Two quick things in the music world today:
1. Billy Joel’s radio station on Last.fm. The artist stations play music that’s similar to the artists, and the Last.fm stations do a great job at this. Sometimes they do the job too well to the point where you get tired of the artists after awhile. Not the case with the Billy Joel station. I’ve been listening to the station for most of the day, and I’ve been surprised with the variety. All of the music is upbeat and catchy, which I like, but the artists do it in different ways. Looking at some recently played artists, I see Neil Diamond, James Taylor, Elton John, Styx, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Toto, and Journey. Quite a few of these do repeat, of course, but it’s the variety of artists. No, they’re not that far off, but the artists are different enough that listening won’t bore you for a few hours. You may hear a few familiar songs. I know I did, thanks to my dad’s musical tastes.
2. Grooveshark. It’s a website that lets you listen on demand. I tried it out this afternoon to listen to a few albums I hadn’t heard yet when Last.fm’s scrobbling was down, and after figuring out how to navigate a new site, I was very impressed. The only thing I found difficult at first was making sure not to add a song or album to my queue more than once or in the wrong order. Grooveshark doesn’t have a checklist or an easy way (that I’ve found, anyway) to add an entire album instead of the artist’s entire discography. As soon as I figure out how to scrobble from Grooveshark to Last.fm, I’ll be set.