Sticky

Last.fm
Last.fm is a service offered that tracks what you play through your media player (scrobbling) and records it to your profile. This is then used to determine recommendations for you based on your most played music. Last.fm actually does a decent job of making recommendations by seeing what you've listened to the most and then comparing that to other users with similar top artists, then making recommendations based on what artists the other users have listened to that you haven't.

Last.fm also features something called a shoutbox, which allows you to leave 'shouts' (comments) on other people's profiles. You can use this to discuss music on a more personal level with friends that you meet (in real life or on the internet), ask for recommendations or just make general small talk. The final major feature of last.fm is the radio. The radio allows you to listen to music based around any classification you see fit, be it a genre, artist, album, song or another last.fm user, though it is currently a service that has to be paid for via a subscription in most countries, with only a 50-song free trial being available in most countries. The subscription also gives other various benefits, such as the ability to see who visits your profile.

Last.fm tools

 * http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/ (Collage generator; used for 3x3 threads)
 * http://lastfm.dontdrinkandroot.net/ (Tag cloud generator, other cool tools)
 * http://playground.last.fm/ (Various last.fm tools and projects)

Rate Your Music
From the FAQ: "Rate Your Music (RYM) is an international metadata database where musical albums, EPs, singles, videos and bootlegs (collectively referred to as "releases") are added, rated, and reviewed by users. This data is then used to generate automatic music recommendations for users, create lists of compatible users, and to create lists of top-rated music albums. Weighted averages are used to calculate the ordering for these lists; regular members who write reviews and rate more albums have a greater weight applied to their ratings.

Because users can add, rate and review any album they know of without site approval, RYM can be used to quickly and easily to rate any music collection. A welcome side effect of this policy is that the RYM database is extremely diverse, limited only by the collective knowledge of its users.

RYM is also a community, with extensive message boards and the ability to send private messages and music recommendations to other users."

Discogs
Discogs is a website that is mainly for cataloging music. As a music listener, it can be an invaluable tool for finding correct tags for your files. Discogs also provides comprehensive information on album editions (useful if an album's content varies over time or different formats), release formats, band member history and side projects, label catalogs and much more. Discogs also features a recommendation system, which consists of a list of recommended albums at the end of an album's page, but it's more useful really as a music catalog. Discogs also features a very large user-run marketplace, where you can buy and sell physical formats of music. Sellers and buyers have feedback scores and ratings as well as user stores, and items are graded on their condition, much like eBay. Music is also available in digital formats, if that's your thing.

Review sites

 * allmusic
 * BBC Music
 * Consequence of Sound
 * Dusted
 * FACT Magazine
 * Headphone Commute
 * The Needle Drop
 * Piero Scaruffi's knowledge base
 * Pitchfork
 * The Quietus
 * Resident Advisor
 * Robert Christgau
 * Sputnikmusic
 * Tiny Mix Tapes
 * The Wire
 * xlr8r

Blogs

 * 2dopeboyz
 * Anti-Gravity Bunny
 * Dead Formats
 * EarMilk
 * Et Musique Pour Tous
 * Gorilla vs Bear
 * guide me little tape
 * Jumbly Music
 * KEXP
 * Music Is Amazing
 * Newdust
 * Potholes In My Blog
 * Pretty Much Amazing
 * The Masked Gorilla
 * TheSirensSound
 * Surviving the Golden Age
 * Tome to the Weather Machine
 * YoursTruly

Share Blogs

 * Carried Out To Sea
 * Corrupted Delights
 * Exystence
 * Gerdas-Tanzcafe
 * Hypocrite God
 * I Hate The 90s
 * MG 9
 * Mutant-Sounds
 * NewAlbumReleases
 * NoData
 * Rotten Young Earth
 * Stonerobixxx
 * Terror Noise Audio
 * The Static Fanatic
 * WeFuckingLoveMusic

/mu/tant Blogs

 * John /mu/sack
 * Katze's Psychedelic Finds
 * Lex's Weekly Album
 * Lex's Daily Album (Old Archive)
 * Moosick
 * Wrathem
 * >;3 meow hear me !roar
 * This Machine Kills Capitalists
 * Yusuf shares music that you probably won't like
 * Gupster's "Albums That I Dig"

Record Labels
Record labels are an option that a lot of people seem to forget about. By looking at what record label an artist is/was signed up to, you can find new artists that are/were also signed up. A lot of smaller record labels tend to specialise in smaller genres of music, and they seem to try and hold a particular quality amongst the musicians they sign. It's not recommeded looking up the record label of larger artists, since a lot of them will just be signed to more major record labels, who dont take up artists based on style, but based on what will bring them the most money. Some suggested record labels include:


