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Streaming Radio

• I listen to LAUNCHcast Radio via Yahoo Music (my parents have SBC DSL so I got a secondary account through them). There are no commericals and yes, it rocks my world. I downloaded Yahoo Messenger to have immediate access to my Yahoo streaming radio. If I like a particular song, I buy it on iTunes and upload it to my iPod so that I can listen to it ad nauseum. In the last six months, I have only downloaded five songs.
• In college, I used iTunes and listened to music through the network. I also used MyTunesRedux.
• Essential mix on BBC radio one is good. I like dance music so streaming mixes are good.
• I have been a Napster subscriber for more than a year. I recently upgraded to Napster Premium. I share napster with my sister, who lives in LA (I'm in Palo Alto). I love this subscription model, esp. because I listen to music on multiple machines (work/home/parents house). I don't believe anyone who says they want to buy music. They're just wrong; they don't know what they want. I want to listen to any track on any PC/stereo without having to waste the HD space or time downloading. "Buy only" tracks piss me off; I just don't listen to those bands out of sheer principle. Yahoo music comes in about $3 cheaper per month, but I've already configured my music library on napster so I don't really want to switch. Features/compatibility is still sufficiently important that I guess I'm not yet sensitive to price. I still listen to KEXP online because the DJs are much better than napster's crappy and repetitive "radio" stations.
• Automated recommendations are not enough. How would the conversation go? "Guys, check out this band, 15% of users FooBarRecommendations.com say they're cool!" No, you just sound like a tool. Instead it's "Guys, check out this band, John Richards (DJ of KEXP) is jocking them hard right now and they sound cool." So I'm a trend whore, I admit, but I remain steadfast in my belief that critics imbue art with value far more than recommendation services.
• When I am at work, I typically turn on Pandora.com or Last.fm to stream music that fits with my tastes and to discover new artists. When I am commuting I listen to my ipod and when I am at home I typically listen to the radio.
• I pay for XM and I get to stream most of the stations for free with XM Radio online.
• I rarely listen to streaming audio because of connection problems. It's my problem, really, but the websites don't offer solutions either.
• I sometimes use the Pandora.com / Last.fm mashup to listen to music.
• I listen to Pandora all the time. I've bought several new albums by obscure artists that I would otherwise never have discovered.
• I've tried them all, but haven't been thrilled with any so far. I would be willing to pay for WOXY, but I don't want to afford ten bucks a month.
• I listen to streaming music on cbcradio3.com (All new Canadian Indie music).
• I listen to streaming music in my office at work via iTunes radio. We (the designers) usually listen to Indy Pop Rocks or Radio Paradise. Also good are RadioDavidByrne.com and the local St. Louis Public Station, KDHX.
• I've used pandora.com, somafm.com, and used to listen to BBC 1xtra while travelling. I'm especially fond of Pandora.com for introducing me to lots of new artists and music that I otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to experience.
• Pandora. Pandora. Pandora. I subscribed to Sirius for a year but the repetition, poor technology and expense killed the fun. The cancellation of my membership coincided with Pandora's debut so that is no mere coincidence. I have yet to buy an iPod I instead use my PMD/Phone with miniSD and my PSP to play what I like. Recently this has become insufficient (2GB just doesn't cut my >100GB music collection at home) for my aural desires so I'll likely break down and pick up an iPod Video before long despite my antipodean sentiments of Apple culture.
• If not NPR, I check out this page for pretty much any streaming radio station anywhere. Handy and works through the firewall at work.

