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Recently, whenever I searched for something music related, one of the top few links was always Last.fm. When I first checked it out, I thought it was just another online radio station and much to my surprise, its much more. Its really a music network, kind of like Soulseek, only with a more graphic interface and the ability to quickly browse through loads of music. You download a client which tracks your listening habits on your preferred audio player and all that information is stored in your profile, almost like Flickr but for music. You can also use the client to search for music relating to a particular tag.

The clean and simple interface and pace of connection meannt I easily went from Radiohead to Iron & Wine to Modest Mouse and The Shins and lots more. Admittedly its not exactly similar but if you like Radiohead, you might like the rest and if not, you can quickly skip a track. You can also click on a few buttons to add a tag to the track, recommend it, add it to your "Loved" tracks or fave tracks or ban the track and ensure you won't hear it again.

Once you've spent enought time at it, you would have built up your own profile which other people can check out and vice versa. The system also keeps track of like minded people and bands them together. This simply means you can find more people who also happen to listen to Tanzanian tribal electronica as well.

Its a good step forward from the old free to air radio stations that basically form playlists based on their own agendas. With Last.fm, you get to listen to what other people listen to and decide whether its for you or not.

I just wish it was integrated into my audio player instead of being standalone but its a cool way to find stuff you haven't heard or simply have a radio station which is highly eclectic but fits perfectly with you.