Grooveshark: It's Like Some Kind of Freaking Party Genie

There are a bunch of sources one might go to these days for their Internet Music fix. There's Last.fm, the ubiquitous Pandora, etc. But one I see discussed far less often is a relatively new offering called Grooveshark. I started using Grooveshark around last December, and ever since, it has had a permanent place on my quickbar. Why? Well, you're just gonna have to hit the Read More button to find out.

Think of a song.
That song is probably on Grooveshark.
I'm not sure how they manage to secure all of the rights they are sure to require to just broadcast whatever music you search for (That's right, you get to choose!) but apparently they have them, so there you are. The interface is clean and easy to understand; it's sort of reminiscent of iTunes in its design. What's more, it's free unless you want to use it on your mobile device, in which case it's something like $3 a month.
I know, I know, I'm gushing. I sound like an advertisement. But I assure you, Grooveshark is not paying me, the humble subscriberless tech opinion blogger, to hawk their wares. It's true, the service does have some drawbacks. It doesn't have absolutely every song, for instance. Some more obscure ones will be unavailable, though I have been surprised on several occasions by the obscure material they do have. What's more, after extended playing, I have had the service just cease to operate for me. But honestly, it is difficult for me to think of any other drawbacks.
Why do I gush so? What has provoked this onslaught of affectionate words? Well, let me tell you. Grooveshark is just fabulous for parties. I had a rather large shindig the other night, you see, and I don't have any kind of fancy music-spouting speaker array or centralized music hub from which I may draw an infinite playlist of "The Hitz." I merely have the trusty old laptop and a set of desktop computer speakers. And yet, this was enough to fuel a massive party because Grooveshark contains the optimal implementation of a radio feature. You can turn it on, and Grooveshark will just spin stuff similar to what you have already queued up, but if people have specific music they wish to hear, it's as easy as typing in a song, album, or artist name, and bada boom, they can add it to the end of the queue to be played in the order in which it was received.

You should really give it a shot.

http://listen.grooveshark.com