as quickly as possible, and there just isn’t room for me to purchase the new Mumford and Sons album that comes out in a few months, no matter how much I may want it. Sure, there are torrent sites and the like available if you choose to go that route, but doing so comes with its own set of risks that I want no part of. Like any metropolitan area, my city does have a variety of radio stations to choose from, and I do listen on occasion. Unfortunately, the stations tend to range from mullet rock to teeny pop, with not a whole lot in between.
With an unwillingness to spend money and a lack of decent radio stations, I am left to look online to find new music. Fortunately for me, there are some truly fantastic websites and applications available that provide exactly that service. I present you with six great ways to listen to music online for free.
Pandora is an awesome application that uses a custom algorithm to generate a radio station tailored exactly to your taste. Basically, you pick a single artist or song, and Pandora will find similar artists that match that styling. You can then add more songs and artists, and further improve the app’s ability to predict what songs you will enjoy. The very best thing about Pandora is the fact that it is now EVERYWHERE. You can use the app through the web, with any smart phone, and some new cars even have Pandora pre-installed. The major downside to Pandora is that there are a limited amount of skips that you are allowed each hour (when they play a song that you don’t like), but they do sell a subscription service with unlimited skips.
Slacker Radio is similar to Pandora and even has a larger database of songs to choose from (but a much smaller user base). You can build your own custom stations with Slacker, but the real gem of this app is their fantastic pre-programmed radio stations. I would be perfectly thrilled to have their “indie hits” station as a soundtrack to my life. Slacker also has an app available for smart phones, and utilizes “skip limits” to try and convince you to switch to their premium service.
This one is much different than the first two, but I will freely admit that NPR Music is my very favorite on the list. If you aren’t a big NPR fan, don’t let it discourage you from checking out all that they have to offer on the site. For example, they have a feature called “First Listen”, where you can stream full albums from some of the most popular bands in the world before they are released. This is a great way to discover new artists, as they also feature many up and coming bands that are about to break into the mainstream. In addition, they archive a ton of live shows from bands in a wide variety of genres, both in a small studio setting, and in a larger club performance. Awesome stuff.
If you spend much time on the internet, you have probably heard mention of how everything is moving into the “cloud”. Google Play (also called Google Music) is an awesome new cloud music service, that really is worth checking out. This application allows you to upload 20,000 of your own MP3s into a cloud account that you can access anywhere, through the internet or smart phone. If like me, you have a large collection of music on your hard drive at home, this is an awesome way to have your entire music library at your fingertips without having to drag around another device.
Certainly the up-and-comer of this list, Spotify is growing quickly and offers a unique spin. This app is very ingrained with Facebook, and requires you to use your FB account to register. Once registered, you can listen to unlimited songs out of their huge catalog for six months, with radio style advertising every few songs. After six months, you are limited to ten hours a month, unless you upgrade to the premium service. There is also an emphasis on sharing your favorite songs and albums with your Facebook circle of friends.
What is Youtube doing on this list, you ask? Isn’t Youtube that site where you go to see all of those hilarious cat videos? Actually, it is also a fantastic way to listen to music! You can find a version of pretty much every song ever made on Youtube, often played live! In this smart phone era, concert footage will often be posted on the very night that it is performed. Also, if you ever wanted to check out a music video for a song, you will have far better luck finding it on Youtube than on MTV, which only shows reruns of Teen Mom and Jersey Shore. Believe it or not, many artists still take the time and effort to make videos when they release a single.
Note: Other popular sites like Last.Fm and Grooveshark were deliberately left off of this list because they are currently having copyright issues or have been forced to seriously cripple the user experience.
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I love Pandora. I listen to it all day at work!
Michelle recently posted..Do you take all of your vacation days?
I have about 6 Pandora stations that I bounce between, where I try to maintain a certain theme (folksy, hard-rockin’, chill, danceable, etc).
I haven’t seen any copywrite issues with Last.fm. I did see the security breach (passwords stolen), but that’s it. What’s the other news?
