Founded in 1999, Digitally Imported (DI.FM) Radio has become a part my daily life since the inception. I found this site when I was working at Earthlink, Inc and it quickly spread across all the floors because it’s popularity. It has evolved to become my primary source of music. Whether I’m working on the computer, playing video games, programming, working in the garage, virtually anything I listen to music while doing, DI is my go-to.

When it started 21 years ago, there were only a handful of channels to select from, Trance, Techno, House, along with a few other popular genres. You could use a preferred streaming app like Real Player, Windows Media, or WinAmp (that was all the craze back then because of the skins) and you could select a stream quality that matched your Internet speed: low, medium, and high. In 1999, a 1.5Mbps connection was the "hook up" for Internet speeds for personal use, and I could listen to any quality without issue. Unlike sites today, that use bright and wide color palettes, the original site used dark green, white, and black, and everything was very intuitive. Back when the EDM movement was getting in full swing, undergrounds were an every-weekend thing, massives such as Once in a Blue Moon, Metropolis, Wilder Beats, were regular events. As the culture grew, so did the channel selection on DI. There was a move to include a site called Sky.FM and was outside the EDM world; if EDM wasn’t your cup of tea, Sky included channels like Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country, and plenty of others. Unfortunately, Sky didn’t last and went to the wayside; thankfully DI has stayed, and I hope it always will be.

Looking at the site today, it’s hard to imagine how few channels it started with. There is world-renown DJ’s doing weekly shows, integrated audio player, a favorites list, thumbs ups list, it has been a complete site overhaul. There is now smart phone and tablet support (which didn't exist back then), and during all this transition, they always kept an incredible music selection. It’s been a fantastic ride for me. The part that still amazes me is you can still use the site completely free, and always have been able to. There is now a premium account option, and there are some nice perks with the premium service, such as stream quality improvement, no ads or tracking, listening to previous shows if you missed the broadcast and more. A favorite show of mine is John Digweed’s, Transistions. I have added Solarstone’s, Pure Trance Radio and Paul Oakenfold’s, Planet Perfecto in my followed shows. I think it’s great because I’ve seen most of these DJ’s live at parties and shows; to watch the artists grow over the years has been a fun experience as well.

If you have never checked out DI.FM I highly recommend it; there is generally something for everyone on there and if you are an EDM fan like myself, it will be a mainstay, if you dont know about it already. You can also follow them on YouTube, but I suggest checking them out on the site.