Streaming Music to the xo?
A few things I've learned so far
Kim Toufectis
Sugar Learning Club-DC
August 2009
The xo can help connect us to the web and world. 

When we connect, why not find some music to play?
But...
I don't want to spend much (any?) money
I don't like to carry a pile of memory sticks
So...
I went looking online for help
I found many options, but most overtax the xo
To begin...
I installed Adobe Flash Player
Still...
There is a lot to choose from
Some dislike this because it's not open source.  I prefer open source, but for now this is the way that works for me...
Music websites often have video and complex designs that stop my xo
what I look 
for...
runs well on the xo
plenty of choices
my own music
new music
I get to pick
free
Pandora...
Has a lot of what I seek...
...but I can't find any way to get it to run on the xo.  I use it on other computers, though, even my even-slower 10-year-old Apple iBook...try it out if you haven't yet.
Jamendo...
diverse
new music
free to listen
free to download
runs pretty well
helps musicians
social
But your favorite artists are probably not there...
Last.fm...
plays songs like a musician I choose
runs from my cloud computer desktop
streams music for free
plays popular music
lets me skip songs I dislike
But their website makes the xo stutter
and it doesnt' adapt to my taste
and it repeats songs sometimes
Finetune...
keeps it simple
plays a diverse mix
runs great on the xo
streams music for free
lets me pick an artist or genre
lets me skip songs I don't like
runs more ways with Firefox
but it repeats music more than I like
it mixes Christmas songs in all year round
it mixes in genres I didn't ask for...
LaLa...
plays well on the xo
streams my tunes free
sorts my music like iTunes
I pick and choose
finds me related music
streams any whole song once for free
I can buy most songs to stream for 10 cents or less (first 50 are free)
But if I want to download new music I have to pay for it
I needed a PC to upload my music before I could use the xo to listen
and more...
musopen
radio.video.jazz
npr
musicovery
some fine print:  your milage may vary...
I'm no expert, just an enthusiastic learner
You might value different things than me
Different OS versions could affect performance
Browsers (Opera, Firefox, Browse) could vary results
All this depends on a good internet connection
There's much more out there to explore...
so go try for yourself and let us know what you learn!