For years I have been listening to internet radio stations across the globe to fit my personal listening preferances, and escape all the commercials on my local FM radio. I bumped into Last.fm a couple of months ago and I have not turned back since.

Last.fm – the social music revolution (Last.fm About Us). You type in an arist or genre you like and Last.fm will play you music you should like. Based on your previous playlist, as well as playlists of people who have listened to the same song as you it finds your tracks. Last.fm is nicely intergrated into iTunes and other mediaplayers and will register the music you play there and feed that information into Last.fm – Scrobbling.

Screenshot of player window.

As I read of Wi-Fi radio slowly making its way into the consumer world, I do hope that Last.fm will jump on that bandwagon and find some way for me to listen to Last.fm on the fly. (A cellphone/mobile java-app would work – especially when wi-fi telephones become more affordable.)
Partially what I would be looking for, although a heavy workaround: Streaming Last.fm to Reciva internet radios (Logik IR100)

Critical Metrics monitors recommendations from various musical “authorities” such as magazines, bloggers, music tv networks and newspapers etc. And generates neatly a serious list of some of the latest good music out there.

They include samples for most of their recommended music, as well as where you can buy the song. You can listen to the songs individually or as part of a playlist.

(Via LifeHacker)

Via del.icio.us I came across a guide on installing: JACK, Ardour & Hydrogen on a mac. I was not quite sure what each of the applications were but quickly found out at their respective websites; Jack Audio Connection kit, Hydrogen a Drum Machine and Ardour Digital Audio Workstation.
Jack basically lets you connect the programs Hydrogen and Ardour together.
The above guide seems slightly aged, so do checkout the individual application websites before trusting the guide blindly. (It seems like you can possibly download pre-compiled binaries.)

Above picture from Hydrogen (Source: LinuxAudio guide)

Above picture from Ardour (looks slightly similar to ProTools interface. Source: LinuxAudio guide)

These applications probably don’t compete aggressively with applications like ProTools, SoundTrack or other fast track professional apps. However when you take into account money, Jack Ardour and Hydrogen appear to be worthy candidates. For an online web application alternative there is JamGlue.

I was recommended Amie St. (Amie Street) for my next web music purchases, and it does sound cool. Songs are a lot cheaper than what I am used to, and I thought this must be something good. But before signing up, I’d have to check out their selection. There songs are DRM free, that sounds even more tempting, not that I have had any trouble with DRM protected material, YET.

So whats the drawback, when they offer songs almost free? It’s all indie music, a lot of user submitted music. That’s great for a number of people, but it means you have to wade through a lot of music before you perhaps find what you are really looking for.  I am still going to give Amie St. the benefit of the doubt, and they do seem to have a niche, when it comes to indie music. However, if I need to purchase anything mainstream, I’m going to stay with iTMS, even though it may be a little more expensive.

Off topic: 

Lastly here is a comical ad from Motorola (perhaps not completely worksafe), I think this sums up the dangers of cameraphones in 30 seconds.

Click here to view the embedded video.