I buy music

• I buy from Dell's MusicMatch store, but they don't have a great selection. I have a Digital Jukebox now which is only compatible with MusicMatch, though, so it makes sense. I also buy four or five CDs a year -- usually albums I'm really anticipating and want to hold onto.
• I buy from MSN Music, about 4 soungs a month. I generally buy stuff spur of the moment when I hear a song that I want to listen to.
• I buy from iTunes, maybe 4-5 songs per month
• AllofMP3.com has songs for about 20 cents each, but it's not clear if this is is legal or not
• On the off chance that I buy a CD, i DO NOT want to go through any experience like the debacle that Sony just started up -- I DON'T want to have to install any software on my computer to listen to the CD, or be limited on my ability to burn that song to another CD.
• I hate the fact that iTunes charges a flat 99 cent fee regardless of how long the song is. That's why I use allofmp3.com- you pay per megabyte, which is much more fair. A 45 second interlude shouldn't cost the same as a ten-minute song.
• I have both an emusic.com account and a Yahoo Unlimited subscription. Emusic gives me 40 songs/month for $10. They have a very nice range of smaller/independant bands and offer songs in unrestricted drm-free mp3 format at a very high quality. Yahoo gives me everything else. It does use pretty constricting DRM, but for $5/month, I don't mind.
• I do not download music unless I pay for it. I prefered buying CD's until I bought a Sony made CD and I couldnt upload it onto my ipod. I will not buy a CD that I can't upload (in a legal manner) onto a mp3 player of my choice.
• Most young people don't buy CDs anymore, you're way out of date if you do, they share it, buy it from allofmp3.com or download it. But most won't admit that in public.
• The only reason that I buy music from allofmp3.com is that their selection is huge and sometimes you can't even find the music on amazon or other sites. Or if you are looking for more European mixes, which are rare in the States.
• I still buy CD's from the bands I really like. They still sound a lot better to me than most mp3's that you pay to download, and if you buy a CD the week it comes out, it's usually on sale for as cheap or cheaper than you can buy it online. Plus, you can make whatever bitrate or file format you want from the actual CD.
• My one hit wonders come from iTunes, but for the most of my purchases, I'll buy the CD. Of course, I'll sample the music at the store before I buy, unless it is a trusted artist of mine.
• The only CDs I've bought in the last 3 years (at least 15 CDs for myself, a few more for others) I've heard by downloading or streaming the music, or samples on websites. I don't pay for music I've never heard. Would you buy a car no one would let you drive?
• The only CDs I've bought since college are foreign-language music -- with the exception of flea market $1 CDs here and there.
• I don't buy music online because I refuse to pay for low bit-rates and DRM. When I buy CD's I buy them used at a fraction of the cost at Half.com.
• I buy music after I've downloaded the album and listened to it for a month or so. If I'm still listening to it regularly, I buy it. In the last two years or so, that's resulted in maybe 30-40 album purchases. I will buy the CD on Amazon unless the price is over 11 bucks, then I will buy it on iTunes.
• I buy music, typically directly from indie labels. zunior.com is a great resource for drm free mp3s. I HATE drm with a passion and will NEVER buy a cd from Sony.
• I buy CDs that both myself and my spouse enjoy. I also only buy the CD if I'm sure I'm going to like the whole thing. It's silly to spend $17 for one song. The music gets copied onto my mp3 player, and then he takes the CD. We can both enjoy it without the hassle.
• I buy cds on occasion, but only after I've checked out the artist by grabbing some of their mp3s off of allofmp3.com or through more illegal means.
• I buy cds, rip them to mp3, then give them away or sell them on ebay. I done this with my whole cd collection.
• I buy music (mostly at amazon.com) and then rip the cds with cdex and then import them into iTunes. I use iTunes to listen to music on my pc and download them to my iPod.
• I buy music from amazon, Best Buy, or local independent music stores or used cd stores. I usually rip the CDs and burn them to share with friends or to make mixes for my car. I only listen to CDs in my car and upload most of my music to my MP3 Player.
• I buy music from Amazon, used CD stores or from shops when I travel out of the country. I rip almost all of them and keep them for the most part. I share the CDs with friends of course.

