I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ CDs (or Mp3s Either)

What if there was a radio station that played exactly what you wanted to hear at all times and without commercials. Would you ever need to own your own music? I’ve just been asking myself that question and I’m pretty much concluding, “No, I wouldn’t.” And the reason I’ve been asking it is that I’ve just discovered a new music web site, www.imeem.com. Earlier this week, I saw a news article about imeem as being the first music website that has agreements with all the major music labels. Understand that it is NOT a free download site, but you can stream just about any song from any PC with an internet connection.

After a simple free registration (name, age, gender, email*, etc. - no address, no phone number), you’re connected. Search on an artist or song and you are presented with search results with info about the song and clickable links to play it. You can create unlimited playlists to organize your music for next time, and you also will be shown the playlists of others that include that song. You can mark “favorites,” including individual songs or those playlists. Understand that you are not accessing the computers of others, just their lists at imeem. I have already found a couple of great Smooth Jazz and Classical playlists that have tons of great songs. Since my taste in these is apparently the same as the people who created those playlists, I have a ready made way to just hit play and have dozens of songs I like play consecutively. The fact really is that I'm not knowledgeable enough in either of these categories to even create my own list anyway. As the old expression goes, "I just know what I like."

Imeem is a “social networking” music site, so you can also develop a "friends list" and communicate and share music titles.

So back to my original question. Since 99+% of my music listening is in my office (I prefer sports and talk radio on the road), I really don’t think I do need to “own” music anymore. And unless you love listening to music in the car or otherwise “on the go,” you may not either. And even "on the go," music listening may move in this direction with the proliferation of wireless broadband internet connections.

Check it out at www.imeem.com. :-) Bob


* - Whenever I sign up for a web site, I use a separate free email address (I use yahoo), as I don't think it’s generally wise to give out you primary email address when you sign up for anything online. I check my yahoo email pretty much daily anyway.

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