Streaming music apps personalized for your tastes
In Canada, we still don’t have access to popular music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, but there are some alternatives to streaming music personalized to you from your smartphone or tablet. Slacker Radio (slacker. com/ios, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, webos
This is one of the most wellknown apps for music streaming and you can use the Basic service for free. The sheer amount of music is huge, and you can create personalized radio stations based on a genre or artist.
The free basic plan limits you to six song skips per hour, and you’ll also have to listen to ads here and there. Pay $3.99 per month, and you get some perks, including no ads.
Jango Radio (www.jango.com/)
IOS, Android It may not be quite as popular, but Jango is a true gem. It’s free to use, has no ads and you can stream music from your own created stations. Choose an artist, and Jango will create a station based on similar artists. You can customize how wide the spectrum goes in terms of number of artists and songs, so as to avoid any repetition. Between popular artists, the app will throw in indie artists as well.
Soundtracker Radio (www. soundtracker.fm/app/ home) IOS, Android, Windows Phone
Very similar in concept to Jango, Soundtracker lets you choose an artist and then have a station automatically created for you. You can see lyrics, bios and share what you’re listening to via social networking sites. Aside from your own created stations, you have the option of listening to those made by friends, or “trendy” and “suggested” stations that users have made public. Whatever you choose, there’s tons of music available to you here.
Audio galaxy (www. audiogalaxy.com/) IOS, Android, Blackberry,
Windows Phone What’s unique about Audiogalaxy is that it streams music you already own, rather than from the app itself. The key is that you can have your entire music library at your fingertips to stream on Wi-fi, 3G and even EDGE — and it’s all free. You’ll need to have the Audiogalaxy Helper installed on your computer so that it can stream your music collection to you. The caveat is that your computer needs to stay on in order to make this happen, but it is one smooth app.