I’ve always loved living in cities with big music scenes, but I’ve had problems keeping up with the multitude of shows going on in any given month. Thankfully, the internet has some pretty handy tools out there. I use iCal religiously and consequently it has become the hub of my musical listings. Here you’ll notice the 3 iCal feeds I use, iConcertCal, Sonic Living, and Tourfilter.

iConcertCal is a great iTunes plug-in that generates a calendar of upcoming shows in your city based off of your music library. You’re also able to see upcoming CD releases and share this calendar with others.

After you’ve installed the plug-in, access the calendar by going to view > visualizer > iconcertcal or by using command + t. This will get you into the plug-in so you can personalize it. You can change the city and radius as well as add a show. In preferences you’re able to set your sharing options, upcoming release filters, and most importantly, your iCal exporting options. This is where you’ll see the path to your iconcertcal.ics file to import into iCal.

Sonic Living is a social network based around events and music. It’s probably the most powerful concert tool I use. You’re able to add artists automatically, using its iTunes scanning tool, and by syncing to your Last.fm and Pandora accounts. Once your artists are loaded you have a bunch of different ways to organize the information. The “Shows” page contains all of the different categories in the left hand column. This is where you’ll start.

All of your artists will be located in the Wishlist category. It is here that you can add shows to your confirmed list. My preferred method is to scan my Wishlist, add shows I plan on attending and then subscribing to that iCal feed. You have a ton of other options though. This is where Sonic Living really wins me over.

You are given 5 different categories that contain 8 different feeds. There’s also an iGoogle widget, blog badges, Facebook widget, and an iPhone application that is integrated with the iTunes music store. As if that weren’t enough, you can add Flickr photos of an event by tagging that photo in your Flickr account with a special tag. There’s a lot going on at Sonic Living, so brace yourself.

Tourfilter, the last of my concert tool trilogy, is the minimalist of the group. I started using this website in 2006 and have watched it grow to over 60 major cities worldwide. It’s no-frills but does offer a RSS and iCal feed as well as email notifications of shows in your town. You have to manually add artists to your list, but this can be a good thing for those of you not wanting to sift through a behemoth, automatically generated, list.

After you’ve logged in, the homepage is the only page you’ll ever need. It shows the upcoming concerts in your city, your complete artist list with the ability to add more, and links to other people’s lists. It’s lightweight and very DIY which is why I like it. The data is monitored by humans so if you see an error or have a question, someone will always get back to you.

Of course, my 3 suggestions are not the only options. Last.fm’s events may be all you need or perhaps BeeThere is your favorite. They both offer feeds and some organizational features. If it’s a widget you want, then OnTour is a path you might want to take. Maybe you want more than just music-centered events. This is where Eventful might be useful.

One interesting mention is a website called PodBop. Their concert listings are powered by Eventful. Here you can download a podcast of music playing in your area. It’s community driven and my city isn’t a very active PodBop community but yours may be, so check it out.

My main reasoning for using the above three services is in the instant access I have to the information when I need it most. Sometimes I’m listening to music in iTunes and I want to know if this artist is in town. A quick apple+T and I have the information. Other times I’m in my iCal and need to check to see if a show interferes with something else I have planned. I use Tourfilter and Sonic Living when I’m surfing the web or on a friend’s computer. It’s nice to have a few options.

You may wonder where a lot of these websites are getting their data. Many music websites have APIs available and this is making it easier for developers to create custom applications. Programmable Web’s article, 25 Music APIs, is a great place to start for those of you thinking about tackling your own project or wanting more suggestions. I’d love to hear what some of you use and why.

Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie, music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

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Trendrr allows you to track 20 different data sets from a number of popular sites around the web. You can track social networking stats like Myspace profile views or Twitter user stats, sales information like Amazon sales rankings and eBay auctions or maybe you just want to track various stock tickers. Currently there are 20 different data sources for you to choose from, with more being added as the site grows.

You’re also able to create custom data sets using either a RESTful API or inputting the data yourself by uploading a spreadsheet or using their web based interface. The API is great for developers who want to use Trendrr’s graphing capabilities. I’m not an expert on APIs so if any of you use it let us all know how it goes.

Each graph can be customized allowing you to have a line, area, area gradient, scatter or bar graph. The colors are customizable, as are the graph titles. Data can also be exported in an xml, json, or excel file.

