On a recent ramble about the web I came across these music sites. They aren’t all exactly music players, but they offer the ability to play music as a part of their function. Well, I can report that in most cases. A couple of them were so offensive that I didn’t get far enough to find out for sure. So here’s a quick sampling of music sites, rated on a sliding scale from zero to, well, I never got to ten.
I’ll tell you what I found; but first I’ll tell you what I think: Nothing is as good as do-it-yourself. You should really learn to make your own music. If you can’t sing, play. If you can’t play, learn. Yes you can learn. Play a didgeridoo, or a nose-flute, or learn to pat Juba and play yourself. But I guess we all need some time away from our intense efforts to improve ourselves. I can accept music related sites as not-the-worst way to spend your time off.
So here it is, on a sliding scale from zero to as good as it gets.
If this site is a commercial effort by precocious grade-school children, I applaud them. If perpetrated on adults by adults, please stop.
The site offers nothing, as near as I can tell. You pick a “mood” button, and some sound comes forth. I picked “positive” and a raucous thumping sound resulted. It was not music, but rather a loosely organized noise of some kind. The sound was said to emanate from Cypress Hill, a location I’m not familiar with.
For free that’s what you get, whatever they give you. A “premium” account will cost you four usd per month. The price, along with the my-little-pony color scheme, supports the infant entrepreneur theory. I suppose it could be a third-world entry into the music marketplace. I understand a dollar stretches more in some countries other than the good ol’ USA. I wasn’t dedicated enough to find out if they want the four bucks through pay-pal or they require your bank account number to process through a trustworthy family-owned Nigerian financial institution.
I rate it zero of whatever units you choose. It isn’t worth the time of day you’d spend there.
I’ll never know what this site is like. They require registration to even try it. That means personal information including a credit card number. They say they won’t take your money if you aren’t happy. Right. Is anybody really going to fall for that? I hope not.
Another zero on my scale. It violates a fundamental principal of online business, and insults the intelligence to boot.
Now yahoo! music is a creepy place. See that CBS logo? You will if you look around. Remember last.fm? Scary stuff. And then there’s the association with Rhapsody, already described above as spooky. This site seems to be designed not by children but by disturbed adolescents. You can feel it in the video game look. But these kids have learned their economics, that’s clear. You can’t twitch your cursor without being given an opportunity to buy something. I tried to listen to their radio service. I reached my three commercial personal limit before ever hearing a note. I can’t recommend it to anyone, with the possible exception of compulsive spenders. If your day is made brighter by every chance to make a purchase, you might love yahoo! music. I bet they love you back, too.
I can’t rate it for music, for I never heard any. I’ll give them half-a-whatever for glossy content.
While I was peering about the web looking for music sites I saw this one. I thought it would be a good idea to go see 
what was being done to uplift the future. Nothing. Nothing at all. Featured track was Stanky Legg, by the G-Spot Boyz. The first word of that “song”, oft repeated, is “Bitch”. Is that what you want your little girl listening to? Most prominently glare the faces of various ganstas. There are divas with questionable values and behaviors displayed. I don’t know if you can hear music. I deplore ignorant vulgarity. I don’t enjoy being stared at rudely by criminal types. And I find attitude a poor substitute for intellect, so I left.
Zero whatevers for them. They have nothing of value to offer anyone.
Not for me. And I was one of those that wanted my mtv, back before they forgot about all the other genres of music. They have a radio thing, along with a lot of other stuff. I tried the radio and got, guess what? Rhapsody. We already talked about that. Keep it away from me, please. Everything else there is just, well, about what you’d expect. Nothing too offensive. Nothing great either. They have a link to a place where there is supposed to be breaking news. But it was a slow news day when I was there. There is an activist link. All kind of non-confrontational and let’s-just-all-get-along. It’s ok I guess. I won’t go back. But then I’ll never forgive them for letting me down when I wanted to see and hear music videos not listen to rude thumping noises combined with raucous vocalizations and ignorant profanity. Not that I have anything against profanity. I love profanity. I just don’t like ignorant profanity. But there’s nothing offensive up-front on their site.
So I’ll give them one-quarter of a whatever for showing up.
