Garçon, What Do You Recommend?
Here’s an interesting idea. Some students at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) have designed a Music Recommendation System for iTunes. It works by compiling the individual ratings that users give songs in their libraries to produce a list of the top songs in the world. Sort of like an Internet Top 40 without the soft vocal stylings of Casey Casum. Or to put it another way, it’s like what would happen if Google were in charge of music selection instead of slimy record companies bribing spineless radio stations.
Unfortunately, the system told me it would be 15 hours before my recommendations are computed — it must be getting popular already. That said, the more users who sign up, the better the recommendations would be, in theory.
Update: According to its calculations, the best song ever is “Smalltown” by Lou Reed & John Cale, from John Cale’s album Songs for Drella. Now why didn’t I think of that?
Previously: From Our Inbox To You
Subsequently: Popping Corn
Comments
You could also check out gnod.net. Very cool site based on number of users and their preferences, for music, film and books.
— katharine | Apr. 7, 2004 — 12 PM
Smalltown is a great song, but I take exception to you calling Songs for Drella a John Cale album. I believe it was a joint effort between him and Lou Reed.
— beerzie boy | Apr. 9, 2004 — 12 PM