Pandora

I haven't been a big user of streaming Internet audio. Until now. I'm now a Pandora addict. Pandora uses artificial-intelligence-like features to learn what music you like, so the more you listen, the better the music gets. The algorithm uses hundreds of attributes (composer, tempo, instrumentation, harmony, etc). You can start with predefined "stations", or set up your own.

As each song plays, you can give it a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. You can also click and get surprisingly detailed information about the work, the composer, or the recording.

After training a station for a while, I find that Pandora starts suggesting works that I might not have considered listening to, but which I end up liking very, very much.

My favorite stations are the predefined Contemporary Gospel station, and "If It Ain't Baroque Don't Fix It," which emphasizes virtuoso recorder works. At this moment, users have created and shared 18 violin-related and 21 fiddle-related stations, including "Violin Rock" and "Classical Violin."

So far, it's been ad-free (though they're careful to say that could change).