With web-based music services, an infinite record collection can be ours, free. At our finger’n’thumb tips, we can access an endless library: from the Beatles and Battles to Zappa and Jay-Z, and everything in between. Yet, for all the joy this should bring, I find the unlimited(ish) choice utterly debilitating.

I sit at my computer and a simple “What should I listen to?” turns my mind to mush. Like a Supermarket Sweep contestant, I’m overwhelmed by the options. My memory short-circuits and the list of things I wanted to listen to scatters like the grains of an Etch-a-Sketch. Flailing, I grab obvious, safe choices — Radiohead, Nirvana — hoping these monoliths will inspire me.

This first happened to me in the summer of 1999, at that glorious moment when Napster, the original file-sharing site, changed everything. If I wanted bootlegs, B-sides or back catalogues, it was all there — I just typed in the name and clicked download. While waiting patiently, I'd read magazines to discover who influenced my favourite bands; my computer soon filled up with Pixies, My Bloody Valentine and Fugazi.

Yet, a decade on, “choice trauma” is afflicting music fans en masse. In recent months, the revolution has taken a new turn with the proliferation of all-you-can-eat music services. Sites such as Spotify, We7, iMeem, Pandora and Deezer are basically huge online hard drives, or “cloud computers” (which isn’t as Care Bears as it sounds), allowing us all legally to access a comprehensive library of music for nothing. Don’t worry — the acts/labels get a share of the ad money, which is, apparently, about a penny per play.

Within nanoseconds, you’ll wonder why you ever needed those dusty racks of plastic discs. Days later, you’ll suffer “choice paralysis”. But fear not: in the past few years, geeks have built technologies to make it even easier to flick through the digital racks. This is my five-step plan to unmuddle your mind.

1 Pick your music service

I recommend Spotify.com, as it’s free, has several million tracks and is easier to use than a toaster. One of the best features of the site is the ability to create mixtape-like playlists — send one to your friends and get them to make you one back.

2 Reference some lists

Any authoritative list was useful when I first started forgetting everything I knew about music. My favourite is the Hype Machine (Hypem.com), which aggregates what’s most popular with music bloggers. They can, however, be a rather fickle, buzz-riding bunch. Metacritic.com works out an average score for reviews, and is wonderful. Its end-of-year lists have led to me falling in love with music I may have never come across (such as the bloopy electronica of the Field).

3 Get Wiki with it

Wikipedia is a great companion for plundering the depths of extracurricular side projects. When I looked up Animal Collective’s page, I found out about Panda Bear’s hazy, Beach Boysesque album, Person Pitch. When I ran out of side projects, previous incarnations and finding out if the guest vocalists’ bands were any good, I got more anoraky and started looking at the credits. Discogs.com is the Record Collector-like, specialist-music Wikipedia. It had me seeking out records produced by the knob-twiddlers on some of my favourite albums, and I found that the likes of Rick Rubin had made some other amazing records.

4 Install Last.fm

Last.fm is like spying on clones of yourself to find out what you’re missing. This clever bit of software runs in the background of your computer/iPod, logging and learning what you listen to. It then suggests music that people with the same taste as you listen to.

5 Reminders

On the advice of Lifehacker.com, I have recently taken to noting down everything recommended to me in my BlackBerry diary (which is synched up with my MacBook) to remind me what I want to hear whenever I know I’ll be at a computer.

Now that I’ve amassed all this music to consume, can someone please find a cure for sleep, so I have time to listen to it all?

Sean Adams is editor of the website drownedinsound.com

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