Jango.com, Free Custom Radio Station

A fellow blogger by the name of Keith, click here for his site, invited me to beta test a new program called Jango. How this works is you select an artist you want to hear and the program automatically creates a radio station that has most if not all songs by that artist. What you can do then is add artists to the same radio station and edit the station name to make it more compatibale with the content you have stored.

This site is really cool. I currently created a bunch of stations (90s, alternative, classic rock, and rap) and you get to hear a wide of songs from the artists you select for your station (not just the hits). If you're too lazy to download music to your iTunes this could easily solve your problem.

Some features of the program:

1. You can select whether you want to hear a wide variety from the artist, hit songs, or somewhere in between. I personally always choose the wide variety, but some peole fall into the "greatest hits" category which means they might be more likely to choose the "hit songs" selection. If you're a fan of just hit songs by a certain band or artist this gives you the opportunity to discover other songs by them as well.

2. You have the ability to rename any station you want. I know I mentioned this already, but this allows you to basically create your own personal little satellite radio for your computer and have it only play songs that you want to hear. Its like having free XM or Sirius radio for your computer except better.

3. When you search for an artist to add it also lists a bunch of artists that are in the same category. The cool thing about this is that you might see a band that you've never heard of and end up listening to some of their music because it falls in the same category as the band you like. Who doesn't want to know about more good music that is out there?

4. Rating system. If you dislike a song that appears on your station, give it a low rating and it won't play nearly as often. The same goes for the opposite. If you love a song, give it a high rating and you'll hear it more often. Pretty good filtration system.

5. The one thing I'm not a huge fan of is that Jango will play (although very little) some of their recommendatiosn on your station. The thing I like about Jango is that you basically get to customize your own personal radio and this feature takes a way from that a little. However, the more artists you add to a station the less often they play recommendations so you can easily prevent this feature from occurring.

This is still in beta form so I'm sure there are some kinks to be worked out, but this has potential to be a HUGE site and I think it deserves that kind of attention. I'm actually able to invite three individuals to test the program so if you're interested comment here or shoot me an e-mail. Not to sound like John Reese, but this is not an affiliate program. I DO NOT get paid to invite people. I am just very excited about the potential of this program and want as many music lovers as possible to experience Jango.

If you're already a tester of the program let me know what you think of it.