Mixpod Review

One day while visiting a friend's blog I realized she had a song playing in the background and after that song played another began and so forth.  I looked around her blog and noticed a little music stick and saw the rewind and fastforward buttons.  She had a music playlists on her blog and below the music stick was a logo telling you it was powered by http://www.mixpod.com I clicked on the link and well, the rest is history.

The mixpod is a free site for use on your computer.  I have put a music playlist on my personal blog too and whenever I am in the study for long periods of time I might listen to my playlist.

How does mixpod.com work?  It's very easy.  You sign up (that's free).  The user creates a screen name and password.  Some systems will allow you to "remember" screen name and password.  The mixpod.com is also a social networking site; which I don't use.  I'm just there for the music but you can establish a personal profile, view other profiles and music playlists and leave other people comments on their boards.

I have really enjoyed www.mixpod.com because sometimes I'll just be doing a music search and I am always amazed at what I can find.  You're allowed to have up to 200 songs on a playlist.  I have various genres all on one playlist so I may be listening to classic country and then the next song might be southern gospel and then on to a pop song.  When I realized I could have more than one playlist just by giving it a different name I thought I might make mine by genres but I actually like the blend I have right now.

www.mixpod.com has a wonderful search engine.  If you know the song title or artist you can type either in and click search.  The site will then generate a list of suggestions.  The trick is finding the right song.  You have to be very careful because some songs are not the artist performing but rather someone else has uploaded their version, perhaps a friend performing the song.  The title will tell you that though, "John Doe performing Erick Clapton's Tears In Heaven."  Usually when there are multiple songs I go after what appears to be the album cover.  All isn't lost if you select the wrong song.  First, you can listen to the song before you add it to your playlist.  Second, you can delete songs from your playlist.

How do you organize your playlist? 

Each time you add a new song it will be added to the bottom of the list.  However, you can drag it to a different location on the playlist.  Each time you rearrange the list, add or delete a song; you just click save list and a box will appear telling you the changes were saved.

Designing your playlist. 

There are a lot of different skins for your playlists.  Some are larger and cute designs that appear overwhelming on a blog.  I am currently using a mini-ipod design for my personal blog and a larger cassette design on mixpod.  The designs have a radio panel on them so that you can skip back and forth to different songs.

What I really like about the www.mixpod.com.  Several weeks ago I was looking for some Celtic Thunder music to add to my playlist.  I typed in Celtic Thunder and guess what I discovered?  Their new album, Take Me Home,  that wasn't to be released for another week was already at www.mixpod.com.  I got to listen to about five or six of their new songs and then I went to amazon.com and preordered both the Take Me Home CD and DVD.  Had I not been on mixpod I would not have known that Celtic Thunder was releasing a new CD.

You can also buy the songs in MP3 format.  Most are selling for $2.99 each.

Last night I discovered a new feature that was really awesome!  Depending on what option you choose when you sign into your playlist.  They now show videos from youtube that accompany your song.  I got to watch a slew of the Gaither and Homecoming Friends Choir perform southern gospel music live.  These videos aren't always the music video performed by the artists.  They're usually videos that others have made and posted on youtube.  If there isn't a video available on youtube the mixpod will show a picture of the artist or the album cover.  And a few of the songs had the lyrics scrolling across the screen while the music played.

If you see me on Twitter and I am telling friends what I'm listening to on my mixpod.  Well, now you know what I'm talking about.  I have introduced a lot of my Twitter friends to www.mixpod.com and many have incorporated the playlist into their blogs.  Another cool thing is that if you are listening to someone else's playlist you can add songs from their list to your own if you are already signed into your playlist.

One or two downsides.  Sometimes I will be listening to my playlist and then open another window.  If I forget to choose the option to open in a new window I will lose my playlist because the new window replaces it.  I have to remember to open in a new window so that I keep my playlist going.  Also, you can't control the playlist from your keyboard with your CD buttons.  You have to be on the playlist to rewind and fastforward.

So, are you looking for a hard to find song?  Give www.mixpod.com a try.  Looking for some popular songs that are being played right now?  Try www.mixpod.com.  You can visit my playlist at http://www.mixpod.com/playlist/25136162 It's labeled under Gigi M's Playlist and the title of my playlist is Gigi's Blog Radio.