The Bottom Line
PureVolume is a music-based community where record labels, artists, and listeners can interact. Artists get a great set of promotional tools enabling them to, upload music, photos, and announce tour dates. If you are a listener searching for new music then you'll find PureVolume a great resource. There is a reasonable spread of music genres that you can browse through and a good search facility. The streaming audio service at times can be painfully slow which impacts on the user-experience. That said, PureVolume is certainly worth a look if you are in need of some fresh music to listen to that isn't mainstream.
Pros
- Website is easy to navigate and use
- Good selection of music genres to browse through
- Active members' forum
- Good membership services
Cons
- Streaming audio service can be painfully slow at times
- The majority of the music can only be streamed
- No advanced search option for downloadable music
Description
- Service type: Unlimited, Free and Legal
- Music library: 400,000+ artists
- Available music formats: MP3
- Music Delivery: HTTP, streaming audio
Guide Review - PureVolume: A Review of the Free and Legal PureVolume Music Service
Introduction
PureVolume has been in existence since 2003 and operates both online and offline. Its sponsorship, via several top companies, allows it to not only run an Internet-based music service but also be involved in top music festivals across the United States. Its main focus though is to provide a music-based social network for artists who can reach out to the masses.
Services: Once you have signed up and generated a free listener account, you can use the following bonus membership services:
- Integrated music player
- A personal blog
- Upload your own photos
- Forums
Website: Although PureVolume's website design is clean and fairly intuitive to use, there are times when the streaming audio delivery is painfully slow. When trying to play some of the tracks, the browser sometimes just sits there waiting for a connection; this is frustrating and could drive away first-time visitors. The listener account screen has a useful navigational sidebar which you can use to manage your blogs, photos, favorite artists, friends list, etc. At the top of the screen there are tabs for, music searching, charts, videos, albums, and who's on tour. This last feature is particularly useful if you want to check out what bands are on tour in a particular area via zip code.
Media: There is a small selection of music videos on PureVolume but it is audio that is predominantly catered for. The selection on offer is reasonably large with over 400,000 artists promoting their creations. PureVolume's music library is predominately made up of streaming audio content but there are quite a lot free downloads to be had too. Audio quality is very good for both downloads and streaming audio.
Music Delivery and Formats: The music is provided in the MP3 format for downloads and streaming audio is near CD quality.
