In the olden days, boys and girls used to spend hours using double cassette decks to carefully craft mix tapes to share in order to express their innermost longings in an artsy way. It sometimes led to love and inadvertently increased record sales by sharing a little taste of previously undiscovered bands.

Then came Napster and the CD burner, making the process even easier. Finally, mix sharing was thoroughly disrupted by online “mixtape” sharing sites such as the popular Muxtape, whose sharing function was disabled by the RIAA over a year ago. Following the closure of that site, we posted a list of alternatives last summer. Already, 60 percent of them are now offline for various reasons, in at least one case due to major label lawsuits.

These online mix-sharing sites are clearly something of a moving target, because they tend to operate under the radar or pay unmanageable licensing fees. But we’ve turned up a fresh batch you can use to share virtual mix tapes with friends and strangers around the world, without paying a cent.

Without further ado, here are the eight best ways to share playlists (honorable mentions below):

Listropolis' Take:

This post makes me realize how much I miss Muxtape, but it gives the best sites I've seen to replace that hole in my heart. If you're a music fan, you'll love this list.

See the List

Related Reading:

Entertainment Weekly Seinfeld Companion

Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician

"Kingle: Listen to CD" How to LISTEN to MUSIC CD on your Amazon Kindle & MP3 Audio Player iPod touch iPhone etc. - TKP 0045 -

The title might be a tad over-dramatic, but having played with Spotify for about 10 minutes, I'm convinced it's the hands-down best damn streaming music player I've ever seen - and thanks to TechCrunch and their post How To Try Spotify Immediately, No Matter Where You Live. They have a great explanation - but this little hack might not last long, so I'm just going to give you the steps to do it, and you can read about it after downloading.

Here are the steps:

Invite yourself from anywhere:
1) go to http://www.daveproxy.co.uk/
2) enter the following URL: https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/
3) Create your account, for UK postcode - check http://www.postcodesearch.org.uk/

Now get downloading before they close this thing up. Thank me later.

If you need a little more info, just think iTunes - but all streaming. You can make playlists and drag streams into the playlist for later. Do you really need to know more?

Related Reading:

Little Known Black History Facts: As Featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show

LEARNING ABOUT DANCE: DANCE AS AN ART FORM AND ENTERTAINMENT

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Multimedia Kit): A Multimedia Kit for Professional Development

From MSNBC:

How do you make Feist’s “My Moon My Man” even sexier? For one thing, you loosen up the piano and bring the bass (which, as everybody knows, is the sexiest of all instruments) front and center, thus bypassing all the normal channels and plugging the the song directly into your nervous system.

Listropolis' Take:

It's an interesting list, and if you like discover new music, this is a good place to start. I had a listen to a few of the artists mentioned on the list, and I can see why you didn't hear them, but the one shining gem in the bunch is Kate Nash. I heard "Foundations" and became an instant fan a few months ago. She has a very cool sound, and if you're into brit-pop, you don't want to miss her.

See the List

Related Reading:

Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music

How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond

When you think of musicians, you usually think of the glam, parties, drunken brawls, and all the other fun stuff we hear about, but not all rockers live this impressive life. The 25 musicians are so awesomely whimpy, the had to be in a list.

25. Robert Smith

Beginning with the Cure's first B-side, "10.15 Saturday Night," which finds its narrator sitting home crying, waiting for a girl to call, Smith has made a fetish out of romantic disappointment and pioneered a vocal style in which he sounds on the verge of breaking into heaving sobs at any moment. His tent-like black sweaters, smeared lipstick and messy bird's nest of dark hair have become the uniform of choice for generations of histrionic white kids convinced the world doesn't understand their pain.

Wussiest Moment

"The Lovecats," the Cure's fluffball 1983 hit, which features Smith literally meowing over a tune best suited for preschoolers.

Continue Reading

Related Reading:

Music Theory: A Practical Guide for All Musicians

Featured Reviews in Mathematical Reviews 1997-1999

Little Known Black History Facts: As Featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show

From Photoshelter via James at QuizQuizBangBang:

I was be-bopping on the subway yesterday to Depeche Mode's photographic, and it was like a lightbulb went off! Or a flashbulb; there are so many great songs with photography as a theme. I spent last night running the batteries down on my ipod just to bring these songs to you this morning. I'm not sure I would say this is a definitive list-- clearly you're going to need to tell me which ones I'm missing (hint: The Kinks).

Also, some are more literal than others. You may be forced to use your imagination at points.

In any case, here are my ten, in order of no real importance, except that Wilco is my favorite, and this youtube video is actually from a Polaroid commercial that was never aired. So it's interesting x 2.

#1 Wilco, Kamera

See the Rest of the List

Related Reading:

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, 2nd Edition

Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera

From Mashable:

Recently we brought you a list of free & legal music downloads, but we understand that not everyone wants to eat up space on their hard drive or MP3 player.  So we’ve compiled a list of 30+ awesome streaming music sites we know you’ll enjoy.

Whether you’re interested in general streaming music, mixtapes, music discovery, or more, the Internet offers a plethora of streaming music services. Tell us which are your favorites.

See the List

Related Reading:

The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music

Music Theory: A Practical Guide for All Musicians

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, 2nd Edition

From AudioJungle:

Like most of us when we’re in the studio, it’s hard to get me to work with anything other than the industry standards; Pro Tools, Reason, Logic (which sort of falls into that category), and so on. But given the rising prices of just about everything under the sun, not to mention the chronic emptiness of the musician’s wallet, it’s worth taking a look at the alternatives out there that can be had for free.

The price is not the only great thing about free, cross-platform apps. They don’t require you to stick a damn dongle in your computer and use up a precious USB slot. And knowing that you can get on almost any computer in the world, download an app and work on your project is always reassuring.

I’m not saying that these apps can replace Pro Tools or Reason as the apps of choice, but they are totally free. It’s hard to complain about that! The main thing is that they will let you get the job done. If I could just find a free DAW that opens Pro Tools sessions…

Traverso

Traverso is a lightweight but powerful DAW that works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Professionals who’ve tried this software comment that despite some strange interface decisions (such as having to hold shift and click to move the playhead), it’s a viable option for those looking for a free alternative.

Traverso uses, on average, one quarter of the processing power and memory that other DAWs use. This is great if you have an older machine and want to get your demos done at home and only have to fork out for a studio when you’re ready for the real production.

Take a look at Traverso.

See the Rest of the List

Related Reading:

Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity

Free: The Future of a Radical Price

From the Site:

It's said he who doesn't remember history is doomed to repeat it. Well, how does that explain cable television? Vanilla Ice has a new "Greatest Hits" album just out that redefines both the words "Greatest" and "Hits" simultaneously! That shows more genius than his entire career. But be warned, if you celebrate his banal awfulness, you will only be further rewarded with more of the same. The MC Hammer comeback will spring into full force. Nelly will re-find his magical band-aid and Fred Durst will be given a reason to exist. We need to save the planet now. I don't want to say that ignoring Will Smith can have the same effect on the environment as cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, but what if it turned out to be true?

Here are the 25 Worst Rappers of All-Time. We might have a 26th to add if Bill Cosby gets his act together and releases the "rap" album he threatens!

See the List

Related Reading:

Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)

Music

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition