As of late, I’ve been listening to a lot of music via outlets other than my iTunes Library. I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t begin using iTunes until my first year of college, well after a large part of my generation had fallen in love with the program. I recall that first introduction to it when my friend Liz was trying to play “America” by Simon and Garfunkel. She opened up a sleek interface and typed half the word “Amer…” and up popped her results as she typed. I was impressed and immediately asked what I was looking at. She scoffed, squinted her eyes and said, “You don’t know what iTunes is?”

It was one of those technological leaps that we often find ourselves in. One minute you think you are one of the “cool” kids who is on the cutting edge, and the next thing you know someone has made you feel like a caveman who still doesn’t know how to make fire. Of course, I immediately downloaded iTunes and became voracious for new music. My iTunes needed to be fed. With it came my unquenchable need for new artists, songs, genres.

As time moves forward, science develops new tools. It succeeds itself continually, and now many of us find ourselves using iTunes less and less. Earlier today I accidentally clicked the iTunes shortcut on my desktop and cursed myself. I knew it would slow down my computer. More often than not, when told to close down, it will shut down for a second and reappear as if to ask “You didn’t really want me gone, did you?”

You see, iTunes is a memory hog. It is “bloated” software that previously had been proprietary. It was the only thing on the market that managed to do everything you could want in one simple panel; but at what cost? Web pages load slower. My CPU’s temperature and usage skyrocket. Yet the program doesn’t even have a built in equalizer (that I am aware of)!

So, what have I found myself relying on more and more? Three different music services: Last.fm, Pandora and Slacker Radio. Each with its own pros and cons, and (as with all things in this world) if they simply managed to somehow combine and create the chimera of music genomes, I would have the perfect music outlet for my tastes. But, things are not so. How do you choose between the three? My generation isn’t nearly as brand loyal as our ancestors, but we still wish for simplicity. We want it all and we want it in one place.

Coming up I’ll have a complete rundown on each service’s best and worst features. I have no intention of naming a winner but hopefully in the end someone will read my musings and be able to avoid that uncomfortable cave man moment when you realize how far behind the curve you really are.