Twelve alternatives to Facebook's Music app
Music (formerly known as iLike) is a music listening service that allows you to add tracks to your Facebook profile, share playlists with friends, and play games. It practically owns the space on the popular social network.
But it's not the only music app on Facebook. Quite the contrary, there are a variety of apps that provide the same basic service as Music. Some of those apps do it quite well.
Free Music Player When you search for a song in Free Music Player, it tries to find the track on YouTube. If it's available on the video site, you'll be able to view the music video and sing along.
Imeem It's not the easiest app to use, but if you want to add practically any song you can think of, plus some music videos to your profile, Imeem will help you do it. All the songs can be added for free. And they can be played anywhere you can access your Facebook profile.
Last.fm is pretty neat on Facebook.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)Last.fm All of your favorite Last.fm features can be enjoyed on Facebook. Whether you want to listen to songs, create a shared playlist, or check out what your friends are listening to, you can do it with the Last.fm app. (Disclosure: Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News.)
MixPod Playlist MixPod Playlist lets you find songs on the MixPod service, add tracks to a playlist, and listen to them as often as you like. You can also share that playlist on other social networks, like MySpace and Bebo.
MP3 Player If you want to listen to tracks from Shoutcast or MP3s you uploaded from your computer, MP3 Player will help you do it. It's not the best app in this roundup, but it's simple to use, so that counts for something.
Music Music (by Burst Development, not iLike) allows you to upload songs, send the service a link to add the destination track to your playlist, or search through its database to find songs you like. Plus, it has an API available if you want to customize your playlist. I like it a lot.
Music Videos Music Videos from Yahoo and RockYou helps you find music videos from your favorite artists (both new and older) and add them to your profile. They can be viewed anytime you access your profile.
The other Music is a useful tool, too.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)My Music My Music syncs your iTunes and Windows Media Player library to your Facebook profile. You can listen to your most recently added tracks or shuffle songs. Try it out. You won't regret it.
Pandora Pandora isn't a direct competitor to Music because it won't let you add any song you want to your playlist, but the app is outstanding. You can create stations, rate a song, and sit at your computer all day listening to different tracks that its discovery engine determines you'll like. I highly recommend it.
Profile Music Player If you're looking for millions of songs to add to your playlist, Profile Music Player isn't for you (it only has 63,000 tracks to choose from). But if you want to have an app that lets you easily add tracks from artists you might not know about, this service is a good place to start.
Profile Songs It won't let you add multiple tracks at the same time nor will it let you create playlists, but Profile Songs will at least give you the option to add your favorite song to your profile. You can switch it anytime you want. The selection is pretty good too.
ReverbNation ReverbNation is a fine alternative to Music. It allows you to add tracks from relatively well-known artists and others you've probably never heard of. But its "Dig it?" feature is its most compelling offering because it gives you a list of tracks from friends that you might like, based on its stellar music discovery engine. Try out ReverbNation. I think you'll like it.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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