Christmas Music Online

Where to Find Christmas Music Online

Radio Stations Online

Enjoy a community of Christmas music online broadcasters at Live365.com. Aficionados from around the world know exactly what you’re looking for, and stream together their favorites. Selections are available for purchased download as well. The site requires a free sign-up membership. Some channels are only available with a paid VIP membership, but new listeners can get a free trial to experience VIP features. You can also start a station of your own.

Web Radio has scores of channels from which to choose, organized in categories, such as “La Radio du Pere Noel”, which is Christmas music from Paris; “Big Radio”, three channels that break down hits into country, Top 40, and classic Christmas music subcategories; and “North Pole Radio”, with 100 percent Christmas music.

Web Radio also lists, by city, all the radio stations in North America that play continuous Christmas music. Most stations can be listened to with existing Windows and Mac audio players, or from the station’s website. Web Radio also features a listening toolbar of its own.

Pandora takes a little bit of patience to work, but really pays off with diverse selections. You plug in the type of music you want to hear by category, song or artist, and Pandora looks for similar tunes you might like. Save this site for after the holidays, too, to find more of your favorite music. The first playlist created doesn’t require sign-up, but if you’d like to keep track or listen to specific playlists, you need an account. Accounts are free if you accept advertising; for commercial-free listening, the annual fee is $36.

Both Sirius and XM Radio have cleared a few channels to make room for Christmas music online and through other units. Non-subscribers can sign up for a free trial, while subscribers to the service can enjoy the online channels anytime.

Other Sites for Christmas Music Online

Many of the sites above have download features to help you procure some of your holiday favorites. You may also find these other sites helpful for downloading or general listening.

• The Hymns and Carols of Christmas is an extensive site of information on Christmas music and is also a great resource for Christmas sheet music. Here, you can download more traditional arrangements by performers such as the United States Air Force Band.

• At Rhapsody, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial and download many of your treasured holiday tunes.

• Check out Christmas Carols.net to get the lyrics to many of the classic holiday songs. Some of the songs featured also have a MIDI version to sing along with, but downloads are not available.

• Another site with samples is Songs of Praise. This site features many Christmas standards as well as original praise songs. Download or purchase a CD from this site.

• Finally, iTunes has thousands of Christmas songs and playlists available for listening and download once you load the software, free for both Mac and PC.

Conclusion

There are many ways to celebrate the Christmas season in song. Online selections brighten up the standard Christmas collection of records and CDs by opening up a whole new world of novelty holiday tunes and original compositions destined to become classics. Try a few of these sites to discover some new favorites!