While in Edmonton, I discussed with my friend David Jurewicz the prospect of creating a customized Internet radio station as a means to share our favorite music with others. I did some research and discovered Live365 and Yahoo's LAUNCHcast.
Live365 costs a minimum of $10/month and requires (or allows, depending on your point of view) you to upload your content. LAUNCHcast is available in free (ad-supported) and premium ($3/month) versions, and provides all content for you. It uses a Netflix-style rating system to allow you to specify the genres, artists, albums and songs you like, then selects music that fits your preferences. This is a quick and easy way to create a custom station -- you don't have to spend time ripping and uploading music, and you get to hear music you may not already own -- but it affords you less control over programming (LAUNCHcast doesn't have several of my favorite artists and albums in its library).
You may sample my LAUNCHcast station here; it leans heavily toward jazz (primarily bop, fusion and Latin), with a touch of trance/atmospheric. Let me know what you think!
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