The Music Genome Project was founded around 2000 by a bunch of musicians who desperately wanted one of these “recommend music I’d like” services to work (and work well). The fruit of their labor is called Pandora and we finally gave it a try here in the Electric Loft. So far, I think they’ve got a winner. You create stations based on artists or songs you like and then when a station is playing, you have a Tivo-like “up” or “down” thumb you can use against the song. Songs are analyzed based on their tempo/syncopation and major/minor key, among other things. It’s proving to be quite good. I created a station based on those Asian Underground folks I blogged about the other day and I’ve been pleasantly entertained for hours now. Songs and artists I would never have encountered elsewhere. And unlike AudioScrobbler-like services, I haven’t been thrown any curve balls. There’s been an occasional song or two I didn’t like, but the basic genre hasn’t been egregiously violated.
Pandora even included a seductive “click on the album art” which takes you to a page where you can easily buy the CD from Amazon or the song from iTunes. Pandora’s also integrated with the SqueezeNetwork, so it works from both our SqueezeBoxes.
If you like music, go to http://www.pandora.com or http://www.squeezenetwork.com/services/pandora/stations/ and try creating a station based on a couple of your favorite artists. Pandora costs $36/year, but for a music junkie, it’s well worth it. W00t!
