Top ten music downloads

It can be a challenge to find new music, but the Internet provides helpful options in your search. An easy way to find music downloads is through friends and family suggesting their favorite picks.

Here are some popular sites to freshen up your music library:

		(1)  SPOTIFY – Spotify is a newcomer to the music arena, for the United States at least. It’s like iTunes but with streaming capabilities. The company recently signed a deal with Facebook, allowing you to instantly share songs you listen to with friends. Access to its vast library is free but comes with limitations. Subscribing for $3.99 or $4.99 per month gets you features like more of their catalog, disabling ads, listening to music on a mobile device and even saving it for later. While the free version grounds you to a deskto or laptop, it does the job for those wanting to listen before they buy.
		(2)  PANDORA RADIO – Type in an artist or song and options related to your choice start to play. Also has a “thumbs up/down” option to repeat tracks or dismiss them. An easy-to-use website, its variety makes it popular with listeners.
		(3)  GROOVE SHARK – Partnering up with indie sites allows it to stream new up-and-coming artists at no cost. Incorporating a social aspect allows you to follow other users. Equipped with a “Pandora-ish” radio feature.
		(4)  SLACKER (RADIO) – Plans are available at $3.99 and $4.99 per month to eliminate ads and gain features like unlimited skip and file saving. Has an impressively diverse library compared to competitors, however the web interface can be a little overwhelming.
		(5)  SOUND CLOUD – While catering to the underdogs, itss specialty lies more in a music blog forum for new and upcoming artists. Comment and read feedback from other users on songs or upload a track or two.
		(6) MUSIC ROAMER – Just like TuneGlue, it does offer some extras that make it a bit easier.  After giving you a web of artists, it will then give you a preview of their songs right on the site. Some of the songs are live versions from YouTube. It also gives you a link to purchase the song in the Amazon MP3 store.  MusicRoamer is not limited to similar artists, as it will also show you similar songs to the one you search with.
		(7) LAST.FM – It takes note of everything you listen to and it “scrobble’s” your music. The information is put on your profile and then gives you recommendations based on what you listen to. it allows you to interact with users with the same type of musical taste.
		(8) TUNE GLUE – Introducing a new and easy way to discover artists that are similar to your favorites. Type in an artist, hit the “search’ button, and you will see a web of artists that are similar. You can even get similar artists to the ones they recommended to you, so you could end up with a long list of new artists to listen to.
		(9) YOU TUBE – A few artists on the Top 100 Billboard charts were discovered on YouTube. One thing that makes it great is the fact that you can listen to an entire song without having to pay a penny. The site is most useful for artists that are trying to get their name out there because it is such a large platform and it costs them nothing to upload their music.
		(10) MY SPACE – An oldie but a goodie, they were the “it” place to be on the Internet, pre-facebook, and now the only thing keeping them relevant is their music aspect. It is a great place for artists to post their songs so that users can add them to a playlist, download them, and even purchase them. Once you have listened to a song or placed it in a playlist, Myspace will give you suggestions based on the song(s).