Everyone loves music, but if your collection's beginning to feel a little stale, take some time this weekend to overhaul your library. Here are some neat things you might want to check out.


Photo remixed from an original by photosteve101.

Find New Artists and Genres


Obviously, the first step in discovering new music is to hear something new. You won't get this just by playing through your own library, so we recommend checking out a music discovery service instead. Whether it's a traditional online radio service like Pandora, a service that integrates with your favorite player (like these Spotify-based radios), or a less traditional service like Turntable.fm, you're sure to stumble upon something you haven't heard before. And, with a few tricks and tools, you can make funneling those new tracks into your library as easy as a few clicks.

Five Best Music Discovery Services The internet is a powerful vehicle for discovering not just information, but media, too. Let's take Read more

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Cultivate Your Local Library


If you keep a local library of music, it can take a bit of upkeep. First, of course, you need to find a place to get that music—which usually means heading to an online store like iTunes or Amazon MP3, though if you're a bit old fashioned, you could always buy it on CD and rip it yourself.


Next, make sure you have a good desktop media player at your disposal. There are tons of choices out there for any platform, and once you've found the perfect one, you can easily set up a process that automatically imports any music you download to save yourself some hassle.


After that, it's just a matter of making sure your library's organized and easy to search. Use some of our favorite MP3 tagging tools to whip your music's metadata into shape, if need be. And, if you need to manage multiple libraries—like if you have songs with different bitrates—we've written a guide on how to do that too. And, lastly, if you have more than one computer, you can sync your library between all of them with Dropbox.

Six Best MP3 Tagging Tools A well tagged MP3 collection makes everything from organization to playback easier. Keep reading… Read more


Stream Your Library Everywhere


If having your music on your computer isn't enough (or it's just too much of a pain to organize), you can run headfirst into the future and stream your music just about anywhere. We've asked you what your favorite streaming services are, but generally they fall into one of a few categories. Some, like Google Music, Subsonic, or Plex, will stream the songs you already own and have organized. Others, like Pandora, are more radio-based and will stream songs from their own collection. Other services, like Grooveshark, Spotify, and Rdio, give you access to a huge amount of music, while scanning your local library for the songs you already have—so you aren't left with something overwhelming. To find out which one is the best for you, check out our full comparison of cloud music services.

Five Best Streaming Music Services If you’re looking for something good to listen to, you have tons of services, both free and paid… Read more


Bring Your Music With You


Lastly, it's unlikely you only listen to music while actually sit in front of your computer. Most of the above streaming services will also stream to your phone (usually for a fee), but you can just as easily sync your local library with your device. iPods and iPhones sync with iTunes pretty gloriously, but you can manage them even if you aren't an iTunes user, and with a bit of work, you can sync your Android device with Windows or OS X just as seamlessly as an iPhone. Android users might want to check out one of the many great alternative music players, and while you may not believe it, iOS users have a few great choices too. If you're rocking an older iPod or MP3 player, breathe new life into it with Rockbox instead of shelling out for something new. Combine all that with a perfect pair of headphones, and you're ready to rock out anywhere in the world.


We write a lot about music here at Lifehacker, and all this is just scratching the surface. So if you want to dig a bit deeper, be sure to check out our #music tag, and share your favorite music discovery tips, tricks, and services in the comments!

You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.



