Blipster, Desktop Companion to Blip.fm

I have been trying a desktop application the last couple of days called Blipster.  Blipster is a desktop application for the music streaming site Blip.FM.  I love Blip.FM and the ability to discover new music on it. However, because it is online, I had to have a tab dedicated to it open at all times.  I don't know about you, but I am constant opening and closing tabs, and of course the Blip.fm tab would get accidentally closed, usually in the middle of my favorite song.   Blipster is an answer to this problem. The web site is sparse to be kind, and at first you maybe turn off by it, don't be this is a case where the sparseness of the Web site is a sign that the time was spent on making an excellent application.   After only two days of use Blipster is already a hit with me.  A couple things you need to know before you download the product, first you do need to have Adobe Air installed and the second is it will ask for your Blip.FM user id and password.  After you download it and you start the application, the first thing that loads up is your home station, the home station for those who are not familiar with Blip.fm is the station where the music of your favorite DJ are listed.  If you think of a song that you want to hear, then you add it under the search tab and if its available you can preview it or add it to your playlist.  The cool thing about Blipster is it doesn't stop there it will also tell you who else liked the song and maybe has similar taste to you.   You can also load songs by your favorite dj name or by a playlist.  Like Blip.FM itself you can blip or reblip a song, give a DJ props or add a song to your playlist.  There are a couple of things that I see as either missing from the application or need some work on. The first is the Public list isn't available in Blipster, I really like this list in Blip.fm because I find it is a great way to find new music, especially music that is not played in the U.S.  The other thing I noticed is that when a song can't be played, because its no longer available, Blipster just freezes up, unlike Blip.fm which goes to the next song.  In Blipster you have to manually push the play button for the next song. Despite these problems, I would highly recommend Blipster to anyone who is a big Blip.fm user, just realize it is a work in progress and its not perfect.   I would recommend Blip.fm itself to anyone who likes music and sharing their taste, you can find the music I like under my DJ name klandwehr.  

Twitter, Me a Song, or How do You Share Music on Twitter?

One of the best parts about Twitter is the ability to share things with people, including music. There are sites being created all the time that help you share music you like with your followers. Any on line music site that doesn't integrate Twitter in some way is behind the curve. There are three sites and one Firefox add on that I have tried and use.

The first is the easiest to use, but also lacks some of the sharing abilty of the others. It is Twittytunes. Twittytunes is a Firefox add on that is used in conjunction with Foxytune. If a song from your library is playing and is showing in the Foxytune window. Then you hit the TT and a bubble pops ups saying what song you are listening too. It allows you to add to the message with in the 140 twitter characters limitation. You hit the button and the message is sent to twitter. The limitation of Twittytunes is that all it does, there is no link back to the song or a way to buy it

The second option is Song.ly. I gain knowledge of Song.ly when I was sent an invitation to join the Song.ly room in Friendfeed. There are a couple of ways you can use Song.ly. You can go to the site and enter a song title or mp3 link, it will then give you different choices. One you find your choice you are then sent to your twitter home page, where you can add to the message and post it. The posted message has a clickable link, which send the person to a site which allows them to listen to the song, retweet the song, send a reply and also see what other songs the person has tweeted through Song.ly. If you click on recently Song.ly, you will see a list of songs that have been sent to twitter through Song.ly. Song.ly also has a firefox add on, which if you are listening to an MP3 online you can right click or Option+Space on a Macbook and then click Share on Songly.  I suspect overtime people with similar musical taste will start following each other, which is a great way to find new songs.

The third option is Twt.fm, this is an option which I just discovered yesterday. I was seeing some tweets come up that had a link to a song, then twt.fm and #MusicMonday. I Googled Twt.fm and it brought me to a site similar to Song.ly, with a few but important differences. The first is on Twt.fm, you have to enter both the artist and the song. Twt.fm then goes out and searches the song on Imeem. If the song is on Imeem, then it becomes playable so you can review it. If it is not on Imeem, you can still tweet it but you have to provide a link to an mp3 or Youtube of the song. The tweet you send provides a link . If you click on the link, it will send you to a site that allows you to play the song, like Song.ly, but it also allows you to purchase the song through Itunes or Amazon, or use it as a ringtone. You can even see if there are concert tickets available for the artist. The one thing that it is missing is that you can't see what other music the person shared through twt.fm. I wish that Twt.fm and Song.ly could get together, that to me would make a killer app.

The final site is Blip.fm, which differ from the other sites in that it doesn't depend on twitter for its survival. Blip.fm is a site that is streaming music that the user have blip. When you set up the account on Blip.fm, it gives you the choice of whether you want to share your Blips on Twitter or on Friendfeed or Last.fm, You can also control whether individual blips are sent to Twitter. Blip.fm is a great site for finding new music and the ability to twitter from it is a natural addition.