Jamendo Radio Relaunches, free Internet Radio with download option
There is definitely no shortage when it comes to radio stations streaming their music and program on the Internet. You have got the Shoutcast directory for instance with thousands of stations, many regional stations that stream their shows on the Internet, as well as Internet-only radio station. Popular media players like AIMP have integrated the Shoutcast or Icecast directory of radio stations in their program.
Radio stations that only stream free music are rare. Back when Jamendo started it was possible to use a radio-like feature on the site, but that eventually was turned off.
Jamendo Radio
Hot of the press: Jamendo Radio is back, currently offering ten radio streams to all site visitors. Interested users can tune into the following stations:
- Best of Radio
- Lounge Radio
- Rock Radio
- Electronic Radio
- HipHop Radio
- World Radio
- Jazz Radio
- Classical Radio
- Pop Radio
- Songwriting Radio
An account is not required to start listening to one of the available stations. Some functionality, like the option to add the current song to a playlist may require an account though.
The radio stations use Jamendo's vast music archive exclusively making it a great way of discovering new music that artists have made available on the site. Since everything is available freely on Jamendo, the radio stations can offer a feature that regular stations can't offer: download links are placed directly next to the song that is currently playing on a station.
A click on download opens a small overlay window that is listing the song's cover, name and artist, format and quality, a link to Jamendo's Facebook profile and a download button. A click on the button downloads the song right to the local PC.
The stream quality is pretty good, with songs offered in 192 Kbps quality. The streams are currently not interrupted by ads even though I'd guess that most users would not have issues with the stations being monetized lightly this way.
Jamendo Radio offers a great experience for anyone who is interested in music and discovering new artists and songs. You won't find the latest Lady Gaga, Rihanna or Pitbull here, but that's what the other thousand or so radio stations are for.
Especially the option to download songs that you are listening to is a great feature that sets Jamendo Radio apart. Why not give it a try and share your experience with everyone below in the comments?
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Great info and a great read!
I’ve used the internet radio products from this site:
http://www.raimersoft.com/products.aspx
It’s amazing how many great internet radio stations there are from all over the world! Music is universal (especially the classical, jazz, new age that I listen to). So it doesn’t matter if I don’t understand the language when these stations occasionally break-in with some announcement.
Yeah great app, I have reviewed it previously: https://www.ghacks.net/2012/04/07/rarmaradio-internet-radio-player-and-recorder/
I enjoyed Classical stream for a few hours, and it was wonderful. Downloaded six compositions from it.
I think Jamendo is great and generous service, hosting some of greatest compositions and artists I know.
To name a few –
http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/342569/fabrizio-paterlini
Fabrizio Paterlini (piano, classical)
http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/1030/suerte
Suerte (jazz)
http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/1125/binaerpilot
Binärpilot (electronic)
Haven’t been to Jamendo for few months. Like to keep the Lounge station on in the background while working. Have d/led many cool edgy albums (always donate to the artists – please).
I like the original radio player app better because it would open in a small separate window (tab in Opera) instead of sticking to the bottom blocking full view of pages.
Also the former radio station page design included a list of previously played cuts for each station. You could quickly run down the list checking out new artists if you had been away for a while.
Now you’re stuck waiting for each track to play one by one and if you’re busy and miss the details after it’s finished it’s gone.
The previous over-all site design was kind of cluttered but warmer and unique to Jamendo, like DIY by talented amateurs.
This redesign looks like a generic Corporate website template pasted together by some cut-rate Asian contractor using coders that never heard of Jamendo.
Wow! Very nice for the content, and an ingenious page layout. Definitely bookmarked for many returns.
I appreciate Jamendo and download their music from time to time. I was, however, disappointed with their new setup. It is now more difficult to find what I’m looking for. I’m hoping they will fix it. In the meantime I’m on Sky.fm that offers the category: New Age Vocal. Pandora works for me, too.