In the upper right hand corner of your screen you have something called a “Trendrr scratchpad.”

This handy little space allows you to merge 2-3 different data sets for comparison. All you have to do is drag and drop the different data sets into this scratch pad. This particular user used the scratchpad to merge news story data for the top three U.S. Presidential Candidates.

Trendrr’s sharing ability is also pretty cool. You can view other user’s data sets, comment on them, embed the graphs on your blog or website, and vote on popular trends. Don’t worry, you can elect whether or not you want your data sets to be made public so you can keep your private data for your eyes’ only.

The site’s social networking elements are sparse but common. You’re able to friend others and blog on your very own Trendrr blog. RSS feeds are also available so you can keep up to date on your favorite user’s data sets.

Setting up your first dataset is simple. You just click on “Start Tracking” and away you go. My first data sets were from YouTube. I decided I was going to compare two of YouTube’s most viral videos, Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain” video and the infamous Rick Roll video. I was curious to see if there was any correlation between their views per day. I encourage you to try something basic just to get a feel for things. Data can take up to 24 hours to populate.

Trendrr has the potential to be useful for everyone. Bands can track their Myspace data and see how it correlates to their latest blog mentions. Internet marketers can gain some insight into their social marketing efforts or keep an eye on their brands across the social networking landscape. An individual can easily satisfy their narcissistic needs by tracking themselves on all of their social accounts. The list could go on and on.

I have had fun perusing the trends of others and trying to think of different things to track but Trendrr isn’t just for fun. Give it a try and let us know how you were able to use its features for your business. It has tremendous potential.

Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie, music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

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Lala is a music player, store and discovery tool. It’s also a fantastically downplayed CD trading site. Back in 2006 or so, Lala was primarily a platform for trading CDs with other users. Today, the focus is on its music player but the trading community is what makes it a great site.

For $1 per trade and $.75 for shipping, you can request CDs from other users. At the same time, other users are requesting them from you. You can revamp your collection for the price of one CD and you never have to step foot in a store or a post office!

To start, add the CDs you have to your Have List. This can take a little time. I did it in increments. It can be a little emotionally jaunting to realize that it’s time to get rid of your Norwegian death metal collection, but you’ll feel cleansed in the end. Next comes the fun part, adding CDs you want to your Want List. Usually this occurs in bursts of music fits where you’ll decide you want a band’s entire discography.

Trading CDs is just like renting DVDs from Netflix. But, before you can trade you need to request envelopes. When you’re a more experienced user you can request up to 10 envelopes, but to start, Lala will send you 5 prepaid envelopes and 5 thick cardboard CD sleeves. Once you receive them then you’re ready to start sending them out. In your Have List, you’ll see the albums people are requesting followed by a “ship it” button.

After you’ve agreed to ship a CD, you’re taken to a screen that will ask whether or not you have the cover art. It is also possible to flag which of your discs have no cover art prior to this so Lala knows beforehand. Some users are really into cover art. If it’s an album I plan on keeping in my collection, I must have the cover art. Electing to receive CDs without cover art can speed up the trading process as lots of people are missing artwork. Once you’ve got all of the discs ready to ship, Lala will ask you to activate each envelope so it can be tracked. You input the 7-digit code and hit activate. Now you’re ready to drop them off in the closest mailbox.

Receiving CDs is always exciting. Your Have List isn’t set up like a queue so you have no way of knowing which ones will be sent next. It’s a surprise every time. To keep the trading fair, Lala ensures the ratio of sent vs. received is somewhat even. This way everyone in the community is equally sending and receiving. You can always see how many CDs you’ve traded, how many are on the way, and which are awaiting receipt confirmation.

Upon receipt, it’s good to test the disc and then confirm that it’s been received in good condition. I have yet to get one that won’t play. Lala’s policy states that all traded CDs must be in good condition. If you receive a damaged disc you can report it.

You’ll notice when you go to Lala.com that there is no information on CD trading. It’s like Lala’s forgotten stepchild. Don’t let that fool you though. There is a thriving trading community that most likely wants your Norwegian death metal. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of their user base primarily uses it for trading. The rest of their services are ok but with Last.FM, Anywhere.fm, Pandora, Imeem and the rest of the music player sites, they have a lot of competition. Trading CDs this effectively, now there’s an edge.