AverageJoe recently posted..Almost the Real Olympics, Only Not As Cool But Way Less Time Consuming
Last.FM actually falls into the “restricted” category, and doesn’t have any copyright issues (altho Grooveshark certainly does). The fact that last.FM only lets you listen to 30 second snippets of most of the songs in their database is a deal breaker for me.
I got it. That’s weird. I have the XBox app that I listen through and we hear all the songs.
AverageJoe recently posted..Almost the Real Olympics, Only Not As Cool But Way Less Time Consuming
Ah… You may be right. I was going from the experience on the website itself, and the last.fm applications may be better.
Pandora is my favorite! Its great to have running in the background when writing or working on school work.
Chase Miller
I like it in the background as well.. In fact, I am listening right now. Be sure to check out slacker sometime, I think it is just as good, if not better.
Another good one is iHeart Radio! Love it! You can pick music stations from all over and create your own station.
I have heard great things about iHeart Radio, and wanted to include it in this list– but wasn’t familiar enough. I believe that you can stream radio stations from other towns via the app, and many cities outside of the midwest actually do have better options.
Yes, you can listen to radio stations from all over. In addition you can hook it up to Xbox and your friends can download your music choices as well.
I love Pandora and use it quite often when I’m writing for the blog! I also LOVE Mumford and Sons!! I had no idea they were coming out with a new album…I hope it’s as good as the first!!
Jason @ WorkSaveLive recently posted..5 Reasons to Buy a Home in This Market
Music helps me concentrate as well.. And I often play it when I write as well.. I sometimes fall into patterns where I listen to only talk radio in the car, but I am actually in a much better mood when I listen to music instead.
Wow 100+ concerts? I thought I had been to a lot of concerts, but I’m probably under 50 total. I really need to bring my internet music source up to date. I’ve been using shoutcast radio for a long time, but thanks to your reminder I’ll give these a shot soon. Grrr…Pandora blocked me as a Canadian! Damn them!
Modest Money recently posted..Optimal Blog Keyword Research for SEO
Pandora blocks those outside of the US??.. drats, that is a bummer. Definitely give some of the other options a try. NPR has some fantastic albums streaming free RIGHT NOW, for example..
I gave slacker a try too and it was too laggy. So NPR gets a try before I go back to just using shoutcast.
Modest Money recently posted..Optimal Blog Keyword Research for SEO
Too laggy?.. I have never had that issue with Slacker. Are you using it on your laptop or cell phone?
Maybe my internet is just slow. I know they have better speeds down in the US. I assume the server is down there. The good thing about shoutcast is that it buffers ahead. So there is almost never any lag.
Modest Money recently posted..The Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #42
I love the app IHeartRadio! I prefer it over Pandora. I will also check out Google Play. I have an android so that would be perfect. YouTube is awesome for music vids!
From Shopping to Saving recently posted..Simple Financial Lessons – Breaking Bad Style
I need to give iHeart another look, without a doubt..
I enjoy Pandora at work. I am convinced that Pandora really thinks I like Hall and Oates. They show up in almost every play list I make (even when it doesn’t make sense). The thing is, I don’t like Hall and Oates that much.
I’m just curious how much longer most of these services will last. None of them really make any money. I just worry they will all end up like over the air radio, littered with more commercials than music per hour. Until that happens I will continue to enjoy them
That is a really good point, Brian. The profit model for these services is far from proven. I believe Pandora has lost a ton of its (perceived) company value since its public offering last year… This is another reason why I love the NPR site so much. I think that the artists are happy to have their music included there.
I keep forgetting about Pandora! I was just thinking about how I need new music but don’t want to pay for it. Thanks for the reminder!
Mackenzie recently posted..Lightbulbs Are For Wusses
Finding new music is one of my very favorite hobbies. Anybody have an recommendations?
