4 ms·

SomeFM is such a rarity these days, a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be. They take recurring donations. Probably the best way to help th

SomeFM is such a rarity these days, a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be. They take recurring donations. Probably the best way to help them and one of the best investments for me, as keeping it up and running is a way to keep these naive ideas alive. The music is curated and is most excellent (for my taste, of course). I have Groove Salad on speed dial in my HomePods around the house (through TuneIn radio). Thank you Rusty for sticking with it!

paulcole 4y ago
> SomeFM is such a rarity these days, a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be. Let me start out by saying that SomaFM is great. But when I started listening to SomaFM (nearly 20 years ago), I never imagined that for only $10/month I'd be able to listen to (essentially) any song whenever I wanted. That's amazing and so much more valuable (to me) than what Soma offers.
- huron 4y ago
  But how do you find new songs for you to put on your playlists? That’s why SomaFM and online stations like KCRW are so valuable. They’re ways to introduce new music and even new styles of music to the listeners.
  - kleiba 4y ago
    Isn't that what recommender systems are for? /scnr
    - rbanffy 4y ago
      They can only recommend what they understand. I am not aware of any automated recommender that listens to music to make decisions on how to recommend it. For that, humans are still good.
      - kleiba 4y ago
        They don't have to listen to music - they just look at what people who like similar stuff to you, like in addition to that.
        rbanffy 4y ago
        And that's why a human (or a model that can represent the music) can make better recommendations.
  - spidersouris 4y ago
    I use Spotify but I loathe their recommendation algorithm. What I do when I want to discover new songs is that I search for a user playlist on r/spotify, or if there is a particular song I like, I use this website[1], which I recently discovered and which enables one to specify a song and get a list of public playlists featuring this song. It works pretty well in my case. [1] https://www.chosic.com/spotify-playlist-search-tool-by-song-or-artist/ https://www.chosic.com/spotify-playlist-search-tool-by-song-...
  - rbanffy 4y ago
    Here in Dublin we have Raidió Na Life, which has the best music programming of any "offline" radio. Everything spoken is in Irish, of which I understand almost nothing, but the music, is amazing. Online, of course, SomaFM has the best streams.
    - Anthony-G 4y ago
      Upvoted for reminding me how good Raidió na Life used to be. I haven’t listened to it in over 10 years. I used to know the Neuromantek DJs back in the 2000s. I’m amazed to see that their show is still running! These days, when I listen to the radio, it’s usually via Saorview but I must make the effort to hook up Raidió na Life and other radio stations to my home hi-fi (now that my Squeezebox has died).
- tbatchelli 4y ago
  To each their own, I guess. I also pay for Apple Music and have access to all that music, but there is no substitute for curation with a sense of taste and musical direction. For me, having access to all the music in the world is only marginally better than what I had before when buying CDs (or records even); I don't listen to more music than before. What I really love, instead, is being introduced to a new track that captures my interest, a track that I know I will be listening to multiple times in the future. The quality, and the fact that I would have probably not have found it by myself, or not liked it without the context. When I was younger, when I had enough pocket money, I would go to the record store, and the problem wasn't how to get a CD, because they had oh so many!, but what CD to get. For this, I relied on friends, radio stations, and the shop keepers. They all had a good portion of the music world in their head, with their own taste and opinion about what's interesting, and I found many gems this way. Automated recommendations don't quite do it for me, nor I have been lucky with other people's playlists; I gotta get acquainted with the curator first in order to trust their curation. So I listen to SomaFM, and when something gets me interested I go and buy it or add it to my library. Best of both worlds!
  - hfourm 4y ago
    To be honest, Pandora has served that role for me over the years. I am always amazed to look back at my Pandora station history to see how it has evolved into different streams/genres, all stimulated from hearing new music through a Pandora channel, and then starting a new station after I liked it. This has created a web of new music I wouldn't have sought out otherwise. Obviously, I do think that a human DJ may perform this role better in some cases/genres though.
    - inferiorhuman 4y ago
      My favorite part of SomaFM is that I discover new artists (or get encouraged to go on a deep dive) fairly regularly. I've never bothered with Pandora or Spotify but the impression I get is that SomaFM is much better with the more niche genres.
      - 4y ago
- atoav 4y ago
  Oh my mother loves SomaFM. The thing is that you can just switch it on an it is good, and it will be in 5 years time as well without you having to do anything at all.
- Barrin92 4y ago
  > I'd be able to listen to (essentially) any song whenever I wanted. For a while now I've considered this to be more of a curse than anything else because at least personally I've noticed that the constant hopping replaces genuinely paying attention with quantity. I now pick a handful of albums per month or pick an NTS session I like and re-listen much more.
aparticulate 4y ago
> a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be very well said

paulcole 4y ago

> SomeFM is such a rarity these days, a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be. Let me start out by saying that SomaFM is great. But when I started listening to SomaFM (nearly 20 years ago), I never imagined that for only $10/month I'd be able to listen to (essentially) any song whenever I wanted. That's amazing and so much more valuable (to me) than what Soma offers.

