In this lab, our group was asked to go find several sources of free music downloads and streaming music providers. Here is a write-up of what all we found:
Free Music Streaming
Last.FM (offered World music)
Pandora (offered World Music)
Napster Radio (offered World music)
Grooveshark (offered World music)
Music India Online (offered World music)
Maqam (offered World music)
MyMusicStream
Audiolizer
AOL Music
FlyTunes
Sources for free, legal music downloads
Last.FM
PureVolume
Amazon
MP3.com
Hype Machine
BeeMP3
Downloads for iPod Touch
B.o.B - Airplanes: I Hope Your Ears Bleed (through Hype Machine)
3OH!3 - Don't Trust Me: Last.fm
Hot Hot Heat - Goddess on the Prairie: MP3.com
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher than the Stars: Last.fm
Usher- OMG: Vacay Wave (through Hype Machine)
The Ready Set - Sweetest Girl: PureVolume
Overall Finding free Legal MP3's online is fairly simple although finding specific artists and songs is much more difficult. Free MP3's are more for someone interested in searching for new types of music they have not heard before rather than trying to get music from a particular artist that they already listen to.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lab Exercise #10
Overall Finding free Legal MP3's online is fairly simple although finding specific artists and songs is much more difficult. Free MP3's are more for someone interested in searching for new types of music they have not heard before rather than trying to get music from a particular artist that they already listen to.
Lab #6 Multichannel Media
Our group set up a survey via Surveymonkey to get a sample of Texas A&M students' TV viewing habits. We gathered over 100 submissions using Facebook and email lists as our means of recruiting people. The results seemed very consistent with what we expected in terms of the hours people watched per day, what time of day, and how they watch their TV.
Cable was by far the most frequently used source, but streaming TV online was a pretty strong second. Especially with the crazy and inconsistent schedule of a college kid, streaming tv provides full shows whenever it is convenient for you. 
Cable was by far the most frequently used source, but streaming TV online was a pretty strong second. Especially with the crazy and inconsistent schedule of a college kid, streaming tv provides full shows whenever it is convenient for you.
Apparently watching at home is the only way to go. Some people chose to watch it elsewhere, but 97% is a pretty safe majority.
These results were pretty across the board which supports why TV needs to offer a variety of channels that provide a strong diverse spectrum of information and entertainment.
Most people watch from 1-2 hours a day, but there is a strong bell curve represented in the chart. Ultimately, TV is still watched regularly but doesn't consume the heart of people's lives like it used to.
Again, a bell curve showing the trend towards evening viewing. From the results and factoring in a typical college student's schedule, TV viewing is a pasttime people use after school and work before bed or nighttime activities.
Our last question was "How important is TV watching to your daily schedule?" We tried to find out how vital TV was to college students and see how dependent their lives were on that form of media. Surprisingly, not a lot of people really have a passion for TV.
All in all, the results were pretty consistent with our thoughts on how college students viewed TV. The only real surprise was the amount of people doing streaming video as opposed to cable TV.
All in all, the results were pretty consistent with our thoughts on how college students viewed TV. The only real surprise was the amount of people doing streaming video as opposed to cable TV.
Webcasting and Mobile Music
This lab is set up to show how the two main online radio services, Pandora and LastFM, relate various artists from various genres to other recommendations within that genre.
Pandora
What we found was that Pandora seems to be better at giving you more songs from the artist you actually requested and more recommendations that fit closely to your artist's genre. If you register with Pandora, you are allowed to save your radio stations for later use and listen to more songs without the interruption of pop-ups. Some other features that Pandora offers are lyrics and quick links to buy the music you hear on Pandora.
LastFM
As for last.fm, without being a member, the service it provides is not up to that of Pandora. The radio for an artist is plagued with similar artists and songs (sometimes) but almost never plays songs from the actual artist you requested. If you register with Last.fm though, its features far outweight those of Pandora. Last.fm has a "scrobble" feature that allows you to sync up your personal media player with your last.fm profile. This enables more accurate artist recommendations, an accurate radio player with just your music, and allows last.fm to recommend local shows and concerts.
For the casual listener, Pandora is the better website with it's ease of use and accurate recommendations. For the music junkie, last.fm offers more information about music, tours, album releases and has a very strong community network setup to run similar to that of other networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.
Listed below are a collection of artists that we tested with both sites to see what recommendations the two sites gave us:
MXPX - Punk
A Christian punk rock band from Bremerton, Washington. The band recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles. Their sound has gone though many stages, though still has roots of punk, and now they're compared to the likes of bands like New Found Glory and Hawk Nelson (both associated acts) with more of a pop punk sound.