I enjoy Pandora–it helps me find new music. I’ve been gettin iTunes gift cards so I enjoy finding the music on Pandora or YouTube in order to test it out first. This way I’m not buying something I am going to hate. I always end up with a billion stations of weird music because I can’t just switch stations. So even though I try to keep them to at least a theme, I’ll end up with some random items. (Christmas music being on every single play list is a little weird at times.)
You should always “try before you buy”, when it comes to pretty much everything. It sounds like a pretty nice system that you have for evaluating new music.
I love reading about new music apps. I do use slacker but have never here of the others. I will be checking out pandora for sure, it sounds great.
Crystal recently posted..More than just a mom
I love listening to Pandora because it not only lets you listen for free but also because it’s helped me learn new songs and bands that I now love. One way to get around the limited amount of skips on the free account is to set up multiple stations and switching to one of the others when you are out of skips.
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted..Simple Tips for Creating a Budget You Can Stick To
Good tip on the setting up multiple stations, Shannon, altho I read that Pandora might be soon switching the skip limit to apply to your entire account (and not just a station), if they haven’t already.
I too have discovered many new bands through Pandora.
Oh no, I guess it makes sense for them to do that though. Thanks for letting me know about that!
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted..Simple Tips for Creating a Budget You Can Stick To
Although it is not free, Rhapsody is amazing. I too was a big buyer of CDs and often bought around 5 a month. With Rhapsody I only pay $9.99 a month and have access to a huge catalog (still waiting for the Beatles). I have only purchased one CD in the past 5 or so years…and it is a totally legal way to listen to full albums on the cheap. The best part is that with the mobile app, I can listen to it anywhere. All of those those free services are great, but with Rhapsody you can hear so much more. And when you pair Rhapsody up with something like Tunebite you can burn that tangible CD as well.
I worry that with a paid service like Rhapsody that it would end up like Netflix and I would their database wouldn’t have a lot of the tunes that I was looking for. They only have contracts with certain record companies, right? That is why I stick to the freebies. I can’t be too disappointed by something that I get for free..
Yes you are correct. However that has only happened to me a few times. The main artist that is missing from their catalog is The Beatles. Take a look at it sometime. You can sample the service for free (30 seconds of every song).
Damn…I feel so technologically challenged.
I haven’t heard of half of these.
I gotta check some of these out.
Great post though, why pay for music when you can listen to it for FREE. Music artists will never be starving, even if they never sold a single CD. They still have all the marketing, ads, and concerts.
Eddie recently posted..Younger Men Prefer Mature Women
Great point, Eddie.. Concert tickets certainly haven’t gotten any cheaper.
I do like going to concerts still, when I can, because I know that the bulk of the money goes to the artists.
Some of my best memories in life are rocking out to music that I love, live in concert.
I’m totally with you on concerts, love going to them, but they can get pricey.
Eddie recently posted..Younger Men Prefer Mature Women
Pandora is my go to but I also enjoy Youtube. With Youtube can search for playlists by entering the artist or song followed by a comma and the term playlist, e.g. ‘black eyed peas, playlist’
Mr. Everyday Dollar recently posted..How To Live Longer By Retiring Early
I didn’t know about the youtube playlists, but that is an awesome features. I love the “recommendations” that come up after you watch a video, and have found some great stuff through those.
I like Pandora too — but I’ll have to give NPR music a try. The only thing I know about Spotify is the spam from my Facebook friends!
Kathleen @ Frugal Portland recently posted..Ask the Audience: Fincon 2012
kathleen,
you are right.. spotify can be a little bit spammy. to be honest, i don’t care what all of my friends are listening to at any given moment. if you hear a great cd or a great new band, do share it with me.. but i don’t need to hear EVERYTHING you listen to.
Love that you are fans of Mumford and sons and passion pit. I find myself listening to AWOLNATION radio on Pandora lately
Sean @ One Smart Dollar recently posted..Beginner’s Guide to Finance – Credit
AWOLNation is awesome.. good call. And I love to find people with similar music tastes. Have you heard the new Passion Pit? I like it even better than their first CD.