huron 4y ago
But how do you find new songs for you to put on your playlists? That’s why SomaFM and online stations like KCRW are so valuable. They’re ways to introduce new music and even new styles of music to the listeners.
- kleiba 4y ago
  Isn't that what recommender systems are for? /scnr
  - rbanffy 4y ago
    They can only recommend what they understand. I am not aware of any automated recommender that listens to music to make decisions on how to recommend it. For that, humans are still good.
    - kleiba 4y ago
      They don't have to listen to music - they just look at what people who like similar stuff to you, like in addition to that.
      - rbanffy 4y ago
        And that's why a human (or a model that can represent the music) can make better recommendations.
- spidersouris 4y ago
  I use Spotify but I loathe their recommendation algorithm. What I do when I want to discover new songs is that I search for a user playlist on r/spotify, or if there is a particular song I like, I use this website[1], which I recently discovered and which enables one to specify a song and get a list of public playlists featuring this song. It works pretty well in my case. [1] https://www.chosic.com/spotify-playlist-search-tool-by-song-or-artist/ https://www.chosic.com/spotify-playlist-search-tool-by-song-...
- rbanffy 4y ago
  Here in Dublin we have Raidió Na Life, which has the best music programming of any "offline" radio. Everything spoken is in Irish, of which I understand almost nothing, but the music, is amazing. Online, of course, SomaFM has the best streams.
  - Anthony-G 4y ago
    Upvoted for reminding me how good Raidió na Life used to be. I haven’t listened to it in over 10 years. I used to know the Neuromantek DJs back in the 2000s. I’m amazed to see that their show is still running! These days, when I listen to the radio, it’s usually via Saorview but I must make the effort to hook up Raidió na Life and other radio stations to my home hi-fi (now that my Squeezebox has died).
tbatchelli 4y ago
To each their own, I guess. I also pay for Apple Music and have access to all that music, but there is no substitute for curation with a sense of taste and musical direction. For me, having access to all the music in the world is only marginally better than what I had before when buying CDs (or records even); I don't listen to more music than before. What I really love, instead, is being introduced to a new track that captures my interest, a track that I know I will be listening to multiple times in the future. The quality, and the fact that I would have probably not have found it by myself, or not liked it without the context. When I was younger, when I had enough pocket money, I would go to the record store, and the problem wasn't how to get a CD, because they had oh so many!, but what CD to get. For this, I relied on friends, radio stations, and the shop keepers. They all had a good portion of the music world in their head, with their own taste and opinion about what's interesting, and I found many gems this way. Automated recommendations don't quite do it for me, nor I have been lucky with other people's playlists; I gotta get acquainted with the curator first in order to trust their curation. So I listen to SomaFM, and when something gets me interested I go and buy it or add it to my library. Best of both worlds!
- hfourm 4y ago
  To be honest, Pandora has served that role for me over the years. I am always amazed to look back at my Pandora station history to see how it has evolved into different streams/genres, all stimulated from hearing new music through a Pandora channel, and then starting a new station after I liked it. This has created a web of new music I wouldn't have sought out otherwise. Obviously, I do think that a human DJ may perform this role better in some cases/genres though.
  - inferiorhuman 4y ago
    My favorite part of SomaFM is that I discover new artists (or get encouraged to go on a deep dive) fairly regularly. I've never bothered with Pandora or Spotify but the impression I get is that SomaFM is much better with the more niche genres.
    - 4y ago
atoav 4y ago
Oh my mother loves SomaFM. The thing is that you can just switch it on an it is good, and it will be in 5 years time as well without you having to do anything at all.
Barrin92 4y ago
> I'd be able to listen to (essentially) any song whenever I wanted. For a while now I've considered this to be more of a curse than anything else because at least personally I've noticed that the constant hopping replaces genuinely paying attention with quantity. I now pick a handful of albums per month or pick an NTS session I like and re-listen much more.

aparticulate 4y ago

> a reminder of how we believed the Internet was going to be very well said