I finally had enough of standard FM radio. While I hope to get satellite radio in my next car, that doesn't solve the problem of background music at home or at the office.

Problem solved: LaunchCast Radio.

Have you tried this? It's available through Yahoo! and Yahoo! Messenger, and makes me smile, to put it simply.

You create a radio station, and when songs come up that you don't like, just click "Never play this again." You can even do that for a band.

No more The Killers for me, thanks. No more 4 Non Blondes either. I don't want to hear Def Leppard.

Of course you can also rate bands, albums and songs as "It's OK," "Like It," "Love it" or "Can't get enough."

For the past day and a half, I haven't heard the same band twice, let alone the same song.

I can hear Bob Marley, followed by Nirvana, followed by Billie Holliday followed by Henry Rollins, followed by John Mellencamp, followed by Sevendust.

This is what that so called "We play everything" station 98.7 should be. They truly do play everything.

The best part though, is that rating system that helps you tailor the programming.

You can also decide if you want or don't want explicit lyrics.

My playlist today included the above bands as well as Crosby, Stills and Nash, Kiss, Primus, Bad Religion, .38 Special and more.

You also get to hear bands you'd never hear otherwise, such as Finch and Toots and the Maytals.

If you pay a couple bucks a month, you can skip songs and eliminate the yahoo! commercials.

Check it out.

Posted by jeffhahnedisabled at June 24, 2005 10:18 AM