Moving onto Grooveshark, a player painfully similar to Spotify, with a few minor changes. This article will shed some light on a less popular, but just as good, music player that not many people take advantage of.

Although Grooveshark’s legal status definitely still remains controversial, it has about 20 million users, and 15 million songs. Like most free music players, Grooveshark contains banner ads, but that does not stop it from containing tons of songs to play and enjoy, as well as compile for personal playlists. There have been tons of takedown notices and other complaints for this program, so you could say it has been in some deep trouble ever since the beginning. Unlike Spotify, Grooveshark mostly downloads MP3 files, which is why sometimes you will get a song that is a bit scratchier or hollow sounding than others.

The songs often vary in volume, so it can go from a loud song to a soft song, which is normal for most devices but can sometimes cause problems if you adjust your volume loud enough to be consumed by the tunes. It is very easy to access, and you can actually choose which songs you can listen to (vs. Pandora), and you do not get kicked out if you are not paying for it (vs. Spotify). There are no restrictions on how much music you can indulge on, and you have a “to-play” queue at the bottom of the page, where you can choose to add a playlist you have made, or just random songs that you are in the mood for. You can delete songs at any time, or clear the entire queue. If you want, that mismatch jam you just made up can be put into a new playlist.

One of the downsides to Grooveshark is that the quality varies once in a while, depending on what source the song was downloaded from. Another is that the player will occasionally stop loading and tell you to refresh the page. Some very obscure artists might not show up in your search, and Grooveshark’s legal issues sometimes keep the latest releases from showing up at first.

Although Grooveshark definitely has some flaws, and there has never been a person who has turned down free music when you get the chance. Like Spotify, this gives you the chance to look around and browse music without having to buy it and commit to it, and figure out what you really like other than what is just a phase.