Audiogalaxy

Audiogalaxy Backstage - Backstage is Audiogalaxy’s original service: free web space for artists to host free music and a web page. With moderate traffic, a music savvy staff, and frequent artist spotlights, Audiogalaxy remains a great resource for musicians looking to reach fans over the Internet.

Music at Download.com - MP3.com has recently been acquired by the CNET network. Music.Download.Com will be available for use in early 2004 and will give artists free file hosting and exposure to a world wide audience.

Musician Resources on ARTIST direct - More commercial and with fewer features, Artist Direct still enjoys a healthy amount of traffic. By selecting “Add Your Link” artists can link their homepages to the database, and from there connect with fans and other musicians using Ezines and message boards.

Audiogalaxy Rhapsody - Audiogalaxy’s paid music service is only available to US residents. Users can listen to thousands of artists from any computer with Internet access for a monthly fee. However, you can’t download music, and burning tracks to CD has additional costs.

Emusic - Emusic has been around since the days of Napster. A monthly subscription fee gets you unlimited downloads of Emusic’s extensive catalog, all in high quality MP3 format. Emusic deals directly with labels, most of which are independent, so users may find some well-known names unavailable.

Itunes from Apple - No signup cost and a straight forward pricing system has vaulted Itunes to a prominent position in the digital music market. Itunes offers previews, fast downloads and unlimited burning of high quality songs in AAC format. The service is available for Windows and Mac OS X users.

Napster 2.0 - Roxio has incorporated Pressplay into a new (and legal) version of the legendary Napster service. After downloading the client users can preview and buy music directly. For a subscription fee users will have access to full length previews and Napster Radio, consisting of 45 commercial-free stations.

Kazaa Media Desktop - Think Audiogalaxy, but with movies, games, and applications. If you’re willing to live with adware, you’ll gain access to the most popular peer-to-peer network in existence. Sadly, Kazaa’s popularity hasn’t translated into selection.

Soulseek - A simple, intuitive file-sharing program that is completely free of adware. What Soulseek’s loyal fan base loses in numbers, it gains in diversity of music. Users who want the variety of Audiogalaxy’s Satellite will find this client the next best thing.

LimeWire - A peer-to-peer application that looks good and is easy to use. Limewire touts features for finding rare files and network downloads. In reality, its only advantage over competition its is cross platform support (PC, Mac, Unix, Linux).

WinMX - Another site that has gained popularity since the demise of Audiogalaxy’s Satellite. Users are presented with a Napster-like interface, but without the media capabilities of a program like Kazaa. Free of ads and spyware, winmx offers a simple design, on a lower key network.

FolderShare - This is the link Audiogalaxy wants to promote. Foldershare works on an affiliate basis. Share files on your computer with those of friends and family. Though you can’t search for files over vast networks, you can join existing groups with similar likes/dislikes.

OTH FTP Search - Oth is an FTP indexer that searches site content over the FTP protocol– lets you search thousands of private FTPs for any type of file. Used in conjunction with an FTP client, the system usually works on a trade (ratio) basis. While it's a great resource, it's not for the easily confused.

Mirc IRC Client - Mirc is the world’s most popular IRC client, and one of the best gateways to free files. Text-based and initially confusing, IRC networks are the camping ground of many a hacker. Lack of regulation may be appealing to some, but it also means viruses and “kiddie scripts,” run rampant.

SHOUTcast - A division of Nullsoft (Winamp’s parent company), Shoutcast offers access to free Internet radio from around the world. There are thousands of broadcasts categorized by genre. Shoutcast accommodates both dialup and broadband connections.

Audiogalaxy - Audiogalaxy still has one of the best music databases out there. From musician bios and album information to music groups and message boards, it’s a great resource for information about rare and up-and-coming artists.

CD Database (CDDB) - CD Database is an industry standard music recognition service. (It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to find the “third track on that album” or an artist’s earlier works.) Sometimes inconsistent and/or incomplete, the database still holds a wealth of information.

Amazon Music Database - Amazon has one of the best databases in existence today. User reviews, intelligent suggestions, previews and rankings all provide an excellent if not comprehensive music database. At the same time, some users may be annoyed by the commercially driven nature of the site.

Discogs - Discogs has the lofty goal of building a comprehensive database for what can be a very elusive and hard-to-define genre– electronic music. Discogs is primarily user driven, which results in occasional errors. But it’s still a good place to start when other sites fail.