Looking at some of the web apps out there, you will be tempted to think that they have taken the “˜community’ bit a bit too far. But then, you just might turn around and say that’s a cool idea after all. I didn’t say any of these things when I first chanced upon Jelli.

I just said, “Hey, it looks kind of cool.” I didn’t understand what this free online radio music streaming site was all about at first. You also might not. So, here’s the curtain raiser.

Jelli is a user controlled online radio streaming service. User controlled, did you say? Yes, Jelli gives its community of listeners the decision power to decide what gets played. Moving an item up or down a list through user votes is not novel. We see it every day in all sorts of forums and in a variety of lists including music playlists. Take Digg, for example. But Jelli takes this idea and turns online radio broadcasting on its head. I believe there tagline ““ 100% user controlled radio.

Power to the people I say! But how does Jelli work?

In a simple sequence of three steps. Once you login with your Facebook account or with a new Jelli registration, the graphic below does all the explaining. Let’s take this 3-step map as the starting point and move into Jelli.

The Station Tuner is where it starts. Right now, there are five Jelli stations with more coming soon. Pick a station. You can see which five songs which got played recently and the current trends in that station. You can also see how active the station is (i.e. the number of listeners it has right now) by looking at the green radioactivity meter. Click on Tune In to get into the station.

Clicking on the Listen button starts the stream of songs in that station. The songs may open up in a web player or it might start your media player. Jelli supports music players in Windows, Mac and Linux.

Now it is up to you and the community to shape the playlist for the free music streaming site. That happens through the online equivalent of show of hands. Click on the green checkmark or the red cross to vote the song up or down. The higher rated songs are played first. You can also Rock the song that’s on air, or Suck it down. That decides the ultimate fate of the song depending on the number of yeas and nays.

There are other ways to influence what gets played on Jelli. Rockets can power up a song up the chart in one swift move and give it the best shot to being played. Bombs do the exact reverse. Each user has a limited number of such power ups and he earns them the more he plays on Jelli.

You can also keep your favorites and vote for all of them in one go. Or check someone else’s favorites and vote for theirs.

That’s not all that you can do with the Jelli community. While you are listening, you can chat live with fellow listeners. This one is like an interactive chat board while the Message feature on every user’s profile page can be used for sending 500 character-limited one to one messages.

Jellybeans for the ears

It’s definitely a free online music radio streaming site with a difference. The first thing that will strike you is the coolness. It really looks like a cool place to hang out with its swank web design. It’s a breeze to navigate and I didn’t get any glitches at all.

Of course, you don’t have the ultimate control over any song but you don’t have it for any radio station, do you. Jelli does one better by letting you play your way to your favorite song. Read the FAQ for all there is to learn about the site.

Hey, Jelli just announced that they are going to play the song which I had rocketed just a while back. So, while I listen to it”¦why don’t you too visit Jelli and tell us if it gets you all radio-active.