Make Your Own Music Station With Echo.com

Tim Koerner

On a quest for a station that plays your kind of tunes? Turn off the radio and point your PC's browser to Echo.com, a new Web site that lets you create your own streaming music station. It's easy: You sign up, choose a name for your station, and then select from a diverse list of 80-odd musical genres. From goth rock to gospel, there's plenty here, except for classical music. You can't choose individual songs or artists, however.

Echo.com lets you invite friends to tune in and hear your station's program along with you, chat online, and rate music. The ratings help customize Echo's song selection to your liking, and a skip button is useful for the occasional unappealing tune. Other sites like Launchcast and Live365 offer similar streaming music services, but in many cases the programs are too much influenced by other people's tastes. With Echo, only you and those you invite rate the music. Another plus is Echo's loyalty program: Listen long enough, and you can convert the points you earn into rewards such as CDs or PC speakers.

I also liked how the Echo player's interface named the song, artist, and album--great to use for discovering new music--and you can click to purchase what you find from online music vendors.

My gripes? Songs are often separated by an annoying gap (up to 20 seconds long), and occasionally a song cuts out. But once this beta version's gaps are filled--Echo says a bandwidth boost is coming soon--the site will be sweet music for picky ears.

Buying Information

Echo.com Music that you can fully customize to your own taste. Frequent annoying gaps between songs, occasional cutouts. This is a great, no-cost way to discover new music. $ Free Echo Networks http://www.echo.com