Pandora
MXPX - Under Lock and Key
Green Day - Westbound Sign
New Found Glory - Listen to Your Friends
Blink-182 - Mutt
MXPX - One Step Closer to Life
LastFM
MXPX - Invitation to Understanding
No Use For A Name - Life Size Mirror
Zebrahead - Falling Apart
Autopilot Off - Missing the Innocence
Fenix TX - All My Fault
Drake - Rap
Aubrey “Drake” Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Grammy award nominated Canadian actor, rapper and singer signed to Universal Motown. So far in his much hyped music career he has released three mixtapes, 2006’s Room for Improvement, 2007’s Comeback Season and 2009’s critically acclaimed So Far Gone, which is considered one of the best mixtapes of 2009. He has just finished recording his major label debut, Thank Me Later, which will be released 15th June, 2010. The album will also feature confirmed appearances from Jay-Z, The-Dream, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, T.I., Swizz Beatz, Nicki Minaj and Young Jeezy.
Pandora
Forever - Drake
Nothin' On You - B.o.B
Money to Blow - Birdman
Lollipop - Lil' Wayne (Remix)
Fear - Drake
LastFM
Damn Thing - Wiz Khalifa
Service With a Smile - B.o.B
Lollipop - Lil' Wayne
The Potential - Tyga
Paris, Tokyo - Lupe Fiasco
Spice Girls - Pop
Maidenhead, United Kingdom (1994 – 2001, 2007 – 2008) Spice Girls were in an English girl group, formed in 1994 and primarily successful between the summer of 1996 and the fall of 2000. As a five-piece, the Spice Girls became the best selling and most successful girl group of all time, releasing two multi-platinum albums, “Spice” and “Spiceworld”, scoring six consecutive UK #1 hits (9#1 hits and one #2 hit in a total of 10 singles), and appearing in their own motion picture, video game, Pepsi, Polaroid and Impulse commercials as well as grossing millions of dollars in band merchandising alone. Estimated combined album sales are 65 million copies worldwide.
Pandora
2 Become 1 - Spice Girls
Crazy - Britney Spears
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morsette
No Scrubs - TLC
Spice Up Your Life - Spice Girls
LastFM
Who do You Think You - Spice Girls
Two in a Million - S Club 7
What Took You So Long - Emma Bunton
A Mind of it's Own - Victoria Beckham
Sound of the Underground - Girls Aloud
Beyonce - R&B
An American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. Born and raised in Houston, Texas. Beyonce rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child. During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Beyonce released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love (2003) and later after the bands disbandment (2005), two more very successful albums (B-Day in 2006 & I am...Sasha Fierce in 2008).
Pandora
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys
Lose My Breath - Destiny Child
Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
Upgrade You - Beyonce
LastFM
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Work - Kelly Rowland
Hurt - Christina Aguilera
Obessessed - Mariah Carey
Taylor Swift - Country
An American country pop singer and songwriter born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She released her debut single “Tim McGraw”, then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, in 2006. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless.
Pandora
Today Was a Fairytale - Taylor Swift
So Small - Carrie Underwood
Bubbly - Colbie Caillet
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
I Heart? - Taylor Swift
LastFM
Today Was A Fairytale - Taylor Swift
7 Things - Miley Cyrus
Hello World - Lady Antebellum
Zingara 'nnammurata - Gloriana
I Wonder - Kellie Pickler
Def Leppard - Rock
Def Leppard is an English rock band from Sheffield, who formed in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Largely on the strength of their albums Pyromania and Hysteria, Def Leppard became one of the top-selling rock bands throughout the 1980s, selling over 65 million albums worldwide, including over 35 million in the United States alone.
Pandora
Pour Some Sugar on me - Def Leppard
Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen
Runaway - Bon Jovi
Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crue
Rock Rock (Till You Drop) - Def Leppard
LastFM
Now you're Gone - Whitesnake
When The Children Cry - White Lion
Smokin' In The Boys Room - Motley Crue
Dawn Incognito - Winger
Love Of A Lifetime - Firehouse
Pandora
What we found was that Pandora seems to be better at giving you more songs from the artist you actually requested and more recommendations that fit closely to your artist's genre. If you register with Pandora, you are allowed to save your radio stations for later use and listen to more songs without the interruption of pop-ups. Some other features that Pandora offers are lyrics and quick links to buy the music you hear on Pandora.
LastFM
As for last.fm, without being a member, the service it provides is not up to that of Pandora. The radio for an artist is plagued with similar artists and songs (sometimes) but almost never plays songs from the actual artist you requested. If you register with Last.fm though, its features far outweight those of Pandora. Last.fm has a "scrobble" feature that allows you to sync up your personal media player with your last.fm profile. This enables more accurate artist recommendations, an accurate radio player with just your music, and allows last.fm to recommend local shows and concerts.