I personally use youtube only when I want to listen to one song or one singer over and over.
I listen to Pandora when I want a constant stream of music. I do really love Pandora, because it has constantly brought me new artists that I love, but didn’t know about.
Cassi recently posted..Should You Use Your 401K to Pay Off Debt?
You’re right, Cassi.. They both have a place. My favorite thing to do on youtube is to check out live performances of my favorite song. They have some amazing old U2 performances, for example.
I totally use Youtube when I’m at work and I need to listen to a song I’ve got stuck in my mind. I just minimize the window and pretend it’s a music player.
Mo’ Money Mo’ Houses recently posted..My New TV Obsession – The Young Apprentice
Youtube is blocked at my work, unfortunately. I wish it wasn’t. But for some reason they do leave slacker and NPR music open, which is probably why i use those the most.
I love Pandora! I won’t be surprised if either Facebook or Apple acquires Pandora. It’s algorithm is amazing.
Shilpan recently posted..5 Life Lessons for Wealth and Happiness From Ben Franklin
i bet you are right.. especially as their stock price continues to suffer.. they really do have a nice selection of music on there for people of all tastes and preferences..
Sweet I’m definitely going to check out some of these, thanks for mentioning google play, my fiancee and I were just talking about what we’re going to do with all of our music this morning – it’s taking up way too much space!
Jordann @ My Alternate Life recently posted..I’m An Idiot
google play is great.. i have been using it recently to go back through my old favorites and give bands a listen that i haven’t played in years… just this morning, i was listening to “travis” who used to be one of my favorites.
I’m a huge pandora fan so I haven’t heard of google play. Sounds awesome! Thanks for this list. I try to stay away from buying music though… so pandora will probably still be my go-to place for music.
20′s Finances recently posted..Business Start-up Considerations
I’m fussy with my listening too. I dislike the radio because of the lack of variety. My only issue with Pandora is that they only tend to play 10 or 12 of the same bands on a station.
I have liked accuradio though. They are more like a radio station, but have a large volume of stations so that it’s micro focused. I usually get a lot that I’ve heard and like mixed in with stuff I haven’t heard.
I like NPR music too, but I usually just listen on the radio. Maybe I should subscribe to the podcast. Youtube is really good too. I use that when I need to hear some music at work.
Joe @ Retire By 40 recently posted..Book Review: The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
I do use YouTube, especially at work. I haven’t tried any of the internet radio sites yet, though maybe I should. It seems like the selection is better than I had thought!
CF recently posted..FedEx lost my present
The boyfriend could sit around and watch music videos on youtube all day! He pulls it up whenever we’re cleaning. I’m big into Padora, but I may have to check out Slacker and NPR Music, now.
femmefrugality recently posted..The Year of the Class-Action Law Suit
Mumford and Sons is awesome! I can’t wait for the new album. I STILL buy CD’s, but now I use Pandora to do most of my screening. I’ll have to check out these others. I’ve got a few of my own MP3′s coming up in a post in a few weeks.
My Money Design recently posted..What are Mutual Funds and How Do I Invest in Them?
I listen to 8tracks.com. They operate under a radio license, so you don’t know exactly what you’re going to hear, but all of the (user-created) playlists have tags and will usually mention a few of the artists in the description. I love it, plus it works in Canada for those of us who are Pandora-disabled.
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted..Gift Basket for a Wedding Shower
As others have said, Pandora is amazing. I’ve created close to 20 stations and just hit the “shuffle” button. Incredible.
I use spotify all the times, and when I am in a mood to listen to a specific son, I switch on to youtube. Sotify has nicest quality. Great list!
SB @ One Cent At A Time recently posted..The Dangers of Going Without Home Insurance
I’ve heard or used of all of them EXCEPT NPR Music – but I do love me some NPR, so I’ll definitely be taking your suggestion and checking it out!
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