There’s something that creeps me out a little bit here too. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe the way their logo reminds you of Real Player. Spooky. But you can find stuff here. I usually search for Little Feat to test a site out. That will show if they are making an honest effort or not. Rhapsody is. I found lots of albums. They even had Down On The Farm, and that is uplifting music for sure. You could play or buy. They didn’t make you register or hand over your critical personal information up front. But there’s that back-of-the-neck hackle raising sense of something wrong. This just in, a developing flap over Real Player, Rhapsody, and Badware. Stay tuned to this site for news.
I’ll give Rhapsody.com one-and-one-half whatevers for having Little Feat. But I don’t trust them any further than my Delete button.
But while I was at teenmusic.com I saw several prominent banners for Radio Disney. Well, though I, I’ll find something wholesome for the future generations there, likely. It’s Disney, you know, puppies and good fairies and talking animals of all kinds. But, oh my, the first thing they do is play video with sound without permission. That’s a big no-no. You know what kind of score they are going to get already. But I tried. If you can forgive them for sound up front, which I can’t, there’s nothing too terrible going on there. It’s a Jonas Brothers and Hanna Montana playground. You can seek events in your area. In the Valley Of Death, where I live, it’s Bike Month, according to them. I was presented a list of venues where I could bike and meet others of my kind. I’m too crotchety to ride a bike, and there aren’t any others of my kind. So I wont go. But that’s hardly Disney’s fault. In summary, you can listen to songs for free at Radio Disney. There are worse places for your kids to hang out. I’m trying hard to approve of them. So let’s see what I can do.
For playing out loud on page open, negative six. For having non-criminal content directed at children, eight whatevers. [( 8 + (-6)) = 2] So two whatevers for Radio Disney.
Free napster has a nice earth-friendly, kinda bio-degradable look and feel to it. I like it. But then what’s not to like about Napster, eh? File sharing is surely one of the most beneficial and least harmful activities that we humans engage in. Pity the authorities and several whining over-payed “artists” lack this vision. Side note: I bought more cd’s during the uncontrolled napster era than I ever did before or have since. Why can’t they see that those who want to buy music, will, and those who want to skim it somehow, will find a way?
Moving on, free.napster is a simple site where you can listen to some songs and sign up for not-free napster if you want to. The only catch is the commercial, which was a single harmless white castle hamburger add when I was there. Not too bad.
I give them three whatevers for keeping it simple.
This place is for real. I don’t know how modern they get. I didn’t check. I haven’t heard much worthwhile out of the new groups. Not lately, anyway. The last worthwhile thing I heard was Everlast, What It’s Like. And that wasn’t even in this century. I shout at the TV sometimes, at some pontificating, self-righ
teous son of a perverted preacher, asking, if a bunch of half-reformed hip-hoppers can understand reality, why can’t they, that claim to have seen the light? Sorry. I apologize for the long sentence, but not for the sentiment. Anyway, at live music archive, you may find something you want, unless you are an intellectually paralyzed modern pop seeker. But those probably won’t have made it this far, anyway. Too many words between the beginning and this point.
So for making real music available for those that may care, I give them five whatevers. And that’s a good score.
I might have found something somewhat cool here. I’m not sure what to call the flavor of the focus. You tell me, if you have the time. I’m interested. You can listen or download mp3’s. The only snag is the commercial that runs when you open the player. But that’s to be expected and wasn’t terribly intrusive. One was for whole foods and the other a chance to win an ipod touch if you join up. I passed on both, but I’ve seen worse. Much worse. Under fringe benefits, you can save ten to twenty percent when you shop 
participating merchants in that locale and online. By and large I found myself mildly pleased with the site. I won’t spend time there, as I don’t have the time to spend, being busy with life. But if a person is determined to spend their time listening to music online, kcrw is not such a bad place to be. You might develop a new interest and possibly expand a horizon or something. I mean, they have The Blind Boys of Alabama right out there on the front page. You don’t see that every day. Or ever, really.
For having The Blind Boys of Alabama, I give them five whatevers. Adding an extra point for not offending me, which is quite an accomplishment for a website, they wind up with a rating of six whatevers, and that’s about as good as it gets.
You might want to stay tuned. Even if you do take my advice and develop your own musical talents, you can only practice the nose-flute so many hours a day without being afflicted with a condition, one would think. While poking about the web on this pursuit, I saw some stuff worthy of future attention. Next time you take a break from your didjeridoo, you might want to check back here for the latest squawk.
Joe Brooks
/MusicPlayer.me Contributor
Popularity: 94% [?]
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
