One of many things I gave up when I moved myself on to Linux was Spotify. Of all the music streaming options (last.fm, Mog, etc.) Spotify emerged as my favorite. Was it flawed? Yes. But, nothing is perfect. I missed my music so I started poking around to see what else is out there. That is when I stumbled on Songza, and I’m never looking back.
Songza calls itself a music concierge service with playlists from music experts. They distinguish themselves by selecting playlists by mood rather than by artist. Somehow that just works better for me. When I log in, I am greeted with a message giving me the option to choose perfect music for that day and time (e.g. Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, etc.). That makes so much sense to me. After all, do you listen to the same music first thing Sunday morning as you do after lunch on a Tuesday? Playlists are only as good as the people selecting the music. I have certainly wandered off music sites because there were only a handful of lousy playlists in any given category. But songza seeded their service with some amazing playlists that were clearly designed by professionals.
Songza let you choose playlists by mood, activity, culture and radio-store clerk in addition to the standard genre and decade choices. Within these categories is where the magic is. You can select for cover songs and several options appear. You can also choose playlists of one hit wonders. I haven’t seen selections this intuitive since MTV stopped being a music channel. It’s like wandering into mix tape heaven.
Clearly I am hooked, and I think you will be too. You can listen online or through one of their mobile apps. I encourage you to check them out (they are free, after all) and let me know what you think.