Free music: Using Internet radio

Websites like yahoo.com offer radio services that put millions of free songs a few mouse clicks away. Yahoo radio access is free, and although that does mean that there are occasional commercials, the interruptions are minimal. The stations are classified by genre, and each plays songs randomly according to the genre selected. The neatest feature of the Yahoo radio is that you can use your Yahoo account to create your own radio station. Here’s how it all works.

Start by going to yahoo.com and scroll down the list of Yahoo features to where it says “music.” After clicking on the “music” link, you will need to log in. At the top of the screen, click on the “sign in” link, and enter your Yahoo ID. If you have a Yahoo email address, then that counts as your Yahoo ID. If you do not have a registered account with Yahoo, click on the “sign up” option and follow the simple steps. It only takes a minute and it’s free. After registering and signing in, at the top of the screen, find where it says “LAUNCHcast Radio” and click on it.

At this point you can either begin to design your own station or pick one of the existing genre stations. To get to the existing stations, scroll down to the stations. Click on any of the genres to see the stations offered. Soft Rock or 1980’s Hair Bands? You will see that each genre has a wide variety of more specific stations, totaling more than 300 stations in all. From there you can click on different stations at your own leisure. In the unlikely case that you can’t find a genre that suits you, you can also use the search option at the top of the screen to find individual artists. Most artists have their own stations that play their music and other singers like them.

Creating your own station is just as easy as picking a station. After logging onto Yahoo radio for the first time, the homepage will ask you about your musical preferences and create a station based on your responses. After creating your basic station, you can further customize it by rating songs as your listen to them. Whether you are listening to your own station or a Yahoo station, as each song plays you can rate the song, artist, and album on a scale from “never play again” to “can’t get enough.” Whatever ratings you give are automatically saved to further customize your own station. Anytime you want to listen to your station, simply click on your own station after logging in.

Internet radio gives you free access to millions of songs, and can make the time you spend on your computer much more enjoyable. Most of your favorite free-to-air radio stations will also have an online streaming version which you can access from their website. Have at it!