So, after a lengthy, school-induced hiatus from The Tech Brief, I’m back with a long-overdue review of Meemix, another new personalized, Internet radio service. Having come across it shortly after falling head over heels for Pandora, my expectations were high, so Meemix had a lot to live up to.

Like other personalized Internet radio sites, Meemix uses an algorithm to determine what songs it will play for you. The algorithm makes its calculations based on song parameters and information about the user. Each song can be rated from 6 (Hot) to -6 (Not), and Meemix works with the high scored songs while driving the others away. It boasts creating its playlists based on an understanding of personal taste rather than simply finding songs that are similar to the ones you tell it you like. I’m not sure how that works, but that’s what they say.

So how does it actually work? Well after using it for a few weeks, I’m not too impressed. Until today, my first station didn’t deliver anything that I like aside from the song I originally fed it to create the first station and it always starts with a Linkin Park song. It took a few hours today for a string of songs that I actually liked to start playing, and the station always plays songs from several bands that I have repeatedly rated -6 at first. It rarely plays any of the favorites I’ve defined. My second station actually delivered a really great playlist almost immediately. Unfortunately, the interface completely died, so I couldn’t rate or save any of the awesome songs I heard that day. Since then it has frozen up on me repeatedly.

But the very shiny, Web 2.0 Meemix does have it’s good points, without a doubt. It’s easy to use and it makes it extremely easy for you to log and acquire the music that you actually like (so long as a song on that album happens to play). And—of course—it’s free, being ad-supported, and has the community and other features everyone expects from today’s startups. Undoubtedly, Jango will be one of its prime competitors, being another of the younger Internet radio services. I think Meemix has a lot of potential, but I don’t think I’ll switch to using it exclusively, just because I can’t really create stations that are as specific as Pandora’s unless it’s specifically genre based. Playing songs that sound like ones you like may be an old formula, but it works.

Meemix is in private beta at the moment, but you can learn more and request an invite at meemix.com.

How about another social radio market to join? I use Last.fm and Pandora quite often and love them, especially the recommendation features. Jango is the new kid on the block, and it is not looking to bad at all.

Jango has been in beta for the past few months, and has recently opened up full access to its services. I must say, Jango is incredibly easy to use. When you go to the site you get a search box and a list of “stations.” Pretty simple, eh? You can choose a station, which is a selection of artists, or you can type in an artist’s name, at which point you are taken to a user page, without even having to sign up. I signed up though.

By choosing an artist’s name you in effect create a “station” based around them, which can be made up solely of that artist, or artists that are similar. Jango suggests musicians and bands that it thinks you might like based on your choice, and then you get to choose from Jango’s list and add that artist to your station.

So if you have used Pandora before, you will feel right at home. The concept is basically the same. I can’t tell you how many songs I have discovered using Jango and Pandora. I love it.

The site doesn’t have some things that Last.fm and Pandora do. It does not have a widget, for example although the company said that’s coming. So will I continue to use Jango? Sure! The more the merrier. Be sure to check them out. It is free and you don’t even have to sign up to try them out.

What will they think of next? If you’ve ever wanted to listen to an Internet radio station without going through the trouble of using a PC, Freecom has just announced the solution. The Freecom MusicPal allows thousands of Internet radio stations to be received wirelessly by WLAN – without using a PC. Anyone who would prefer to play the MP3 collection of their PC/Mac or network can simply reproduce MP3 or WAV formats on the MusicPal by streaming. Thanks to the built-in loudspeaker, the MusicPal is completely independent.

The MusicPal can be configured very quickly, and according to the manufacturer it’s easy to operate. The two, handy click dials enable intuitive navigation and fully variable volume adjustment. Radio stations are pre-sorted by genres and country (vTuner service included,) and can be conveniently selected and saved in a “Favorites” list, which can be called up at the touch of a button. The LED display shows the time, radio station, and track. It also mixes in the latest news reports, blog news or weather forecasts of the RSS News Service.

This thing looks awesome and music aficionados can connect the MusicPal to active loudspeakers, a hi-fi system or headphones.

Equipped with WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption, the MusicPal complies with the highest WLAN security standards. The firmware developed for this purpose by Freecom is undergoing permanent further development, and updates are available online for downloading.

I love the idea, but whether MusicPal lives up to the hype remains to be seen. MusicPal should be in stores soon, and I am guessing the price will be around $200 (based on the Dutch prices.) Full specs here.

Other Internet Radio on Amazon.com: