I wanted to start a running list on my blog of "Currently listening to..." artists and songs. I thought it would be a good way to share my latest musical tastes and findings, and hopefully get some feedback as to what else I may find enjoyable. So I did a search on Google for some sort of aggregator that would aid me in doing just that.
Instead, I happened to stumble across what I think may be the coolest thing I have ever found on the web. What baffles me is how I've missed hearing about it until now?
This wondrous find is Pandora.
Pandora is essentially your own personal radio station(s). It is a direct result of the Music Genome Project, another subject I've never heard about. And I thought I was "into music." I'm so ashamed.
You provide it an artist or song title you like, and it will (most likely) find it in its database and start playing it for you in surprisingly good quality. But thanks to having songs "analyzed using up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst", Pandora will then continue playing music that matches the same characteristics of the song you provided. For each song played, you can tell Pandora whether you like it or not, which will then continually tweak your station. You can keep adding more preferred artists/songs to your station, and it will keep morphing to fit your needs. You can also have up to a 100 stations -- plenty for every genre you could dream up.
In the 30 minutes I've been listening, I've already heard some new bands I like, such as Adam F and Porcupine Tree. My only concern now? My savings account.
Can you imagine when the time comes that Wi-Fi is everywhere, and you can drive down the highway listening to your personal radio stations? Good-bye XM and Sirius.
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2 comments:
i found out about pandora in november but failed to blog about it, my bad. i think your prediction of the future demise of sirius & xm is closer than you think, the EVDO cards from wireless carriers give you internet at broadband speeds today...
When Matt found out about Pandora, we were both ecstatic over the phone discussing it! I've been listening to it non-stop for days and have liked every song! It is really the coolest thing ever.
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