Looking for a good website for music listening? Well, here.

By Molly Ploughman

     With the unveiling of the iPad and other devices that utilize our nation’s growing dependency on internet bandwidth, music listening platforms have migrated from second-hand record stores and bits of plastic to a variety of music-sharing websites. Here are some of the best (and free!) online music listening sites:

NPR Music (music.npr.org)- This web site was set up in November 2007 to present public radio music and original editorial content to the public in hopes of music discovery. Privately and publicly funded, NPR Music offers podcats, live concerts, reviews, music lists, news, studio sessions and interviews to stream and listen to and various print articles to read. Their more popular blog, “All Songs Considered,” often provides sneak previews of full-length albums before their release dates. Users can create a “playlist” of live concert archives, unreleased album tracks, or podcasts to listen to at will.

Pandora Radio (pandora.com) - Pandora is an automated music recommendation service, product of the music genome project that aims to "capture the essence of music at the fundamental level" by using a complex mathematical method to organize and describe songs. Users go to the website, search for an artist, genre or song of preference and a radio station of sorts is created, consisting of music that is similar to the user’s search. Pandora has grown in popularity when mobile versions of their music player became available.

Last.fm (last.fm)- Last.fm, launched in UK in 2002, has gained its popular status for being both a social networking and a music listening website. The sit uses a music recommendation service similar to Pandora Radio, seeing as how users can build their own radio stations. But unlike Pandora and other custom internet radio stations, Last.fm allows user to build an intricate profile, equipped with access to forums, groups, and more. The site tracks which artists you listen to and how often, and organizes your music taste in handy charts and tables. Users can upload information from their own music libraries and sync it with the play counts from the website. However, the site is somewhat difficult to navigate, and at times can be a bit complex for listeners who are looking just to hear a song or two.