Slacker also looked good, but again, it won't play outside the US >:(
THE MAN probably doesn't like it.

da5id_nz

If you live outside the US, you can't get access to some sites like Pandora :(

--

Dear Pandora Visitor,

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S.

I think I read somewhere that there was a similar situation with last.fm

da5id_nz

My favorites are,

PandoraFM, a Pandora last.fm mashup
Last.fm
Jango, new site but really good in my opinion.

mechj

If you're interested in just listening to highly recommended new tunes, rather than relying on social networks or complex algorithms to tell you what you'll like, check out NPR's online music show, All Songs Considered: [www.npr.org] and Critical Metrics [criticalmetrics.com]

The former is styled as a radio show, with an introduction to each song by the host, often with guest playlists or "anticipated summer albums" shows. Not all of the music is new, but most of it will be new to you. There's a podcast, but it only includes clips of the songs - to hear the full songs, you have to stream it. Of course, if you feel comfortable ripping the streams, you can.

The latter gives you a list of buzzclips. It's a ranked list of songs that are currently getting lots of press from print and online reviewers. Although it tends to include more mainstream hits that you're likely to hear elsewhere, the music press is usually a bit friendlier to the non-radio friendly.

Also, for obscure, usually intelligent, funky, or up-and-coming artists, you can listen to live studio performances from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic: [www.kcrw.com] It was the first place that I heard a few great artists. In addition, some of the live performances carry more emotional weight than do the polished studio recordings. Brandi Carlisle's first appearance was stunning.

joelena

Last year I spent hours searching for free, legally downloadable Christmas music. I ended up finding a ton of it and I created a website, [freechristmasmusic.googlepages.com], with a list of all of it. The site also links to a Google custom search engine to search through all the sites.

I'm currently also maintaining a blog at [freechristmasmusic.blogspot.com] to highlight music that is linked to on the website.

I don't know if this comes across as "too early" to some people, but here in Canada we've already had Thanksgiving, and with Halloween over, Christmas is the next big holiday. Besides, whether or not you get started on your Christmas shopping early, you can at least get a headstart on finding some cool Christmas music to listen to (and believe me, some of the songs you'll find in those links are quite unique). :)

jeff.c.taylor

For more detailed information on how to find free music online (as well as tricks such as using Google and Delicious to find free mp3s), check out Mahalo's guide to [mahalo.com] - How to Download Free Music!

andy2001

Project Playlist is nice, if quasi-legal.

[www.projectplaylist.com]

HeartBurnKid

I could not live without [somafm.com]

The Groove Salad channel is an essential tool for getting me thru the day.

coomar

I'm addicted to Pandora and Seeqpod.

@archipod:
Just so you know, you CAN download from Seeqpod, all you have to do is type in the URL of the song, it's listed right underneath the search results.

morganlh85

another good one is www.pandora.com. its a little bit different but the interface is pretty cool. you can make all these playlists and you just type in a artist you like and it finds other artists who sound simliar or play a similar type of music. its a great way to discover new bands/artists.

tygerfan

Tagged to:read; I will sit down and go through this next week.

My library had a crush of kids last January coming in with their shiny new Christmas mp3 players and their emusic.com 50-free-song coupons and their pissed-off parents who wondered why they needed to set up a montly-billing account to get the free music, so I put together a flyer of sources for free and clean mp3 downloads. It's past time to update that flyer, and these comments look like a good place to start. Thanks, guys; keep 'em coming!

lyndyn

If you like seeqpod but want to remove any of that legal uncertainty, Jaseeq is a little program that does the same thing (search the web for playable mp3s) but lets you download them!

archipod

My favorites - and I should say up front that they're almost entirely live music (concerts) only -

[bt.etree.org] (always legal)
[www.thetradersden.org] (audio and video)
[www.dimeadozen.org] (mostly legal)
[www.cotapers.org]
[www.archive.org]

ross.m

I've gotten hooked on slacker.com in the last month or so. I like the fact that you don't need to register, which is something that bothers me about pandora (although maybe i am mistaken about that requirement). Have something play right through the browser without having to launch a separate player is also very nice.
I am not sure how slacker plans on making money, so i am not sure how long it will last. They have talked about selling a hardware DAP, but that is likely going to be tough sledding against the iPod hegemony.

yagameister

if you know what you're looking for, skreemr is the bomb!

TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM

[finetune.com]

[www.vtuner.com]

[www.tropicalglen.com]

SciotoSurfer

I'd like to call out archive.org as well. They have a massive collection of music. I've only used the Live Music Archive which isn't much help if you don't like live music. That said, the music they provide is both completely free and completely legal. Additionally, they support several formats (both lossless and lossy), including Ogg Vorbis if free formats are important to you.

burgerearl

As far as streaming I have been quite impressed with Yahoo music. The ability to build your radio station is quite nice, you rate it and it plays it. It does a decent job of playing a mix of rated and unrated artists/songs/albums.
The free one does have brief ads and a limited number of songs skips. But the pay version (like $40/annual) adds a bunch of other features including a play on demand program you can download.

But the radiostation player works straight in an internet explorer window.

DocGratis

I feel like a sellout for saying this, but I've really enjoyed yahoo's Launchcast. Its treated me well for the past year. Although, it'll cost you 5 bucks a month if you don't want to hear the same commercials over and over again.

mw2006

[www.pandora.com] has everything I need. They also just added FaceBook integration.

Steve

I had been looking for a way around the irritation of my college campus blocking torrents and P2P for some time. But then I found that one site is all you need: esnips. It's a file hosting website but has an incredible number of user-uploaded MP3s. You can listen online and with a free account can download the track too. There are download bandwidth limits but as long as you're not trying to rapidly expand your library then you should be good to go.

I know it's not listening online but AlbumBase is also a good option if you're looking for complete albums. Registration is free. Only downside is that since it primarily uses MegaUpload and RapidShare you often bump up against bandwidth or time restrictions on your download.

Basically, esnips saved my life. I can finally download music again!

TwistedLogic

Some of my faves: [www.archive.org], [www.soundpedia.com], [www.radioblogclub.com] and [www.musicovery.com]

fushark

I don't know about legal, but www.seeqpod.com scours the internet for live music files and has a player to play them. Not necessarily downloading illegally either

k3n85

My favorites are [di.fm] and [sky.fm] .

Equis

imeem.com is definitely a favorite of mine. You can search and listen to full version as well as post it to social networking site. There is also an option to buy the song (via iTunes and Amazon) if you really like the artist/song.

I really miss singingfish. That was a great site.

spoofhack

Yahoo runs their own free music search/download site. It's here. You use it by typing the song you want into the box and clicking the white button next to it. At the search listing, click the down arrow to the right of the listing you want to download (be sure to not the file format). You'll get a pop-up, right-click the URL in the pop-up and "Save Target As" or whatever yours says.

jamar0303

Gyggs.com recently opened Tarabu.com's full catalog (500k tracks from the big four record companies) for online listening, and allows you to make, save and share your playlists. Interface is in spanish, sign-up required.

DiegoVH