If you're into strictly mainstream music, this is the place to go to check out unsigned bands. But there's no subgenres, so everything gets bunched up and often misclassified. Songs that are unusual, original, or subgenre-specific tend to score poorly in their charts, and you'll have to really work to find them. But the contest generates all their funding, so there's no hope in sight. It's more American Idol than a way to find really good bands outside the industry monopoly, and in fact their patent-pending contest tends to mirror industry bigotry and conformity.

While the selection of music seems astounding, I can't register or even ask for help. Tech assistance that requires you to execute something on the web server is bad - especially when the web server is non-functional. A better idea would be email with an automatic responder. So - for my 2 cents - if you can't register easily, pass it up.

Such a cool site. You get a chance to listen to individuals or groups from all over the world, and, quite similar to what Rateitall does, except much more extensive, you rate what you listen to. It's a blind test, meaning you don't know anything about what you're listening to, so it's extremely fair and unbiased. Not until you have written your review do you find the profile of the music. The artist can even respond to what you had to say, so the opportunities for contacting people from around the world are endless. All you do is choose a genre, and you're off. You can even earn points to receive a free cd. What more do you want from a music site?