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While jango.com may not be the first website to marry music and social networking, it may be the first to marry a player into the mix so succinctly.

The site, still in beta and labeled as Social Internet Radio, is much like pandora.com in that you put in one artist or one song and a radio station will play a stream of songs similar in style to that song or artist.  But, unlike Pandora, which uses characteristics in the songs to create the radio stream, Jango uses the likes and dislikes of other Jango users to create its playlist.  The result is meant to be a stream of suggested songs you may like from a social network of people that love music.

So, while plugging in Frank Sinatra naturally produces a list of artists such as Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Harry Connick, Jr. for a user to select as additional favorite, it may also conjure up music from Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Nina Simone if other Frank Sinatra loving Jango users approve of these artist as well.  Similarly, if a big ‘ole group of folks love Sinatra and Dr. Dre , these seemingly unlike artists may end up on the same radio stream. Additionally, the more songs or artists a user adds, the more diverse the station selections.

The site originally launched in 2006 and is licensed with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange. The service is currently free and requires no downloads - a big plus for at work listening within companies that hold tight administrative controls over downloads.

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