For a couple of months, I would look over at my co-worker’s computer, hearing music gurgling out … and I would see he had some grey little screen open that said “Spinner.”

I asked once what Spinner was and left it at that. I wasn’t really interested in exploring once again the services of online streaming radio. I’d been down that route with NetRadio and I wasn’t overly impressed.

Then one day, Bruce was listening to some old folk blues, which is a genre of music I truly dig and has been a recent passion.

“Where’da find dem ol’ blues tunes?” I asked.

“It’s Spinner,” he said.

So, now I had some motivation to download Spinner.

It’s been a week, and I’m very impressed with what I’ve found.

Take for example the rockabilly channel. NetRadio had a rockabilly channel, but whoever programmed it didn’t know squat about rockabilly. That programmer thought if it was 1950s era rock and roll, it was rockabilly, so you got Little Richard, the Chords and even Fabian on the rockabilly channel. On Launch, it was nearly impossible to find any rockabilly tunes.

But with Spinner, the rockabilly channel … well, it rocks. Or, more appropriately, chil’rn, it’s real gone. I know my rockabilly really well, and any rockabilly programmer that can include the Burnette Trio, Johnny Carroll and Joe Clay, along with Elvis and Carl and Jerry Lee, as well as find a few things I’ve never heard, has me impressed. I’m also impressed with the selection of modern rockabilly, which never fails to rip it up.

But Spinner is more than just rockabilly. It is pretty much ever conceivable genre and subgenre of music in the world. My current favorites include acoustic blues, Sinatra style, classic country, big band/swing, classic punk, Elvis, new wave, surf, Cuban, Hawaiian and Latin, to name just a few. But explore the other channels and you’ll find everything from acid jazz to contemporary Christian and thrasher metal.

Of course, I can speak for only the channels I’ve listened to so far, but so far each of those channels have shown a depth of musical knowledge by the programmers that truly makes listening to them both fun and educational. For example, I’ve discovered a couple of very cool jazz artists on the big band channel that I had never heard of. I’ve added them to my wishlist (hint, hint).

If you haven’t been to Spinner.com, check it out.