The Music Genome Project
The folks at Pandora have released what I consider to be the coolest thing to ever happen to music on the the internet (I know that is a bold statement, but hear me out). They call it the Music Genome Project which is a fancy way of saying that they’ve developed an algorithm to suggest new music to you based on melody, harmony, instrumentation, arrangement, lyrics and many many other properties of songs. The bottom line is that Pandora plays music that you like and then suggests new music based on what it knows about your musical taste.
Pandora is completely free and you can create your own radio stations or listen to popular radio stations that others have created. I’ve created many stations, some based on just one artist and others based on a list of artists. One radio station that I listen to is based on Nirvana and Run DMC which makes for an interesting mix of great music. Pandora also allows me to bookmark a song as a favorite and will occasionally play songs on my favorites list. If I don’t like a particular song, I can just fast forward to the next or tell Pandora not to play the song again. I really like the slick flash based user interface and clutterless appearance of Pandora.
Services like Pandora play a great role in promoting artists and discouraging piracy. I used to subscribe to Rhapsody which also had a suggestive radio station feature, but it would suggest music based on what everybody else is listening to. One of the coolest things about Pandora is it is not a social application so it doesn’t make suggestions based on popularity. Pandora doesn’t take into account the “Coolness” factor which has made me reconsider several bands that I considered to be no good because they are uncool.
So if you like to listen to music and get tired of listening to the same bands over and over again, check out Pandora. I think you’ll be pleasantly suprised with its ability to suggest great music. Lately my ipod has been collecting dust thanks to Pandora!
February 9th, 2006 09:26
[…] My next home entertainment gadget purchase is going to be a Squeezebox. I’ve wanted to have an easy way to stream music from my desktop to my stereo for a long time. I’ve considered many options, but after I read the news that Pandora (a music service that I use every day) will be available for Squeezebox the decision is clear. I wrote about Pandora before so I won’t write about it here but I’m very excited that I will be able to listen to Pandora from any room in my house on my stereo and navigate Pandora via a nice little remote control! […]