 * 4AD - Dream Pop, Noise Pop, Singer/Songerwriter, Slowcore, Post Punk
 * 50Weapons (Germany) - Techno, Bass, Funky, Dubstep
 * Art As Catharsis (Australia) - Stoner Rock, Doom Metal, Hardcore
 * Constellation Records (Canada) - Post Rock
 * Count Your Lucky Stars - Emo, Indie
 * Cut Records- Dubstep, Future Garage
 * Drowning.cc (Denmark) - Drone, Doom Metal
 * Ed Banger Records - Electro House, French House, Nu-Disco
 * The Elephant Six Recording Company - Jeff Mangum + friends
 * Enemies List Home Recordings - Shoegaze, Singer/Songerwriter, Black Metal, Dangaze
 * Erstwhile Records - EAI, Onkyo, Drone, Glitch
 * Future Recordings - Emo, Screamo, Post Rock
 * Ghostly International - Electronic, Experimental Pop
 * Gilead Media - Sludge, Stoner, Doom, Black
 * Hessle Audio - Bass, Dubstep, Techno
 * Hospital Productions - Noise, Black Metal, Drone, Power Electronics
 * Hyperdub (UK) - Dubstep, Future Garage, Experimental
 * Lovecraft Records - Alternative, Folk, EDM
 * Mad Decent - Electronic dance, tropical bass, hip-hop
 * Ninja Tune - (UK) Downtempo, Trip-Hop, Nu-Jazz
 * NNA Tapes - Ambient, Drone, Experimental, Noise
 * OWSLA  - Electro, dance, dubstep
 * Quote Unquote - BtMI!, Punk, Ska, Donation Based (Free Albums)
 * R&S - House, Techno, Bass
 * Raster-Noton (Germany) - Glitch, IDM
 * Richter Collective (Ireland) - Math Rock, Post Rock, Instrumental Rock
 * Room40 (Australia) - Ambient, Glitch, Noise, Drone
 * Sacred Bones - Post Punk, Experimental, Noise
 * Season of Mist - Extreme Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal
 * Slumberland - Twee, Dream Pop, Noise Pop
 * Southern Lord - Extreme Metal, Experimental
 * Stasisfield- Experimental Electronic
 * Subpop - More Hipster Garbage
 * Sundazed - 60's pop/rock/psychelia/soul
 * Tempa (UK) - Dubstep, UK Garage
 * Thirdman Records - Rock n Roll, Blues,  Metal
 * Tresor (Germany) - Techno, Minimal Techno, Tech House
 * Ultimae Records - Downtempo Electronic, IDM, Psychedelic, Ambient, Trance
 * Warp Records - IDM, Ambient, Folk, Bass, Indie Rock, Math Rock, Techno

/mu/ Essentials and Flowcharts

 * http://mu-core.blogspot.com/ (Genre recommendations and 'How do I get into x?" guides)
 * http://mu-flowcharts.blogspot.com/ (More flowcharts)

Music Players
Many people wonder what the best music player is for their OS. The best way to find a music player for you is to try several for 2-3 days and choose the one you like the best. A good website for finding alternative software choices is alternativeto.net.

Windows

 * foobar2000 (Feature-packed, lightweight media player; HIGHLY customizable; good file support; a bit imposing for casuals)
 * iTunes (Clean, straightforward media player; more useful if you own various Apple products; bad filetype support.)
 * MusicBee (Good, light, works-out-of-the-box media player; comparable feature set to foobar; somewhat customizable; good file support)
 * Winamp (Media player of choice in the early web days; fairly customizable and extensible; good file type support; a bit antiquated)

GNU/Linux

 * Amarok
 * Audacious
 * Banshee
 * Clementine
 * Rythmbox

OS X

 * iTunes
 * Clementine
 * Nightingale

File Sharing Sites

 * 4shared
 * DepositFiles
 * Mega
 * Rapidgator
 * Rapidshare
 * Zippyshare

3x3 Threads
First, you need a last.fm account and a history of scrobbles to start. Then, head over to www.tapmusic.net/lastfm, type in your last.fm account name, and it'll generate a collage.

What does (a)/(b) mean? What does + (band name or album), (band name or album) mean? What does - (band name or album), (band name or album) mean? The end result should look something like this:
 * (Number of albums you enjoyed)/(Number of albums you've listened to)
 * Don't be confused if the number is less than 9
 * These are the albums in the 3x3 that you've liked
 * i.e., 3/3 +MPP, Cross, Sung Tongs
 * These are the albums in the 3x3 that you did not like.
 * i.e., 0/2 - De-Loused, People Who

''4/6 + Souvlaki, Cross, Deathconsciousness, On Avery Island - Hospice, Is This It ''

Or, if you prefer, simply this: 

''+NMH, Strokes, HANL, SY, Justice -Burst Apart, Brand New''

*Note: there is some use of ~ instead of a + or -, which denotes only partially liking an album. This is the equivalent of 0.5 of an album when giving numerical ratings.

Chart Threads
Chart threads consist of users posting their top 50 or top 100 albums which are then rated or given recommendations upon.
 * Charts can be made at http://topsters.de/
 * Make sure to respond to other people's charts when you post your own.
 * There is no hard and fast rule about when to make a chart, but if you've only listened to <100 albums and can't fill a top 50 it's a good idea to avoid posting a chart.

Listen-along Threads
Occasionally /mu/ will listen to albums together at the same time. Usually when an album first comes out or on an anniversary of an album release. The OP of the thread posts a link to the download of the album and a time to start at (xx:15 would be at 15 minutes past the hour) Everyone then syncs up with http://time.is/New_York and presses play when the time comes. An example of a giant listen-along is muchella.

The Dicklick Brigade

 * http://dicklickbrigade.com Every Saturday at 8PM EST /mu/ gets together and makes an album

Equipment Guides

Headphones

 * /g/ Headphone Guide
 * Another /g/ Headphone Guide
 * Another headphone guide
 * Headphones under $100
 * Why you shouldn't buy Beats

Turntables

 * Turntable Guide: Part 1
 * Turntable Guide: Part 2
 * Turntable Buying Guide

MIDI Controllers/Keyboards

 * What is MIDI? What is a MIDI Controller? (Guide and Tutorial)
 * How to Connect and Configure a MIDI Controller
 * MIDI Controller Reviews
 * Tweak's Keyboard Buying Guide
 * Tweak's Compact Keyboard Controller Buying Guide

Music Theory Resources

 * Music Theory Cheatsheets
 * Free, Downloadable Music Theory Textbook
 * Simple Music Theory Lessons, Exercises
 * Simple Guide to Music Theory
 * In-depth Music Theory/History Resource
 * Find a private teacher

Picking a DAW

 * Comparison of Logic Pro, Ableton and Reason
 * Beginner's Guide to Selecting a DAW