If you’re looking for a way to trade more than just CDs, Mark did a great post titled “9 Websites to Swap Your Stuff”. The post offers good suggestions for trading DVDs, books and games. Most are US only, like Lala, so international users keep that in mind. There’s also a post in the directory that highlights Lala’s music player features.

As the epitome of a music/tech geek hybrid, Lala satisfies both my hunger for a new, tangible, piece of music (hooray for album artwork!) and my need to constantly stay connected to the digital world. It’s a fun and useful spin on trading music online.

Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie, music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

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SearchMe is a visual search engine that gives you results in a slick, cover flow view. Visual search is nothing new. Tools like Spacetime, also with a cover flow view, and GooglePreview, a Firefox plug-in, are attempting to give you a visual search experience but both require you to download something.

Others, like Snap, have given visual search, sans download, a try but they never seem to gain enough traction and change strategies. Still some visual search engines remain. Exalead and EagleFind, both incorporate some form of visual search but they are nowhere near as visually pleasing as SearchMe.

Besides its visual appeal, SearchMe’s biggest advantage is its categorization feature. As you type your search query, categories auto-populate. This is handy for a search like “L7”, a band, a cell phone model and a sizing option. In this case I meant the band, so I can select the most relevant category and skip the useless information. You still have the option of searching through uncategorized results, should you need to.

The displayed results are eye catching but you have no idea how many results matched your search. However, I found my results to be pretty accurate and free of junk, especially after selecting a category. Maybe that’s because SearchMe isn’t as massive as Google, with about one billion pages indexed (compared to Google’s 20 billion). Even so, having a total number of results would be handy. For those of you addicted to the list view, you can adjust the cover flow view so you can see a list view as well. I still need a list view when I search. I haven’t completely adapted to visual only.

There are a handful of customization features that allow you to personalize your searches. Adult content is automatically filtered out of your results but you can opt for an unfiltered search experience. You also have the option of selecting either a “day” or “night” theme to your search page. One other preference is the ability to set whether or not links open in a new window. Kind of pointless when most search savvy users will apple/ctrl click to open links in a new window. SearchMe seems useful for searches with results that would be better displayed visually, like videos or photographs. In time, it may prove to be an engine capable of competing with Google, but it’s hard to imagine anything capable of that.

It’s still in private beta but they’re giving everyone access if you submit an email address. If you’re skeptical about it, watch the demo and see if that draws you in. I still find myself going back to Google for most searches but I enjoy having the ability to search visually, especially with cover flow. It just looks cool.

Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie, music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Muxtape allows you to upload up to 12 MP3’s, organize them, and share them via a personalized URL that streams the flash-embedded music. Like the name implies, it’s like sharing a mix-tape with a friend. Those of us that grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s know the significance of a mix-tape. It’s that painstaking process of picking out the best 12 tracks that gives Muxtape that personal edge that most music sharing sites are missing.

Perhaps the main difference is how incredibly simple it is. Customization is basic with your username serving as your personal URL and your desired color, in hexadecimal value, for your muxtape’s color bar. Once the MP3’s are uploaded, organizing them is as simple as drag and drop. At that point you’re ready to start handing out the URL!

Playback is done via an embedded online flash player that can be controlled using the return key for playback and the left-right arrow keys for moving within the playlist. You also have the option of adding muxtapes to your favorites list which is only viewable from your own login page. If you really like a specific muxtape you can also subscribe to its feed or just bookmark it. It’s that easy!

The legality of the site is definitely a concern for some people, as with any new form of music sharing. With Anywhere.fm, Hypster.com, and the slew of other mp3 uploading/music sharing sites out there, Muxtape appears to be most subdued thus making it less of a legal target. Even when compared to alternative services like Mixwit, Muxtape seems to be on a better ground. Muxtape is going to great measures to ensure that the uploaded tracks cannot be downloaded. The open source flash player plays link referrals and that linked file expires in 2 seconds making it difficult to find the file name and download it.

While Muxtape is very basic and devoid of any “real” features this is what sets it apart. For those of us who don’t want new music suggestions, to share our whole libaries, or be forced to share music in a social networking environment this site is a godsend. It’s biggest feature is that it has no features except the personalization we inject into it by painstakingly selecting our 12 perfect tracks.

(By) Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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