Like a lot of people these days, most of my digital music is stored on iTunes. I have a few custom playlists - but in general I am always in pursuit of the Perfect Playlist. I rarely have time to sit down and go through my 1,000's of files and devote the focus it takes to really think through a decent compilation.
"The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules." from the movie High Fidelity
I spent considerable time recently on Pandora, the Oakland web-based Internet Radio application that is a result of the 7 yr music genome project. Pandora's team of musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song... melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics - close to 400 attributes!
For anyone who has never tried this amazing tool, you create your own "stations" based upon the kind of music you like. You begin by typing in a song or two that you like and Pandora begins to serve you up music that it thinks you will like. Your ongoing feedback will perfect your station - and I must admit that in a relatively short amount of time it was giving me what I would consider to be a near-perfect playlist. What I like best about it is that it exposes me to music that I have never heard before, unlike my iTunes collection, which of course is based solely upon my existing music. I even purchased a few tracks.
I love the fact that Pandora is traveling around the US and having town hall meetings with Pandora users, gathering feedback and ideas. Not surprisingly, many people are wanting more integration between Pandora and their iTunes collection. Hmmm - maybe a strategic alliance or acquisition is on the horizon? Pandora already allows you to purchase from iTunes via their player.
I'm telling everyone about Pandora, my pampering, atavar rocker boyfriend who spoonfeeds me music I love! Thank you, Karen! Maura
Posted by: Maura McNulty | January 31, 2007 at 10:32 AM