How To Be Awesome: Music

Actually, this should probably be titled "How To Be Cheap." In these times, you've got to prioritize where you get your entertainment and art. I don't know about you, but I can't drop a sack of cash on vinyl all the time, especially when I'm funemployed. (also, Beware: whenever someone uses the phrase "in these times" you can pretty much guarantee that the ensuing argument might be full of crap. I hope that I do not disappoint.) So without any further delay, I bring you...

Ways to get music that are cheap and also not going to get you in a buttload of trouble.

Online Streaming with ads
There are a few different sites out there that stream music to your computer or "mobile device." These sites tend to be favorites if you happen to work anywhere with an internet connection in your immediate vicinity. Basically, if you work at a desk, you'll probably end up using Pandora or Last.fm at some point in your career.

Pandora is pretty spiffy. If you don't know, Pandora queries for a song name or artist, and then finds other songs that are similar to that song or artist. Once you have an account, you can create and save your own "stations" of these artist-driven playlists. You can also "add variety" to the station by linking other artists to it. I've got a "jakethejake radio" station that consists of various artists from various genres (alt rock, singer-songwriter, folk, and techno/electronica) The one downside to Pandora is that if you want to listen for more than 40 hours a month, you'll need to pay for more listening. Bummer.

Last.fm is another great music streaming site (and in my opinion, a little bit stronger than Pandora, for a couple reasons). Like Pandora, you stream music that is paid by ads, and you search for an artists and get a playlist back with similar artists. What's more awesome about Last.fm is that you can install a scrobbler on your computer that will upload info about the music you're listening to in iTunes or on your iPod. Those scrobbles are then added to your profile on Last.fm and can be used to build an online station that essentially mirrors your station on your home computer. If you want to have your whole iTunes library with you, you can essentially get it at any computer if you've scrobbled enough tracks.

Traditional Radio
Yeah, right.

I'm kidding, sort of. The biggest trouble here is finding a station that really seems to get you. Because it's pretty common for a station to play about three songs that you really enjoy and then play about ten minutes straight of advertisements. Sure, that's what makes it free, but you'd think they could get a better ratio of ads and music in there, you know?

Your own iTunes
If you do things right, you can discover new music (and old music) that's right under your nose. In the iTunes Store, you can get up to three free tracks every week (Single of the Week, Discovery Download, and the Single of the Week for iTunes Latino) I've got my GTD task manager set up to remind me to raid the store for free stuff on Tuesdays. It's free, so grab it!

I've also made spiffy Smart Playlists that use playcount and last played info to pull songs together. A lot of people will fill their iTunes libraries with music, but actually don't listen to all of it, which seems awful silly to me.

Using playcounts, you can create some smart playlists that consist entirely of songs that you've never listened to before, so that way you are guaranteed to hear something new every time you click play. You can also set up a playlist of songs that have only been played a few times, so you can find some of your more obscure tracks.

Last Played data is probably the most fun to mess with, since you can create really great "Marathon" playlists. In November 2008, I decided that I shouldn't buy any more music until I had listened to everything in my iTunes library. So I made a smart playlist with the rules to include tracks that had a Last Played date before November 1st, 2008. Enable live updating, and your playlist will grow smaller the longer you listen to different tracks from your library. It took about a month to power through 3200 songs. I'm currently working on a similar feat, but over the summer, so there's less of a rush.

I've also used the Last Played data to make a "Fresh" playlist, where each song in the list has not been played in the last 30 days. This list is limited to 100 tracks, just so it isn't a huge list to manage. While iTunes playlists aren't technically free (you should be paying for your music) you can really make your investment appreciate if you listen to your tracks. A great track for $0.99 that's played 100 times is pretty cheap.

With all of these different options in music, it's likely you'll find a free (or free enough) option that works for you.