Lately, I decided to revisit the strange world of online radio again, and have come out feeling somewhat dissatisfied yet again. I've long since given up on MSN radio, because asking it to play oldies invariably ends up with it playing certain popular artists that I, at this point, don't want to listen to at all. I don't have any real qualms with the likes of Styx, but like I said, I simply don't want to listen to that sort of thing. Yahoo Radio is better in that one can get "fan radio" stations for particular artists, which means it plays other songs which fans of the artist also like. In theory, good, but the problem is it can lead to some oddities. See, I can understand combining Nick Cave with Sisters Of Mercy, but Portishead? Not that I have anything against Portishead, mind you, heck, some of the songs are actually quite good (who would've guessed!?), but it just isn't the sort of thing I want to listen to when I ask for Cave-style music. I guess I shouldn't really be complaining when the station is offering good songs, regardless of whether they're related to the artist or not, but I suppose my goal at this point is rather short-term: to find something similar to artist X, not to find something else that is interesting nonetheless. In small doses it's no problem, but when it reappears time and time again, well.. Another caveat is that the station usually doesn't play the artist you say you like - perhaps it assumes you've heard the artist to death!? There blows my chances of getting a taste of "The Killing Moon" (on the rare occasions that I've had the luck of hearing a Bunnymen song, it's usually been, well, nonsense. Perhaps "The Killing Moon" will fare no better?)

I'm sure there are good independent radio stations out there, I just haven't a clue how to find them. The Winamp ones are decent enough, but still maybe a bit too mainstream. Of course, I complain too much; if I did find a non-mainstream station, I'd probably complain that they're playing too many artists I've never heard of or something. In truth, perhaps what I want is the station to play exactly the artists I'm interested in, which is asking a bit much.