iLike is an application that helps users follow their favorite bands, find out about upcoming concerts, and also discover new music by sharing what they are listening to and browsing the playlists of their friends. Users can not only find new musical treasures but they can download the music too. They can also announce their musical tastes to the world through its social network of music lovers. For those who wish Facebook had a better music component to it so they could broadcast their music tastes to their friends, iLike is the answer. This is because it can be incorporated into a user's Facebook profile. iLike also has promotional benefits for anyone who is apart of a band. Artists can use iLike's dashboard to "post once- publish everywhere" any announcements that they'd like the fans to know. iLike was founded in 2006 by twin brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi. It was acquired by MySpace in 2009 and as of 2011 was a full subsidiary of MySpace. As of 2011, iLike had over 60 million registered users. iLike integrates with iTunes, Facebook, Google, Ticketmaster, and other music and social networking applications. In 2011, iLike announced that they averaged over 150,000 visitors per day. The site has certainly gained a lot of traction, even though they still consider themselves in a beta-state. Future enhancements are sure to be coming, and will make this app even better. iLike competes with other social networking applications based around music, such as Last.fm. Both offer a plugin that tracks the music played on a user's computer. iLike would be better if it offered a personalized radio player like Pandora. That way users wouldn't have to rely on their playlists, but could really explore new music by having it fed to them automatically. However, it does has some interesting features, such as an entertaining music quiz feature. It also integrates with Facebook and iTunes, so it can really become apart of an individual's daily online experience. iLike has a basic interface that is easy to use. Search and browse functions are straight forward enough. iLike has a simple look, with a white background, leaving only album art to "clutter" its design. However, Facebook integration is not as easy of a process. The Facebook links didn't respond. One could alternatively search for the iLike app through Facebook itself, but that is inconvenient. Setting up the integration with Facebook, which is one of iLike's selling points, was too difficult to enjoy. Signing up is simple and requires only a name, email and password. There isn't an email confirmation. As one is setting up their profile they will have the option to download a sidebar that offers additional integration with iTunes and can evaluate musical preferences based on a user's music library in iTunes. However this plugin can be skipped. If one forgoes the sidebar download, then they can take a quiz so iLike gets to know them and their musical tastes better. iLike is a free application. iLike has no visible advertising. It is funded partly by concert organizers, who may publicize their concerts or artist information in the iLike news feed. iLike also makes money from music purchased through their site. iLike is perfect for the music enthusiast who wants to discover great new bands and titles. However Genius or Pandora seem like better alternatives, since they are more automated. If iLike could improve its integration with Facebook, add more features like a radio player then it could be considered a much more appealing app!

• Music-based social networking
• News feeds about favorite artists' concerts and new work
• Fewer features than similar applications
• Optional sidebar for more intuitive recommendations

http://www.ilike.com/