Online music has come a long ways since the infamous file sharing days. Today, there are so many legal places to listen to music online; there is no need for the alternatives. So, Spreety.com put together a video about the right places to listen to music online, including radio stations and music videos.

Among the top picks, AOL Radio hosts thousands of radio stations categorized by genre. The genres include Blues, Classic, Christian Rock, Jazz, R&B, Country, and more. In addition to the genres, many local stations are online, such as, for Los Angeles, the popular K-EARTH 101 and KNX 1070.

AOL’s Spinner has full CD parties, where a variety of top CD’s can be selected and played online. Individual tracks as well as the entire CD can be played on demand.
For music videos, several of the TV stations have their music videos online. As examples, BET (Black Entertainment Television), CMT (Country Music Television), GAC (Great America Country), MTV, VH1, and VH1 Classic all host an extensive library of top performers online.

Possibly, the most unique of the online music players is Pandora Radio. Pandora is completely customizable, and is based on the ten year old Music Genome Project. The Music Genome Project classifies every song based on what each individual song sounds like. By typing in a few preferences, Pandora is able to play many more songs of a similar nature. If a song plays that one does not like, a simple thumbs-down will remove it and songs similar to it. Pandora has taken customization to a whole new level.

Lastly, Yahoo! Kids hosts thousands of music videos that are perfectly appropriate for the little ones.

If you would like to learn more about music online, please visit the Spreety TV Online site, and look under TV Genres, Music & Radio to enjoy music online.

Wink Martindale Online with Hit Parade

By Ron Laughton

“Radio is in my blood”, says radio and TV personality Wink Martindale, who has enjoyed an incredible 58 year run of hosting radio shows. In television, he has hosted 19 TV games shows.

Now, Martindale goes online.

On Oct. 1, the veteran begins co-hosting Hit Parade Radio, a syndicated online and radio program from Earthworks Entertainment. The Oldies program will play classics from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s and incorporate sound bites from Martindale’s archived interviews with the performers.

“In the 1950s, the radio announcer did everything, such as reading the news, playing the music, and sweeping the floors,” Martindale says, recalling the many changes that he has seen in the business. Starting in 1951, he used two turntables at 78 rpm (revolutions per minute) with a 33 1/3 rpm switch for playing commercials. By the late ’50s, Martindale upgraded to tape machines. Tapes from the catalogue would be queued up to play, and Wink would “take it back just enough so it did not wow in.” Making a great show back then required attention to a lot of details.

“Today, it is so much easier,” he said of the digital home studio that he now uses. In this setup, Martindale finds his favorite interviews and songs, then renders MP3’s to email to producers. “With less extracurricular things, I can think more about what I want to say, which makes for a better show.”

“I have never stopped keeping up with the times,” said Martindale of using new technology. Interestingly, the radio vet starred in a 1967 presentation that predicted Internet shopping, banking, email, and homework from a personal computer. The video is titled “1999 A.D.” and can be seen on Daily Motion at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xppx9_1999-ad-1-wink-martindale_life.

With all the years of change, Wink did share one thing that has stayed the same. “My yardstick is that the show must be interesting to me. If it is something I enjoy, then it might be interesting to others.”

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