...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
Now this is a special one. Pandora.com is a site that recommends songs based on objective similarities to the songs you input.
[W]e set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.It seems a much more scientific than other internet "radio" sites that play songs based on broader categories or the buying habits of similar users whose tastes usually aren't that similar to mine.
I thought I'd try to stump it by entering the name of my favorite new musical discovery, April Verch. But the program passed my test with flying colors. Give it a whirl.
h/t to Jody.
I've been using Pandora at work for awhile now, and I've created a pretty good disco station (no, that's not an oxymoron). I think it makes money by trying to play newer music for you, in an effort to get you to buy either the iTune or the album from Amazon.
I admit, though, because I'm rather particular about my disco, I'm probably getting the same 40 songs or so over and over again.
Posted by: Victor on Jun. 7, 2006I definitely gotta try Pandora sometime. It's a bother to try to dig up new stuff on your own. And frankly, folks well intentionedly chiming in with recommendations based on misperceptions of what they believe you'd like leads to so many more misses than hits. I definitely need to try that service out, see how well it works for me.
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New subject: Anni, you missed the other C.T.O.T.I.O.T.D.:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389357&in_page_id=1770
... which was the final embodiment of a vision first penned by Chuck Jones:
http://mypage.bluewin.ch/coyote/wile/wecbat.jpg
http://www.animationusa.com/wbi.html
Posted by: ElMondoHummus on Jun. 7, 2006Yeah, it's pretty cool. So far it's mostly suggesting bands with which I was already familiar, but at least it's suggesting some unfamiliar songs by those bands.
Posted by: Matt on Jun. 7, 2006That's really cool...I have been longing for something that can do that. It works really well too. Sure beats surfing Myspace or the web on your own...
Posted by: Rob on Jun. 7, 2006We're glad you're enjoying Pandora!! Thanks for the praise, Annika!
Just one thing. Victor, we definitely don't play any songs in the hopes that you'll buy them, and we don't try to play newer songs. Your station is based purely on your inputs and their musicological matches. Sure, we'd love to make money some day, but the most important thing is the music. Pandora will never play you music that anyone but YOU specifies.
Also, if you are getting bored with your stations, just add a little more music to them! In no time, the songs that play will be more diverse. There's lots of tips on the blog and the FAQ too, if you're interested.
Thanks, guys!
Lucia @ Pandora
Posted by: Lucia @ Pandora on Jun. 8, 2006