I download music

• iTunes is too expensive. Napster was ok, but there was a lot of crappy songs with bad quality. Now people use LimeWire and Emule and stuff, but they are sometimes unreliable.
• I enjoy watching music videos on Yahoo Launch. I like the fact that it's fee, offers lot's of choices, and recommends new videos/music I like.
• It seems like the whole download thing is about rich people self-righteously denouncing free downloads and poor/cheap people justifying stealing/sharing music online. I fall into the second category, so let me justify myself. I know that bands make virtually no money off of cd sales. I haven't bought a cd in years and I know very few of my friends that are in bands that have done so either. We all get music for free online. Ares is ok. Direct transfers over AIM is better if your friends have the latest songs. If I like a band and want to support them I go to their shows and maybe buy their merchandise. It's better for me, better for the bands, and not so good for the big companies that sell cds or create websites like iTunes.
• My favorite site to find new music is purevolume.com. It features signed and unsigned bands, is easy to search, lets you download a few songs (or portions thereof) and gives you info like their tour dates, etc.
• I like recommendations. For example, I know that Songspy used to have something where they would recommend bands that you might like based off of the songs that you have recently downloaded or added to some kind of "I like these bands tell me more like them" list.
• The few times I downloaded music I used iTunes but I am often disappointed by the lack of choices.
• As a college student, with not a lot of money, what I have seen and done is the "buddy download", where you take your laptop or your 2GB USB drive to your buddy and fill it with tunes you don't have. We don't use much of CDR or CDRWs because that's a waste and takes too long.
• I fell for an add on Napster that told me I would have access to over a million songs for $14.99 a month. They told me that I had a 7day trial period and within the first two days I had downloaded 4 or 5 different albums on my computer. When it came to time for downloading the songs onto my Ipod, i was informed that my ipod wasn't compatible with the Napster program. I tried callign Napster but offcourse they are only available btwn 8am and 6pm Mon- Fri when I'm at work and don't have time to wait 20min(due to the call volume) to cancel. So finally I get around to it a wk later and they tell me tht the songs are downloadable to my computer but not transferable to any other programs. WTF? Why would I want songs sitting aroung on my laptop? So I tell the man to cancel and he offers me $15 worth of songs that I can download to my ipod as an attempt to keep me with the program.....yeah fucker! gimme those 15songs and keep charging me $14.99 for the rest of the year for shit I dont need! So finally he cancels it but since I was on the program the day before, they charged me the first months fees and wouldnt reverse them. Can you believe that? Sorry this is so long but I had to share.
• I download music once in a while, and I do feel guilty about it, but I don't stop. Usually I'll download a track or two from an MP3 blog and then I will look into buying it. I feel fewer qualms downloading music from Top 40 artists, especially those who don't sell singles on iTunes or a similar online store and force consumers to buy the entire album to hear one song. If I wanted that, I would just buy a CD!
• Usually every day.
• I download music when I only want one track. I'm not going to buy Gershwin collection just for Raphsody in Blue. Notice I say I "download" rather than I "buy music online." I download because I get high or variable bit-rate files with no DRM.
• I download music in order to find out if the album is worth my money. I look at it like buying anything else - I want to try it out before I invest. Too many albums are full of filler. Pretty much all the time.
• I download music if there's only one or two songs on an album that I like. I do wish iTunes used a more universal file format. I can only put those songs on my iPod, which is irritating. For anything else, I have a friend who works at a radio station who gets them and emails them to me. I don't know where he gets them from, though.
• I download music every few weeks, through allofmp3.com (or other channels). I refuse to download DRM-wrapped music that I can't play on my iPod or easily shift between computers. My husband and I seem to go through a lot of computers (always upgrading and/or moving on), so I'd surpass the 5 computer limit that a lot of DRM software sets in a matter of 2 years. If I buy something, I buy it for life. That's why allofmp3.com rocks (it just needs better selection).
• I refused to buy anything with DRM. DRM is just a pain in the ass. Only place I have bought music online so far is bleep.com because they have no DRM. Their selection is a bit electic, though (mostly Warp and other small IDM labels).
• I haven't downloaded music since graduating from university but I used to download a ton of because it was either something I wanted to listen to before purchasing a CD, that was unavailable as a CD, or was some sort of exclusive copy (promo or otherwise) that had been leaked.
• I download about 50% of my music. Almost all of it is comprised of impossible to find OoP tracks, mixtapes, and imports. I refuse to pay 27$ for one or two songs. I use a pay service that organizes the downloads and makes them available for compression which helps considerably but it is definitely in a legal grey area which I am perfectly comfortable with. I still spend enough on CDs that I refuse to allow corporations to make me feel like a thief.

