iTunesday: Freestreaming Audible Goodness.

If you're anything like me, sometimes you just want a curated musical experience and don't want to have to pick a new song every few minutes or a different disc every forty. (Silence, however, is never acceptable.) When that's the case, I have a tendency to turn to some of my favorite streaming audio sources, which I thought I'd share as part of this week's iTunesday installment, as quality streaming music is the gift that perpetually gives.

1. Groove Salad
Probably my single, unwavering favorite that has supplied me with great chill trax for at least the last 5 years, would be Groove Salad, with the fab byline "A nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves." Somehow surviving the Great Internet Radio Fee Hike of 2007, which killed off a great number of small broadcasters (support the Internet Radio Equality Act!), Groove Salad is only one of many offerings by Soma FM, with other great stations like Secret Agent ("The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life."), Drone Zone ("Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats."), and Indie Pop Rocks ("New and favorite classic indie pop tracks."). Groove Salad is wonderfully served right in your iTunes, playable by the links above or looking in the Radio section, under Ambient.

2. Pandora
Yes, it's been around for a little while, but I'm only recently getting into Pandora. Strictly regulated by the new radio rules above, it still provides a pretty cool experience. Getting started is easy, just list a musical artist you'd like the station to replicate, then prune its musical knowledge by thumbs-upping or thumbs-downing suggestions as the station plays them. The overall station algorithm is adjusted based on what kind of songs and artists you like or dislike. For instance, my "Chilltime" station was seeded with Zero 7, Massive Attack, Feist and Sia. Make different stations for different moods!

3. Muxtape
Probably the "hottest" thing happening in the viral web music space right now is Muxtape, bringing back the simplicity and nostalgia behind the mixtape. There's not much to it, upload up to 12 tracks, reorder, and share your mix. Or, just browse through other people's mixes by clicking any of the colored boxes on the main page. It works well on the iPhone. Don't worry, M4A/AAC support is coming soon. If you're really adventurous, there's a supercool mashup/hack that lets you browse muxtapes using Coverflow (see also). Gawker recommends "Fucking Rad for hard rockers, Catbird for cynics, and Too Much Nick is pretty much all future Apple ad songs." Check out the Mattsign Muxtape I made for just for this post.

4. DJ Jonny Moirée
You should already know about this fantastic gem from my iTunesday posting from the other week, so go read that posting for the full details on DJ Jonny Moirée. My peeps have been telling me that they're loving the built-in flash player for each set. (Ahem, DJ Jonny, you'll have to add the missing tracks!) Great for at-work listening or good workout mixes for the iPod.

5. AOL Radio
This service was a whole lot cooler prior to May 1, when you could access a great majority of XM Radio stations for free. Sadly, that contract expired, but there are still a few fun stations left on AOL Radio, like '90s Pop, Relax Trax, Pop Remixes, and Spinner Radio. Download the Mac player and use an AIM account to sign-in to the free goodness. Big XM fan? Use the AOL discount to purchase a cheap account. Sad it doesn't stream to your Aiport Express via AirTunes? Check out Airfoil in #7 below...

6. Zak.fm
Considering I'm pretty much obsessed with Zach Klein (in a professional / webgeek sense), stumbling across his mini radio station Zak.fm was just too cool not to share. From what I gather, it's just a mashup of stuff that he listens to in iTunes, scrobbled by Last.fm, and then hacked together using the technology of the Hype Machine (see #7 below). However his musical voodoo magic works, I love that it's just a simple instantiation of Zach's musical taste, for any and all to enjoy -- without any work, subscription or download. He states that "people enjoy the reduction of choice, but only if they continue to derive some value from the resulting decision. In otherwords, People don’t need what’s best for them, just what’s good enough." Some good discussion about new music discovery ensued, including this great post about the economics of music, choice and the business model. Anyway, just load the website and listen. Maybe a Mattsign radio station in the near future? ;)

7. Other Musical Tidbits...

• For immediate gratification hearing that song you thought of in the elevator, try Hype Machine or Seeqpod.
• Need to stream non-iTunes musical goodness to your Airport Express or Apple TV setup? Try Airfoil, which kicks ass.
• Last.fm: Honestly, I don't use it and I'm still not sure what it's useful for (to me, at least). It's a powerhouse in the industry, got sold to CBS for $280M cash, so I feel obligated to mention it. Leave some comments and let me know if and how you utilize it.
• NPR: I don't really do news outside of Macrumors. But other people do.
• Podcasts: Duh.

// photo: flattop341