Here is the list of top 10 popular online music websites. Over a hundred years ago, musical recordings were made on cylinders and records by such companies as Edison and Columbia. They were very expensive and the machines on which they were played were heavy and difficult to move. The sound quality was also primitive, resulting in scratches and static.
How things have changed since then!
Technology has developed at a rapid pace. Stereo cassettes, followed by digital recording, resulted in higher-quality sound, and the playing machines have become lighter and more portable. You do not even have to make purchases of music in order to be able to listen to them—you can get them for free from various websites, including the ten described below. Users can set up accounts at any one of them.
1. YouTube
This is the number-one music site on the Web. Here—and at others described here as well—users can put together playlists, which they can make public or private. They can also make comments on the videos and “like” them on Facebook and Twitter.
Only users with an account can upload their own videos. YouTube bars users who are under the age of eighteen from accessing videos that have offensive content.
2. Grooveshark
Unlike YouTube, which is a general video website, Grooveshark is devoted entirely to music. In addition to playlists, the user can arrange songs into a queue. Grooveshark also regularly holds surveys on various things (beer, cigarettes, shopping, television and movies, &c.), which users can take part in and gain points, which can be redeemed for an upgraded account—the upgrade is only temporary, however.
3. MySpace
In 2009 MySpace acquired Imeem, which had up until then been an independent music streaming website. Four years later MySpace itself underwent improvement, with the new site having the URL new.myspace.com.
Here you just type in what you are searching for immediately—no need to click on any bar—and each time you log in, the last song you listen to will be up in its place on the playlist or queue that you put it on.
4. Bearshare
With Bearshare you download software from the website. Once you do, you have access to over two millions songs, all legal and free. Recently, they have simplified their layout so that users can search for music and videos more easily.
Users can also listen to pre-assembled playlists containing music of a particular genre or mood—in the latter category are “sad songs,” “happy songs,” “love songs,” “sexy songs” and “relaxing music.” You can also get lists of the top songs on the latest charts.
5. Azlyrics.com
A website dedicated to providing complete song lyrics from all genres that is routinely updated and screened for errors. One of the oldest and largest lyrics databases online. You can submit lyrics of your own to AZ Lyrics and make corrections to any that you feel are incorrect. If you do not find the lyrics to the song you are looking for, you can make a request for them.
6. Pandora
Unlike YouTube, Grooveshark and Myspace, Pandora is essentially an “automated music recommendation service, a site where the music is played by the DJ and users can indicate that they like or dislike it; the DJs then take that vote into account when they choose their future songs.
A song that gets the “thumbs down” while playing will immediately stop. If the same user gives the same song the thumbs down two times in a row, then that song will be banned from future play. Pandora is available only in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
7. Xbox Music (URL xbox.com/Music)
Xbox gives its users a “rich visual experience” that makes finding one’s favorite music easier. It is also one of the biggest online music catalogs anywhere. Its most attractive feature is something called Xbox Music Pass, which can be used to sync the user’s collection across all of his devices—PC, smartphone and tablet—as well as to skip over any songs being played on the Xbox radio that he does not like. Xbox Music Pass is offered for a free thirty-day trial.
8. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a service that allows users to create, upload and share sounds of all kinds. These sounds can then be embedded across social networking sites and blogs. They can be uploaded to a site with a URL of its own and are distributed by means of apps and widgets that users can place on their own websites and blogs.
9. 977 Music
Our last music streaming site is thirteen years old and was established as an alternative to “terrestrial radio,” where signals are transmitted at frequencies that are noticeably less than that of visible light. It is supported by Livio’s Car Internet Radio Service.
10. Spotify
Spotify is one of the best website for all free music online right now with over a million songs available for you to listen to whenever you want and as many times as you want. They have huge collection of songs from artists you’ve heard of and want to listen to.
What about you? Which Online Music Websites do you use to listen songs online for free? Share your Online Music Websites via comments below.
