When Molly Sharrah, senior interior design major, wants to listen to music she turns on an Internet radio website.

“Internet radio sites give people the chance to listen to what they want to listen to,” Sharrah said. “I can choose any genre, any song, any artist and I just have to plug in the name and I can listen to it.”

Three of the most used Internet radio websites and applications are Pandora, 8Tracks and Spotify. In August, CrunchBase database tracked unique visitors for the three sites. Pandora had nearly 15 million unique visitors, 8tracks had more than 100 thousand and Spotify had more than 2.5 million visitors.

Kellie Roach, junior communication studies major, uses 8Tracks because it keeps her from getting too distracted.

“Unlike traditional radio, 8tracks does not have any advertisements,” Roach said. “It is a lot easier to keep focus on assignments when there are no advertisements to distract you.”

When listening to the radio, users must listen to commentary and the news that precedes and follows songs. With 8tracks, Roach is in control of the music.

Melanie Notch, senior fashion merchandising major, prefers Spotify.

“With Spotify I can control what is being played, and my genre of music I prefer is what is going to be on, rather as the radio is just playing what everyone wants to hear in the area,” Notch said.

Lindsey Parada, junior human development and family studies major, would rather use Pandora.

“With Pandora, you can pick a song or an artist that reflects your mood for that day and the site will play all similar songs which saves time by looking for them yourself and having to play each individual song,” Parada said.

Evan Gildenblatt, senior applied conflict management major, likes the variety.

“Streaming music services introduces variety into the playlists that they might not otherwise get,” Gildenblatt said. “It allows them to expand their musical horizons.”

Contact Shannon Fox at [email protected].