Top picks for streaming internet radio

The choices are endless. The playlist options are unfathomable. Millions of songs... for free. To listen to that is - no downloading here. As many of my fellow "Napster-generation" and Lime Wire lovers make the switch from download to digital on-demand, one question remains... what service should I use?

Top picks for streaming radio (online)

1. Slacker Radio
- great alternative to Pandora
- create your own station
- pick an artist, song, album, or genre... and base a radio station off your favorite selections
- syncs seemlessly with Facebook
- FREE version has ads, once every five or so songs

2. Pandora

- I first signed up for Pandora three years ago. The concept of internet radio was just emerging, but now years later Pandora has proven it can withstand the test of time.
- Limited number of skip tracks (three per hour?) makes choosing a station somewhat difficult
- Share track & station info easily on Facebook & Twitter
- Lists artist/track/album info along with portion of lyrics (paid version can view full lyrics!)
- FREE version has ads, every few songs
- Can slow down memory, making computer sluggish

3. Rdio
- Very impressive off the bat - the fail to make clear you have a limited amount of free music. If I had known I wouldn't of left on when I went to sleep.
- Listen to individual songs - create playlists - like your favorites and share with this social media friendly app.
- Clean layout on a very cool website.. worth trying.



4. MOD
- Similar to Rdio but seems to allow users unlimited unlimited free music to listen to.

5. Spotify
- Most options for radio preferences/playlists but you must download the program onto your computer - can overload older computers without sufficient memory capabilities
- Ads are played every couple songs, quite repetitive
- Cool apps such as Tune Wiki
- Lots of songs, options, and features. Try pro version for 30 days free.

Free radio. Free music. 
But what does it really cost?

In the news...

The Internet Radio Royalty System Is Broken

Pandora’s income potential could soon be set loose. New U.S. legislation proposes to change how music royalty payments are made for online radio companies. Such costs lock up about half of Pandora’s revenue. Read more as we explains just how much value could be released by reducing them.

The Internet Radio Fairness Act, a rare bipartisan proposal in Congress, seeks to revise digital laws enacted almost 15 years ago when the medium was less developed and understood. Judges instead would be directed to impose royalty rates for online services using the same standard historically applied to other forms of radio. U.S. satellite radio monopoly Sirius XM, for example, pays a proportion of revenue that’s more than 80 percent lower than Pandora’s.