For the casual listener, Pandora is the better website with it's ease of use and accurate recommendations. For the music junkie, last.fm offers more information about music, tours, album releases and has a very strong community network setup to run similar to that of other networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.
Listed below are a collection of artists that we tested with both sites to see what recommendations the two sites gave us:
MXPX - Punk
A Christian punk rock band from Bremerton, Washington. The band recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles. Their sound has gone though many stages, though still has roots of punk, and now they're compared to the likes of bands like New Found Glory and Hawk Nelson (both associated acts) with more of a pop punk sound.
Pandora
MXPX - Under Lock and Key
Green Day - Westbound Sign
New Found Glory - Listen to Your Friends
Blink-182 - Mutt
MXPX - One Step Closer to Life
LastFM
MXPX - Invitation to Understanding
No Use For A Name - Life Size Mirror
Zebrahead - Falling Apart
Autopilot Off - Missing the Innocence
Fenix TX - All My Fault
Drake - Rap
Aubrey “Drake” Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Grammy award nominated Canadian actor, rapper and singer signed to Universal Motown. So far in his much hyped music career he has released three mixtapes, 2006’s Room for Improvement, 2007’s Comeback Season and 2009’s critically acclaimed So Far Gone, which is considered one of the best mixtapes of 2009. He has just finished recording his major label debut, Thank Me Later, which will be released 15th June, 2010. The album will also feature confirmed appearances from Jay-Z, The-Dream, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, T.I., Swizz Beatz, Nicki Minaj and Young Jeezy.
Pandora
Forever - Drake
Nothin' On You - B.o.B
Money to Blow - Birdman
Lollipop - Lil' Wayne (Remix)
Fear - Drake
LastFM
Damn Thing - Wiz Khalifa
Service With a Smile - B.o.B
Lollipop - Lil' Wayne
The Potential - Tyga
Paris, Tokyo - Lupe Fiasco
Spice Girls - Pop
Maidenhead, United Kingdom (1994 – 2001, 2007 – 2008) Spice Girls were in an English girl group, formed in 1994 and primarily successful between the summer of 1996 and the fall of 2000. As a five-piece, the Spice Girls became the best selling and most successful girl group of all time, releasing two multi-platinum albums, “Spice” and “Spiceworld”, scoring six consecutive UK #1 hits (9#1 hits and one #2 hit in a total of 10 singles), and appearing in their own motion picture, video game, Pepsi, Polaroid and Impulse commercials as well as grossing millions of dollars in band merchandising alone. Estimated combined album sales are 65 million copies worldwide.
Pandora
2 Become 1 - Spice Girls
Crazy - Britney Spears
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morsette
No Scrubs - TLC
Spice Up Your Life - Spice Girls
LastFM
Who do You Think You - Spice Girls
Two in a Million - S Club 7
What Took You So Long - Emma Bunton
A Mind of it's Own - Victoria Beckham
Sound of the Underground - Girls Aloud
Beyonce - R&B
An American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. Born and raised in Houston, Texas. Beyonce rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child. During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Beyonce released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love (2003) and later after the bands disbandment (2005), two more very successful albums (B-Day in 2006 & I am...Sasha Fierce in 2008).
Pandora
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys
Lose My Breath - Destiny Child
Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
Upgrade You - Beyonce
LastFM
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Work - Kelly Rowland
Hurt - Christina Aguilera
Obessessed - Mariah Carey
Taylor Swift - Country
An American country pop singer and songwriter born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She released her debut single “Tim McGraw”, then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, in 2006. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless.
Pandora
Today Was a Fairytale - Taylor Swift
So Small - Carrie Underwood
Bubbly - Colbie Caillet
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
I Heart? - Taylor Swift
LastFM
Today Was A Fairytale - Taylor Swift
7 Things - Miley Cyrus
Hello World - Lady Antebellum
Zingara 'nnammurata - Gloriana
I Wonder - Kellie Pickler
Def Leppard - Rock
Def Leppard is an English rock band from Sheffield, who formed in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Largely on the strength of their albums Pyromania and Hysteria, Def Leppard became one of the top-selling rock bands throughout the 1980s, selling over 65 million albums worldwide, including over 35 million in the United States alone.
Pandora
Pour Some Sugar on me - Def Leppard
Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen
Runaway - Bon Jovi
Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crue
Rock Rock (Till You Drop) - Def Leppard
LastFM
Now you're Gone - Whitesnake
When The Children Cry - White Lion
Smokin' In The Boys Room - Motley Crue
Dawn Incognito - Winger
Love Of A Lifetime - Firehouse
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