Web of the week: Grooveshark

Grooveshark is... an online radio-station which allows you to create your own playlists and share them with the world!

You might remember that our last Web of the Week was Jango, a free online radio station. Well, why not look at an another similar service? Because, much like Jango, Grooveshark also allows you to be your very own DJ and choose the music for your personal radio station, totally free.

And, while we're comparing Grooveshark to Jango, let's also mention that it doesn't play songs outside your playlist if you don't want it to - no need to listen to emerging artists anymore.




It's quite simple to use the service, really. Firstly you search for your favourite songs or bands using the great search bar found in the middle of the screen. Secondly, you add these to your playlist. Thirdly, you enjoy the music! No download necessary since everything is done directly through your browser.

The one and only limitation Grooveshark has is that it doesn't allow you to download and save music to your hard disk, but only gives you the possibility of streaming it online (or, listening through the browser). The more resourceful, however, probably will find a way to overcome that obstacle, too.

You don't need to have an account for the basic functions, but we recommend registering due to the additional options (music upload, making your own playlists and favourites, sharing them through Facebook and Twitter) you get just by quickly filling out the "sign up" form (no need for confirmation).


The beauty of this great service also lies in the fact that you have a "smart playlist" (upper picture) of 500 currently most-listened songs on Grooveshark - a great and quick solution for party music.

Finally, let's mention that Grooveshark also contains a social component to it - unfortunately, it's the worst aspect of this otherwise great service. You can follow other people and have your own fans, but it's possible to find them only through the search bar - no "users listening to similar music" feature, which would indicate who we might like.

Also, a lot of the users don't make their own playlists but use Grooveshark exclusively for music streaming - the creators really should look into reconditioning this aspect of the service if they'd like to compete with other similar sites.