If you’re looking to expand your musical horizons, or maybe your friend or teenage daughter has been telling you about some new band or song you should check out, the process has never been easier.

Between satellite music channels, Internet radio and online music download stores, there’s plenty of ways to catch new tunes. One of the popular social-networking type of music listening sites, Last.fm, announced that it’s giving people even greater options for streaming music.

The CBS-owned site will allow users to stream any of the full songs and full albums in its 3.5-million song database, which features the four major record labels as well as lots of independent material. That’s a whole lotta tunes to peruse.

Is there a catch, you ask? Sort of. You can only stream the same song up to three times. Then you’re hit with encouragement to purchase a Last.fm subscription, whereby you’ll be able to play any song to your heart’s delight.

Also, remember it’s not a download site—it’ll link to online stores like iTunes or Amazon if you want to purchase music.

And as this is the era of social network, the coolest thing might be finding people on the website with similar tastes to you, yet listen to some different groups. Now you can hear the entire album before deciding to grab it on CD.

Via: Ars Technica

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!