JukeFly re-launches personal online music player

Music services are popping up like daisies in October. Not Pirate Bay-style bootleg sites, but licensed services that let you listen to music without worring about being arrested. The latest is JukeFly, a San Jose-based startup originally launched last year, but now revamped to make online playing and sharing of personal playlists easy. The privately-funded company still only has 4 employees, all engineers.

I have trouble tracking the differences between JukeFly, blip.fm, GrooveShark, imeem, Facebook Music, MySpace and whatever people are tweeting.

JukeFly emailed a response to my request for a differentiator:  ”JukeFly is the only free web app that combines the ability for members to listen to their own music or choose from an immense selection of music from all genres new and old, then save it and stream it all from a single site.”

The only one? I have trouble believing that. I’m pretty sure imeem is based around the same two benefits. You get to listen to your uploaded music collection from any computer. The interface is uncluttered, and looks a lot like iTunes. “GrooveShark and imeem don’t allow you to stream your own music,” a company spokesperson replies.

JukeFly seems to be chasing the lazies rather than the obsessives. The company flaunts its library of licensed tunes, which save you from having to upload your own copies.

Founders Jeff Sidlosky and Dinesh Nair met while working at desktop search engine Tukaroo, which Ask Jeeves acquired as part of its attempt to build the ultimate desktop search engine in 2004.

Update: JukeFly just sent me the competitive landscape slide from their analyst presentation. It’s 100 percent biased, but it’s thorough:

MP3 Players/Desktop Music Players (e.g. iPod, Winamp, Windows Media Player)


Little ability to discover new music, few social features

Limited advanced features like song lyrics, artist info, videos etc.

Remote access solutions (e.g. Orb)


Not a music focused solution

Usually requires home PC to be always available with no backup solution

No integrated player and limited advanced features like song lyrics, artist info, videos etc.

Internet Radio Stations (e.g. Last.fm, Pandora)


Cannot pick songs to play – only plays similar music in the form of a radio station

No option to stream your own music on their platform

Subscription based solutions (e.g. Spotify, lala.com)


No option to stream your own music on their platform

MP3 search engines (e.g. Songza.com, Deezer, Skreemr, Grooveshark)

Limited advanced features like song lyrics, artist info, videos etc.

No option to stream or enjoy your own music on their platform

The company considers GrooveShark, imeem and LaLa its closest competition.

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