Maybe I am late to the game and you all know about this, but someone mentioned Pandora yesterday in the comments, and this may be the greatest website ever. Ever.
The downside is I might spend a million dollars ordering music from Amazon.
*** Update ***
This ‘Slingbox’ is amazing, too.
The Intertrons is teh bomb.
Nikki
Thank you so much, John, and whoever brought this site to your attention. You are right. The greatest website ever. Ever!
Jason
When I first read this post I thought you were referring to Pandagon and your favorite feminist Amanda.
That said though I agree Pandora is awesome.
Steve S
What’s amazing to me with Pandora, is that I put in an artist who I like… and it gives me a list of songs which are similar… but by artists I don’t like.
Like put in Sting, and I get Hall & Oates? I mean, puh-leeze.
Perhaps it is my perception of the artists that influences my senses. Interesting.
John Cole
I dunno. I put in Dag, and so far it has played nothing but stuff I like, and by artists I have never heard of.
I think the website is genius.
P.B. Almeida
oh. my. god. greatest. site. ever.
Thanks!
SeesThroughIt
Yeah, I’ve been messing with that site for a while. It’s fun in and of itself, but it’s also quite interesting to take a different approach to it: I’ve been trying to get it to play a certain song, and it’s kinda cool to mess around and see what kind of stuff you have to type in to get it to play a certain song.
Off Colfax
Personally, I first heard about it from The Blogger Formerly Known As Zombyboy over there at Resurrection Song. But my biggest frustration was that I put in Yoko Kanno (who wrote way too many awesome anime soundtracks to mention in a comment), and ended up getting the Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, New Kids On The Block, and Jay-Z. I’m thinking that the psychic shock caused my monitor to pop a capacitor.
But on the bright side, if I put in Jack’s Mannequin, it all rocks on good for me. With that as the keyword, I think I only heard 10 songs I didn’t like over a 5 hour period. And that’s a lot better record than putting in Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Counting Crows, or Rancid.
Laura
My brother turned me onto this website a couple weeks ago. It’s been fun discovering some new artists, and it can be trippy who they put together. My Keb Mo radio station plays Nirvana. If you want to tweak a station, make sure you give your opinion when you really like or dislike a song. I try to withold telling it I don’t like a song in case it grows on me, but sometimes a song just doesn’t belong on a particular station.
Oberon
A million bucks on Amazon? Clearly you’ve never tried http://www.allofmp3.com, the allegedly legal Russian music cite where whole albums cost about $1.50.
Mary
What I find cool about it is not just that it does reasonably well at suggesting similar artists, but it explains WHY it chose to present certain songs. I know almost nothing about the technique of music, but I do have a feeling that there are certain musical patterns that show up in some of my very favourite songs. For example, when it served up “Rebellion (Lies)” by Arcade Fire, the Guide explained that “Based on what you’ve told us so far, we’re playing this track because it features mellow rock instrumentation, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, acoustic rhythm piano and call and answer vocal harmony (antiphony).” This is at least a start to identifying what common elements hook me in.
ubernerd83
Wow. Definitely one of the most amazing sites I have ever used. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Now I’ve got a way to find new tunes, and listen to music while I’m working on papers in the library.
demimondian
Absolutely. The. Best. Site. Ever. I’ve already found four artists that I never heard of that have work to follow up on.
Jane Finch
Lord, I thought I’d found ever obscure Texas alt-country/americana artist in existence. I was wrong. Curse you, JC….there goes the paycheck.
Kathy K
Pandora has a new fan in me. Fabulous. I put in a (I doubt most here would recognize the name – or the term ‘skiffle’) Scots folk singer – Lonnie Donegan. So far, I’m on the 7th song, and I’ve loved every single one of them.
Didn’t expect them to have anything on him. But they got it right. I’m impressed.
I wonder if it will work as well if I put in someone more popular nowadays. (Judging by the Sting/Hall & Oates comment above – it might not).
(Update – I’m not too thrilled with song #8 – but that’s not bad…).
Pooh
OMFG, just when I thought I had kicked my music buying habit…do you get a finder’s fee from iTunes or something?
(Cheap shot alert)
Does PJM allow that sort of arrangement?
(/cheap shot)
;)