The Radio

• It seems the quality of music has fallen exponentially. The radio used to introduce the listener to new things, now it's merely an advertisement loop for artists who labels deem worthy od larger marketing budgets.
• The variety has fallen short as well. In 1992 a hip hop radio station played the entire range of the genre. From dance to thug, party to chill, intellectual to silly. Now there are 2 or 3 rap / rnb stations per market with about 10 - 15 artists who all work together or compete directly. No variety. No choice.
• I moved from the States abroad and now I stream my old radio station online. I love it!
• I subscribe to XM and SIRIUS satellite radio. Only thing I listen to terrestrial radio for is my local morning show on my morning commute. Otherwise it's satellite or iPod in my car. When I'm at home, I listen to digital music through my satellite TV provider. 15 minute terrestrial radio advertisement breaks SUCK! Why would I want to spend half of my commute listening to stupid commercials?
• I listen to XM only. I took a road trip from Texas to Colorado and XM was with me all the way. I would only listen to FM if, I was in a tunnel. Even then, I would just pop in a CD. Music stations on FM stink, and I don't like them.
• I bought a subscription to Sirius in December 2005, and I'm hooked. The commercial-free music, along with the uncensored talk radio and the sports programming, makes it well worth my entertainment dollar. If you've never listened to satellite radio, you're missing out.
• I only wake up to the Radio. Even then it's a French music station. It usually confuses me enough to wake me up.
• I listen to the radio all the time. I agree with others that there isn't as much new stuff as I'd like.
• I listen to the local AM talk radio program during the morning drive and Glenn Beck at night, but I never, ever listen to FM radio.
• I've grown to love talk radio as a change of pace from my iPod. In Chicago there's lots of good choices for alternative radio, with Q101 on shuffle leading the way. Brilliant idea - take your whole library of CD's and put them on shuffle and make it your radio programming. It's seriously sweet. College radio around here is decent too, and NPR has really quality programming.
• FM radio stinks. Zero variety and a huge influx of derrivative crap. Not to mention the extra long commercial breaks. I recently purchased a Sirius radio and love it. Commercial free music, any genre you want so you get the most variety you could imagine.
• FM radio is horrible, especially in small towns. We have 4 country stations, 1 rap station, 1 oldies, and 1 'pop' station, if you're into Brittany. Too many ads, too many contests, and not any variety at all. That's why I now have an MP3 player.
• Silence is preferable to FM radio. 1st choice is my own music (iPod), 2nd (distant) choice XM/Sirius.
• I never listen to the radio now that I have my iPod. If I did listen to the radio I would only listen to NPR.
• I think the quality of radio is atrocious. Uninteresting shows, too many ads, and the same seven songs every hour. Ever since I've had a car, I've listen to CDs instead of the radio. The only time I listen to the radio now is in between changing CDs. I would consider getting satellite radio in the near future thought.
• Living in a 'radio mecca' exposed me to new music weeks before it hit anywhere else, something I enjoyed. Then with all the station mergers (ClearChannel et al.) everything started sounding the same. Unless it's this tiny radio station out of my neighborhood that plays 20's - 40's band music I don't bother with conventional radio. When it comes to online radio I listen to webcast radio from my native country as well as the occasional check in with stations in London, Berlin and Stockholm.

