I promise to keep my earphones on

John Boy started it all. Or maybe it was my nephew Stabile.

I was washing dishes, minding my own business when John Boy comes over and starts telling Heir 2 about this online radio station, blah, blah, blah...make your own station...blah, blah, blah.

"Did you hear what I was telling Heir 2 about?" he asks me.

"Vaguely." I've experienced "online radio stations" before, the joy of a good song ruined by "buffering," and then, halfway through the second song a plea for the "nominal fee" to be charged to my credit card, one of those fees that never quite disappears because your e-mails go unanswered and suddenly you can't find a phone number on the website.

So Heir 2 gets on board and he's all "make your own station...blah, blah, blah...Uncle John Boy's stations...blah, blah, blah..."

Then Dark Garden comes over and he's all "make your own station...blah, blah, blah...John Boy's stations...blah, blah, blah..."

All right, already.

So here ya go: Make your own "station" starting with your favorite artist and the station will give you that artist and similar artists. Fine tune it by approving ("thumbs up") or disapproving ("thumbs down") of the feature until it's only playing the type of stuff you want to hear. Make as many "stations" as you like. Adopt other people's stations and tweak it to make it your own. It's a good way to get out of a musical rut, where you're listening to only what's on your iPod and never hearing other stuff that's available.

My stations are here.