Credit where credit is due. [[http://alunos.uevora.pt/~l13614|TJ]] introduced me to [[http://www.pandora.com|Pandora.com]], an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by [[http://www.pandora.com/mgp.shtml|The Music Genome Project]] and also the best freakin’ web-based application I’ve seen in ages.
The idea behind it is to “capture the essence of music at the fundamental level” by using over 400 attributes like rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies or displayed instrumental proficiency to describe songs. You start by firing away your favorite band and Pandora will stream a song from that band and then follow with songs that match the attributes of your favorite band. The funky shit is that its works! It catched my ear since the first minute and I listened to it all day.
There are so many things I would like to say about this I don’t know where to start.
1. Pandora doesn’t require Login/Register/Sign-Up to begin using the application. You can have several previews first which makes all sense. First you see the real value of what you will be using, then you register. Not the other way around.
2. Can you imagine the amount of songs they index and have information about? It blows my mind thinking of it.
3. There’s an article on Pandora by Fast Company magazine called “[[http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/101/pandora.html|Algorhythm and Blues]]” that gives an overview on the history of this application and the Oakland small company behind it.
4. For those of you who read Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start”, you may like to know the company behind Pandora nailed down a $1.5 million round of angel funding — including a sizable chunk from Guy Kawasaki’s Garage.com, back in late 1999. No doubt well invested money, this is now definitely a million-dollar company (not that I would know).
Oh well, that’s it. Enjoy and relax. After all… “music calms even the savage beast”.
