The dub-dub-dub is a big big place and it's not about to stop growing anytime soon. It is full of generally anything and everything. But the one great power I most admire about it is the way it connects us all to music we love, and a lot of it.

There are many ways to discover music on the web in an exciting way, here are some essentials that I regularly use that's food to our music soul..


STORE

iTunes

I know not everyone uses iTunes or syncs an apple ipod but we all know it is one of the best places to buy music, movies, etc. It is as secure as it gets, seamless interface and has a growing music and video database by the minute.

You do need to create an iTunes account which to be able to purchase anything, even the freebies! But ultimately, this is a great place to find a great range of media and to stay current in the music world. Podcasts are a hit being free and all and there is a wide range that will keep you browsing and browsing for long periods of time.



DATABASE

Last.Fm

Love love love this website, this has a HUGE music database, pretty much any band you can think of, users are capable of adding band info, tag and add photos for the rest of us to see. But the best part is the Applications it provides, you can download the 'Last.fm Scrobbler' which ''Scrobbles'' the song played on your ipod/itunes or other music players (winamp, wmp, iphone & android) and syncs it automatically to you profile and keeps stats on your playlists but most importantly gives really accurate music recommendations!

Billboard

The King of all Music Charts, another industry that has been involved with music for a wee while now, still has a high reputation and is staying relevant and will be for a many more generations.

MySpace Music

Personally this is still the best for discovering music, most importantly local music, most bands feature full streaming audio of their songs on the page and it isn't easy to get that anywhere else, most artists use myspace to keep fans informed and a great place to show off their designer layouts! Despite the grave trip that the networking MySpace is taking downhill i don't think it's compadre MySpace Music will be following those footsteps anytime soon.



REVIEWS

Rolling Stone

Now it's clear a lot of readers actually disagree with most of their music reviews but Rolling Stone has been in the business for a long long long time and at the end of the day it's worth reading the reviews and well..  disagreeing! -check out the user reviews instead!

It's very up to date and has great features on exclusive bands, a bonus with Rolling Stone is the reviews on old bands that release certain collectors edition albums which is a nice gesture since they always give it 5 stars anyway but it does take us back to the good old days.

Metacritic

Metacritic compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for a range of media and then it takes a weighted average of critic grades to come up with a final rating. 

It's a smart place really, a compilation of professional reviews all in one site!

Very up to date and has a great list of upcoming releases on albums and has a great archive of music from previous years. Definitely a great place of research before the hasty trip to the cd/digital stores.



DEEP DISCOVERY

StumbleAudio

I actually stumbled upon this randomly myself, but this is one of my FAVORITE websites EVER, basically you go through a list of genres, do some more clicking here and there if you want to be specific on genre and it then displays an album art browser that instantly plays. It's music that most of us probably have never heard of. Note that this is a place of 20th century music! But nonetheless, our generation embraces THAT previous generation so definitely Stumbleaudio is a hot place for discovery!



REAL TIME DISCOVERY

Twitter

You red it right, Twitter. If you need an instant music recommendation, then using Twitter is one of the best ways to discover music in real time, see what people are listening to, what people are recommending, take advantage of hashtags such as #musicmonday and #sotd (songoftheday) and follow people that have a similar music taste to you or even better, follow your favorite artist/band!
Twitter is simply spontaneous, it gives you the chance to discover when you are not even searching.



KEEP ON KEEPING ON

There are a lot of other ways to discover music you prefer, of course there are blogs, TONS of them and so many other sites that focus on certain genres or generations that might suit your preferences.

As a huge music discoverer, i found that the key is patience, and making the most of the web to dig DEEP and find music you couldn't discover 10 years ago at a cd store, we have the opportunity to discover music that is worthy of a retweet or a feature, unsigned musicians that are as good as any other chart topping band. The sky is the limit here, and as the dub-dub-dub is growing so fast and so will opportunities. Make the most of it!




ciao!

I DID IT.

i updated my FACEBOOK, TWITTER & BEBO.

actually i'll be saying goodbye to: BEBO.

active email add: GMAIL

so atm i am updated on the following social networks:
Facebook, Twitter, & LiveJournal

Other accounts:
MySpace- Just for great indie music.
Last.Fm- It's synced to my iTunes, therefore it is brilliant. 
DeviantArt-Designer's zone.
Photobucket- Decent photo uploader.
MediaFire- Easiest way to upload files for others.

Chat:
Hotmail-I know i know, Lame, but it's the easiest.
Gmail- If i must
Skype- For those overseas video calls.

I have so many more mini-accounts, but let's not go there :)


Why Oh Why? - you so crazzzy!!
1. I go online everyday, might as well stay connected.
2. Need to keep in touch with a number of friends.
3. I need a place to put up photos especially for uni, Photobucket does the job.
4. Cause i'm a geek like that.
5. I <3 Music.
6. Why not ;)




chao.