I want this

• Free music, easy to get, good quality
• I want to be able to buy music directly from the artist, or with as little overhead possible. I am happy to spend money when I know it's going to support an artist whose music I particularly value. Concert tickets are a good example; I don't go to concerts that often, but when I do, I don't balk at the price for artists that I particularly like, since I know that a lot of that money will go to them (a lot goes to the producer and for production costs, but artists definitely make a lot of money from their concerts). While some might say artists are being greedy, I want my favorite artists to be rich: they deserve it, producing a product that is unique and very enjoyable.
• I want a good, compatible-with-many-programs/devices mp3 player that is NOT an iPod. I would like other companies besides Apple to come out with a viable competitor for those of us who don't like Mac and Apple products.
• Free music from obscure bands where the musicians profit the most. Think of Wikipedia and make it for music.
• A cross-platform music store!
• I like lists. Tell me the hottest unsigned bands, new songs from my favorite djs. What's popular in Rome, Bangkok and Mumbai right now. It's all about! Don't you know that that is why Google is taking over the world?
• Even though people ask for free music, we all realize (deep down) that that's not going to happen. Many of us are upset at the RIAA and their scare tactics, and want to support artists that we like without the RIAA taking their massive cut. In making an alternative to "stealing" music, it needs to be fast, easy, and cheap.
• Free music along with purchased music. I'll buy a couple songs if you give me an early listen to a couple you're working on. Artists know damn well some of their tracks are merely filler for the album. This is why the singles industry exists. It's rare to find entire albums that have any replay value. We've accepted this and no longer buy full albums.
• I want to be able to download all different kinds of music for a nominal fee.
• I want to be able to use music I buy for anything. I don't want any limitations on who I share it with, what players I play it on, or how many times I copy it around. The RIAA could get me to buy more music by being innovative and competitive. Instead, they try to use scare tactics and actually make their products more limited.
• When I buy a CD, this is what I do. 1. Tear CD open. 2. Insert CD into my Mac. 3. Rip cd to 192kbs MP3s. 4. Copy the new folder to my PC. 5. Enjoy music. Why do I do this? Because the Music Industry thinks I am a thief, so they inserted this copy protection which makes it almost impossible for my PC to rip music that I have already paid for. Thankfully, few if any, of their little tricks work on a Mac.
• An MP3 player that can live broadcast whatever I'm listening to, and everyone else too. I wonder what that guy on the subway is listening to sometimes. Sometimes people around me want to listen to my music too, and I have to hand over one of my earbuds. Just make the darn things able to wirelessly share music!
• I want to support the artists and I don't want restrictions on how I can then use that legally acquired music. I have purchased songs online from artists who allow free downloading of the song, to specifically support their actions.
• Cheap downloads ($.50 per song) at high bitrates (even better: high variable bit-rates) with no DRM.
• I want the ability to time-shift my radio listening without having to resort to casette tapes. I want a cheap, easy to use Tivo for radio.
• I want seamless, transparent wireless communication and synchronization between all of my devices so that I can watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, where I want to watch it and at the time that I choose to watch it.
• I want my media to follow me around and be instantly accessible anywhere that I happen to be.
• I want the RIAA to get their hands out of my pocket and their heads out of their asses.
• I want a cheap alternative to the CD that contains MP3 files in a variety of bitrates, including loss less, because once I rip my music from my CD, I never touch it again.
• I want a convenient way to preview an entire album - every track and not just 30 second snippets either. I want bands to release singles if that's all they've got. No reason for all the filler. I want to stop hearing Flea whine about his "sacred art" getting ripped off when they're releasing two hours worth of filler and asking people to buy it sound-unheard.
• I want more record labels and/or online stores to provide an option to purchase both the physical CD and drm free mp3s for direct download. Another thing I'd like to see is a shift in the market from focusing on the album, to focusing on the individual track. I think this would allow artists to release more material for a lower price. Eventually this would eliminate the need for DRM.
• Music downloads for free to 50 cents, in a file format I can play on my computer, my iPod, or burn to a CD. I want a few certain places on the internet where new bands can post their stuff for me to find. I want a discount if I download the whole album vs. just a couple of tracks.
• Death of DRM. No more copyright extensions--copyrights last too long as it is.

*Notice all the "I want's" on the page. I am the same. I download and pay for certain podcasts to listen when its convenient for me, whether driving, working out, at the office, etc., NOT when its broadcasted. I think its b/c us young ppl want control, and are using technology, whether TIVO, MP3 players, websites, etc. We are more willing to embrace change. And will use technology to to get what we want when we want it.

• A sensible 'Cash for Handguns' program for downloaded music. I pay some annual licensing fee and can continue to seek and find music as I can without threat of pointless prosecution. Technology that doesn't moralize -- I found the 'Don't Steal Music' sticky on iPods so objectionable I have yet to buy one.

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