Thursday, July 9, 2009

Search engines for the music lover

 

We use search engines every day to find out all types of information such as news, sports, and research. Did you know that there are also search engines to help you find your favorite music? Friendly Computers found this out:

If you have trouble finding music on the Web, you'll be happy to know there are search engines designed specifically for finding your favorite tunes. They can help you stream everything from Top 40 hits to classics.

Find your music

MP3 Realm is a music search engine that helps you find MP3 tracks from across the Web. To do so, you'll need to search the site for either an artist or a song. A results page will then give you the option of downloading the track or embedding the tune into your blog. You can also stream the song on your site. All of the songs MP3 Realm finds are hosted on servers across the Web, so download times do vary. It can be quick but can also make you endure a brutally long wait. MP3 Realm is a fine site, but it's not the best music search engine in this roundup.

Mp3 Realm

Mp3 Realm has a fine selection, but download times vary widely.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Project Playlist is one of the most convenient music search engines on the Web. Simply input an artist or track you like into the search engine and chances are that Project Playlist will have what you're looking for. I searched for a variety of titles, including some that are obscure and, in every case, Project Playlist had at least one matching track.

After you find the track you're looking for, you can stream it or add it to your playlist for future listening. If you can't get enough of the song, you can have Project Playlist send it to you as a ringtone. That will take just a few seconds. Overall, Project Playlist is a stellar music search engine.

Project Playlist

Project Playlist has a great search engine.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

SkreemR won't blow you away with its design. In fact, it's an ugly site. But finding songs you might want to listen to is quite easy. It doesn't offer as many songs as a site like Project Playlist, but I was generally pleased with the selection. SkreemR also features the option to create a ringtone from the song and to share your favorite tunes with your Twitter followers. Both features add some more value, but I had a hard time getting over SkreemR's poor design.

SkreemR

SkreemR is just plain ugly.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Songza allows you to search for artists or songs. It returns several results. When you hover your mouse over those results, you have the option of streaming the track, sharing it with your Twitter and Facebook friends, adding it to a playlist, or rating it. Playing a song takes just a few seconds. The site's playlist feature is outstanding. And thanks to the YouTube window to the right of the search results, you can watch songs being performed. Songza is a neat site. Check it out.

Songza

Songza lets you listen to songs and watch videos.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 2

1. Project Playlist: Whether you're looking for popular or obscure music, you'll like Project Playlist's convenient, thorough search engine.

2. Songza: Songza's playlists make it worth checking out.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10281031-2.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0