The Random Playlist Battle - Real Network's Rhapsody
I create an awful lot of playlists.
But in addition to doing a playlist column for Yahoo Music, I love to create playlists for myself, my family and my friends. If I have a small get together at the house, or a full-blown party, it's my job to provide the music. I love it, because I love music.
To escape playlists, I sometimes pull out a random CD, but I've also become a fan of random playlists.
One of the great benefits of this digital music age is the ability to press a button and have a long-running playlist of music instantly created. Some of the tools that do this are completely random, like iTune's "shuffle" functionality, but many others use software that's intelligent. Some of these tools can predict what you like based on ratings that you apply, or your past listening history. Some of the software in the marketplace that's focused on music recommendation is astounding.
This playlist was created by Rhapsody's "Instant Playlist" feature, which creates a playlist based on your past listening history. The cool thing about this is that Rhapsody has millions of tracks that it can stream, so the list is not just generated on music you actually own.
This will give you some insight into what I’ve been spinning lately. Just keep in mind that it’s a tiny bit tainted since I play a lot of music using Rhapsody for research purposes. I also deleted 5 tracks that were the least appealing to me (sorry Motley Crue & Air Supply), since they were obvioulsy generated due to recent Yahoo Music blog playlists I've done.
Over the next few days I will post some random playlists created by some of the most successful recommendation software around including iTunes Genius, Pandora, Last.fm and others. I'm very curious to see which playlist I end up liking the most!
Do you use random playlist building software? If so, what's you're favorite, and are there any you would like me to try for this column?
The Random Playlist Battle - Real Network's Rhapsody
2. Walk On By - Asleep at the Wheel
3. Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Thoughts Are Free) - Brazilian Girls
4. Saturday's Gone - Isobel Campbell
5. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight - James Taylor
6. Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud) - James Brown
12. Cry, Cry, Cry - Johnny Cash
14. Time Of The Preacher Theme - Willie Nelson
15. Summer Lies - Magnetic Fields
Follow what Robert is listening to on Twitter.
That's why I loved the Yahoo! radio, but now its by stations, which I hate (I can take only so much from the Alt. Rock station, which seems to think that Paramore is alternative. PLEASE!)
D33PPURPLE (surprise surprise!)
I'm still working on my playlist, but I'm getting there!
Oh, and one final complaint about Last.fm is that since ignorant people can tag, we get bands like BFMV as screamo, and even "Loser Band" tags. So beware!