SubscribeScrobble me this?
Yesterday iTunes downloaded me the newest version of itself which included a new gadget - the Genius Sidebar. The Genius bar offers recommendations to you based upon the songs you are playing in your library. For example, if I were listening to something by say... Isis, my handy Genius bar recommends me songs that I haven't got, namely by Melvins, Meshuggah, and The Dillinger Escape Plan that I know do sound something alike - as for Windmills By the Ocean and This Will Destroy You, I have no idea!
Now the art of recommending music to people is no new phenomenon; in the past you would usually rely upon genre specific publications, radio, or a trusted friend with similar tastes, to give you the latest low down on new music, film books etc. However, in these modern times of digital media wizardry, where most people use their computer to procure, store and play all their music, it's no wonder that some clever genius cottoned on to the fact that recommending music to those too lazy to actively search around themselves, could mean big business. So now there are a rash of websites, providing people with not just any old recommendations based upon their lowly, uneducated ear - or poncy, high-brow sneering one - but tailor bloody made to your own wonderful tastes!
And about time too, I hear some people say, after all that computers can do you'd think they can match the fact that some idiot who likes one blonde-generic-pop-bimbo is going to like their slightly skinnier and younger clone too.
So you've now got Apple's so called 'Genius Bar', along with Last.fm and, one other that I've road tested, The Filter. Ignoring the fact that a part of me feels that ones taste in music and film cannot be predicted by a computer or based upon five reviews given of totally unrelated films - I do actually use these things. They are rather helpful in some respects. I am a huge fan of Last.fm, though somewhat biased because the other two are new to me. However, of what I've seen I'd still say Last.fm was ahead by a mile. It works by adding a small application to iTunes or whatever media player you use, and then 'scrobbles' (that would be records, to anyone normal) the tracks you listen to. Simple as! You don't need to do anything else but listen to your music as normal and the more you listen, the more it can build up knowledge of what you will like.
I've downloaded loads of new artists thanks to its recommendations, and have to say they're pretty spot on. Although take your eye off it for one moment and an accidental scrobble of Will Young could seriously damage your overall taste. Also I don't think it's quite sure what to suggest when I've scrobbled a mixture of Huey Lewis & Robert Palmer, Chopin, Slipknot and Dire Straits all in one week.... this is where nothing can trump the human mind.
The Filter is slightly different in that it relies upon a similar application and also your own % ratings of artists and films. Apparently it also combines the two and will deduce something along the lines, that if you listen to a lot of metal you will like horror films. I think The Filter is a good idea, but I find the rating and reviewing a laborious task - and the range of artists limited - and I'd say it's also true that people only really rate artists that they like and know, and are also swayed by what they deem cool to like/hate.
The Genius bar is somewhat negligible to be honest. It obviously recommends songs on that which you haven't already got, and which other users have also bought, like Amazon. To be honest it's clearly a catch up/marketing ploy by Apple to get you to purchase more from the iTunes store.
All three of these sites however rely upon the other users and how many members it has. Last.fm not only goes upon matching up obviously related artists, but also on what other users are listening to in addition to the root artist. So, as with so many things, these sites are only as good as their users.
Merits and drawbacks aside...
I find it a fascinating concept that nowadays, instead of relying upon any number of reviews and critical opinions, thought up by people who may have spent years immersed in a certain genre of music - we now listen to a computer. Instead of weighing up the opinion of people who have actual human ears to hear music, or eyes to see a film, and form an opinion on it, as well as knowing the background and progression of the artist and their work - we now take the advice of a computer. There's something highly disconcerting and a touch Orwellian about the fact that we rely upon highly devised mathematical algorithms to tell us what to listen to and watch.
Numerous things are wrong with this scenario; 1) It highlights a catastrophically huge waste of time, effort and above all money - Peter Gabriel's The Filter has had $8.5million in investment - to think up highly intricate algorithms - so as to be able to see that someone who likes Iggy Pop may also like The Stooges!!
2) To hear Peter Gabriel talk about it, you can't help but get the feeling that in fifty years time we'll be living in a futuristic world where humans and thinking altogether will have become obsolete; instead we'll all be run by computers, with nothing left to do but breathe. Well why not ey?... apparently freedom of choice is a massive burden, especially when we live a "24hr lifestyle". In fact it would seem that not only do these gadgets free us from the total inundation of media the interweb provides us (which, granted is a problem) - but that overall these programmes are better at knowing what you'll like than your own self!
And there's the crux - a somewhat ethical question really - will there come a day when computers are better at making decisions than a human mind. It starts with simple things like deciding upon songs or which route you take in a car - all in a nice calming voice, until they eventually become wiser and they decide that the meatsacks they are helping out are worthless lazy lumps - and they'd be better of without us!
