Radio Tuna - free online radio
Free internet music: Radio Tuna gives you real-time search for free online radio. Choose from thousands of free internet radio stations and listen to free music without downloading...
Some of you Mooks might still be feeling a bit glum over the sad loss of the gramophone and finding the only way to console yourself is to join a band and explore music via bit torrent.
There is another way to use the internet to discover music. And that's Radio Tuna - real music, found on the internet, for free. With a difference.
Radio Tuna - free online radio
The difference between Radio Tuna and Last / Lala / Pandora / Spotify (take your pick) is that Radio Tuna isn't searching a finite automated database. Radio Tuna searches for your keyword (be it genre, artist or radio station) through all the real radio stations currently playing worldwide. It finds you a real DJ playing what you've searched for on a real radio station.
Why is this so amazing? Because tuning into online radio to listen to a DJ whose music choices you like is one of the most rewarding ways to go on a musical voyage of discovery. A DJ has their own personal taste in music - and they're also going on their own musical journey to pick the best tracks for listeners on their radio station. If you like 'Fleet Foxes' but aren't sure where to go from there, you can search 'Fleet foxes' on Radio Tuna to find them played on a radio station by a DJ who's going to fill up the rest of their slot with other music you may never have heard of but will probably like too.
Now, we've nothing against automated music databases, but they're very circular and a bit robotic. If you listen to, say, 'Amanda Palmer Radio' on Last FM, or if you're checking something out on Lala or Spotify, one of two things will happen. You'll either get stuck with music you don't like which is unrelated to your original search, or you'll go round in circles and get stuck on repeat with the same artist names cropping up. It's obvious it's a computer making the choices for you, not a human being. End of musical journey.
With Radio Tuna, things are different. For one thing, the search really works. If you type 'ska', you won't get anything to do with 'polska' ('poland'). If you type 'funk', you'll get funk, not something that has been described by some blogger as being funky. You get what you asked for.
Using Radio Tuna couldn't get much easier. Let's say you search for 'Fleet Foxes' by artist. Even if they're not playing on any radio stations right now, you'll get a list of radio stations that have played them recently. And there'll be little markers to show what those radio stations tend to play (so one might play mostly folk with a bit of indie and pop, one might play mostly indie with a bit of folk and alternative... You get the picture. So if Fleet Foxes are playing, you can listen to that DJ for a bit and pick up on some new music ideas, and if they're not playing, you've just discovered a free radio station you can listen to that might well fit your tastes. Double-win!
Give Radio Tuna a try. You'll be supporting radio stations, and real music by real DJs. Don't let the culture that spawned John Peel, Annie Nightingale and pirate radio die out. What's more, you'll be using real radio stations to find music you never knew existed...
Radio Tuna links
- Radio Tuna - free online radio
- Follow Radio Tuna on Twitter
More Music reviews
Mission statement
Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.
