These days, the internet is a primary tool for discovering and sharing music. Once it was MySpace that provided streaming, next it was iTunes, and eventually it moved on to websites like Pandora. The next wave of the music-sharing world is 8tracks.com, a free, lesser-known, and incredibly impressive website for dishing out and finding music.

The objective of this website is to provide a community for listening or making playlists. Usually, these playlists have a theme, such as a common genre, similar artists, or a general vibe that flows through all the included songs. However, they do not have to fit any specific criteria and can simply be a collective that does not necessarily have a common thread. No matter what, whatever you’re looking for exists somewhere on this website. Playlists range from popular hits which reside on the homepage to scarily specific, which are hard to look for but never impossible to find.

8tracks is unlike other music communities because it’s “human.” In other words, the playlists are not generated by algorithms like on Pandora or Spotify Radio. It’s real people sitting behind their computer who have a passion for music and experience joy in sharing it. A great deal of users make their own playlists, but some just browse and listen. Whether you want to create playlists or sit back and enjoy them, it’s refreshing to know that it’s all crafted carefully by other music lovers, not robots. iTunes radio cannot actually care about what you want to listen to, because it’s an automated system. Music on 8tracks pulls you in unlike any other website or program, because it cares. Other humans understand what you want to hear more than a machine ever will.

This idea seems new, but it’s older than you think. Music sharing began as a community, although it has been computerized in the 21st century. 8tracks echoes back to the days of radio in the 70’s or DJ culture in the 90’s: the times when music was a means of connecting with others. Nowadays, people claim to use music as an “escape;” people assume a stranger on the bus has his earphones in because he isn’t in the mood to talk to anybody. When you really consider it, this ideology doesn’t make sense. Music is made by people and listened to by people, so why should it be viewed as something to be experienced in solitude? Finally, the essence of music as a unifying force has been revived. It’s no longer you and a computer bonding over music. It’s you and another human being.

Because the playlists are so personal, you can find almost anything. Searching for something as broad as early 2000s pop hits? Countless playlists exist at your finger tips. If you’re craving a mix with specific criteria, you can search by tag. Type in keywords that you’re looking for, such as “lo-fi,” “2010s,” “experimental,” and “upbeat:” and there you have it: a mix full of experimental, lo-fi, upbeat songs from the 2010s!

While some make playlists based on genre, artist, or era, some center them around a common theme. For example, you can find a mix of songs perfect for a train ride or nighttime. A new term “fanmix” is becoming increasingly popular on 8tracks. It refers to a collection of songs inspired by a book, TV show, movie, play, etc. These mixes are something an automated radio could never give you. The music spans across decades and can have no obvious connection except for the fact that the person behind the playlist joined them together. And this is something incredibly fun, inspiring, and refreshing, and hard to find– until now.

Some of the most creative playlists are inspired by the personal feelings of the creator. This includes mixes inspired by a dream the person had, a painting the person loves, or an experience unique to them. These playlists are fascinating, since they let the listener enter a different world and connect with a real person.

No matter what you are looking for, you can finally find it. And if you can’t find it, you can create it. Stop limiting yourself by letting machines tell you what to listen to, and discover it yourself through 8tracks.com. This up-and-coming website will make music a force that joins people together once again after decades.