Jango Personal Radio - It's No Echo

As you can probably tell, I'm sort of a psycho when it comes to music. I also am quite addicted to web apps. Put the two together and I'm there.

Back during the original dot.com boom, while working at a start up myself, a group of us started using a streaming audio service called Echo.

Echo was a great service and I was really sorry to see it go. A small web client presented you with a shared listening experience as everyone listening to a station was hearing the same thing in real time. The Skip and Don't Skip buttons made it interactive. Everyone voted and majority ruled.

Integrated also was a built in chat or IM type service - discuss the songs being played or, like us, bitch about our jobs.

Easy rating of songs made for a really enjoyable experience and a rewards program for listening or recruiting earned me some nice prizes.

I think Echo was just ahead of the curve. I recall a deal was announced that would have moved them into online sales but it never materialized and Echo was silenced soon after.

Fast forward to now and I have still yet to find something that works as well.

While I have always been a big fan of last.fm, the listening experience is less than social. I can see what others are listening to, I can listen to their stations, but the listening experience is still a solo venture. The community aspect is growing but it is limited to the web site and is independent of the actual listening experience.

Pandora is a great service as well and produces a great listening experience. Again though, I can share a station or listen to another user's station, there is no interactivity or shared experience.

Enter Jango: "Personal radio that learns from your taste and connects you to others who like what you like...

As you listen, your player will show other people listening to the same artist. You can "tune in" to the songs they're listening to, chat or share your music with friends."

That sounds intriguing.