Or maybe I've been reading too much fantasy sci-fi? I mean I live in a world of magical seeds for god's sake...
Now the art of recommending music to people is no new phenomenon; in the past you would usually rely upon genre specific publications, radio, or a trusted friend with similar tastes, to give you the latest low down on new music, film books etc. However, in these modern times of digital media wizardry, where most people use their computer to procure, store and play all their music, it's no wonder that some clever genius cottoned on to the fact that recommending music to those too lazy to actively search around themselves, could mean big business. So now there are a rash of websites, providing people with not just any old recommendations based upon their lowly, uneducated ear - or poncy, high-brow sneering one - but tailor bloody made to your own wonderful tastes!
And about time too, I hear some people say, after all that computers can do you'd think they can match the fact that some idiot who likes one blonde-generic-pop-bimbo is going to like their slightly skinnier and younger clone too.
So you've now got Apple's so called 'Genius Bar', along with Last.fm and, one other that I've road tested, The Filter. Ignoring the fact that a part of me feels that ones taste in music and film cannot be predicted by a computer or based upon five reviews given of totally unrelated films - I do actually use these things. They are rather helpful in some respects. I am a huge fan of Last.fm, though somewhat biased because the other two are new to me. However, of what I've seen I'd still say Last.fm was ahead by a mile. It works by adding a small application to iTunes or whatever media player you use, and then 'scrobbles' (that would be records, to anyone normal) the tracks you listen to. Simple as! You don't need to do anything else but listen to your music as normal and the more you listen, the more it can build up knowledge of what you will like.
I've downloaded loads of new artists thanks to its recommendations, and have to say they're pretty spot on. Although take your eye off it for one moment and an accidental scrobble of Will Young could seriously damage your overall taste. Also I don't think it's quite sure what to suggest when I've scrobbled a mixture of Huey Lewis & Robert Palmer, Chopin, Slipknot and Dire Straits all in one week.... this is where nothing can trump the human mind.
The Filter is slightly different in that it relies upon a similar application and also your own % ratings of artists and films. Apparently it also combines the two and will deduce something along the lines, that if you listen to a lot of metal you will like horror films. I think The Filter is a good idea, but I find the rating and reviewing a laborious task - and the range of artists limited - and I'd say it's also true that people only really rate artists that they like and know, and are also swayed by what they deem cool to like/hate.
The Genius bar is somewhat negligible to be honest. It obviously recommends songs on that which you haven't already got, and which other users have also bought, like Amazon. To be honest it's clearly a catch up/marketing ploy by Apple to get you to purchase more from the iTunes store.
All three of these sites however rely upon the other users and how many members it has. Last.fm not only goes upon matching up obviously related artists, but also on what other users are listening to in addition to the root artist. So, as with so many things, these sites are only as good as their users.
Merits and drawbacks aside...
I find it a fascinating concept that nowadays, instead of relying upon any number of reviews and critical opinions, thought up by people who may have spent years immersed in a certain genre of music - we now listen to a computer. Instead of weighing up the opinion of people who have actual human ears to hear music, or eyes to see a film, and form an opinion on it, as well as knowing the background and progression of the artist and their work - we now take the advice of a computer. There's something highly disconcerting and a touch Orwellian about the fact that we rely upon highly devised mathematical algorithms to tell us what to listen to and watch.
Numerous things are wrong with this scenario; 1) It highlights a catastrophically huge waste of time, effort and above all money - Peter Gabriel's The Filter has had $8.5million in investment - to think up highly intricate algorithms - so as to be able to see that someone who likes Iggy Pop may also like The Stooges!!
2) To hear Peter Gabriel talk about it, you can't help but get the feeling that in fifty years time we'll be living in a futuristic world where humans and thinking altogether will have become obsolete; instead we'll all be run by computers, with nothing left to do but breathe. Well why not ey?... apparently freedom of choice is a massive burden, especially when we live a "24hr lifestyle". In fact it would seem that not only do these gadgets free us from the total inundation of media the interweb provides us (which, granted is a problem) - but that overall these programmes are better at knowing what you'll like than your own self!
And there's the crux - a somewhat ethical question really - will there come a day when computers are better at making decisions than a human mind. It starts with simple things like deciding upon songs or which route you take in a car - all in a nice calming voice, until they eventually become wiser and they decide that the meatsacks they are helping out are worthless lazy lumps - and they'd be better of without us!
Or maybe I've been reading too much fantasy sci-fi? I mean I live in a world of magical seeds for god's sake...
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