Access To Music

Web 2.0 continues to revolutionise the way we discover music

Firstly, a little on how I relate to music. I don't own an iPod (on account of being an old fart) but do access MP3s via Pocket Tunes on my Palm Treo 650 and a pair of Bluetooth Stereo Headphones (thanks Motorola 820s for earning me the monikers 'Shrek' & 'Princess Leia'!). Although I can't fault the technology or software, I find this method of accessing music less than satisfactory - it just doesn't sound or feel right. I do have a burgeoning iTunes collection ('how much disk space is it using?!'). I still prefer 'owning' music, and cope well maintaining a good CD collection. I have bought via iTunes, but only to access music I can't find by other means. I spend my life being 'difficult', which is a topic for a whole other post sometime, but I often covet some never-heard obscurity from 30 years ago, and I know how & where to look for it. As a former recording engineer, I have been conditioned to respect the absolute in audio quality, and I resent CD for the fact that it could sound better; MP3s feel like a return to compact audio cassettes (convenience overrides quality) and I'm not a fan of Torrents & Limewire et all, as I find the whole process painful, and the end result often leaving much to be desired.

Web 2.0 has generated a multitude of new ways to discover new acts, and I don't just mean those artists for whom the web has provided an opportunity to release dirge that should never have left the bedroom! These opportunities break down into several different categories:

• Waiting for something interesting to happen

This includes polishing the old MySpace profile and waiting for the right artist to beg & plead to reach new heights by being permitted to be my friend. So far, despite a fairly representative group of artists in my friends list, only the most conscientious or desperate have come to my door - I salute their enterprise, but wouldn't wish their material on an enemy! Internet radio does reveal the odd gem, but there's much to wade through, and often identifying what's being heard can require the cunning of Sherlock!

• Prowling the web

From Amazon recommendations and favourites lists (which started out to be promising, but have degraded as more feel the need to share their lack of taste) to having a damned good root around in the iTunes store & its celebrity playlists, there is possibility within this method, but it takes commitment and patience. Why do websites insist on selecting apparently arbitrary song excerpts for their 20-30 second playback? All too often what is heard is not representative of the full track!

• Finding more of the same

This is perhaps the most revolutionary way of finding gold. Let me share some favourites:

1. www.pandora.com - currently at war with Royalty Legislation in the USA, you'll need to check back tomorrow to sample this excellent service, as they're participating in the 'day of silence' protest. Also, the legislation has forced this site to go US-only, so you'll need a proxy server which places you in the US to access this now, but boy is it worth the extra effort. Submit an artist or artist track, and you'll receive about 10 very well selected similar artists or songs - by far the most appropriate selection I've found. You can store your requests as a 'radio' station, and then return to hear further recommendations (the service limits you to about 6 choices per search per hour - but you can conduct as many searches as you want). Note this provides you with full streamed track playback, not just samples. Pandora seems to cope with pretty obscure enquiries and produces very high quality results. Highly recommended.
   
   
2. www.liveplasma.com - Formerly musicplasma, this website has expanded to include a movie database too. I've included it here for the unique visual way it provides 'similar artist' access - a feature I won't even begin to try to describe, just go and check it out for yourself. I do have reservations though; no doubt because it's so clever, it seems to struggle on the compatibility stakes - it currently behaves poorly with Firefox for Mac. It's also best used to search the bleeding obvious, and not that recent releases; a search for Corinne Bailey Rae failed; I thought she'd enjoyed a significant amount of success in the States, but this US-centric site didn't have a clue. Still, a clever way of presenting information.
   
   While I'm mentioning search sites, it would be remiss of me not to mention www.allmusic.com - although it doesn't provide 'sounds like' functionality, its encyclopaedic knowledge deserves recognition.
   
   
3. www.last.fm - Very web 2.0, this UK-based idea has recently been aquired by the CBS giant, and provides not just music access, but also social networking. There's a bit of commitment involved, including registration and then downloading a local application, which allows 'scrobbling' (no, I don't know either!), which is background logging of what's being played on your computer (application independent); the client then provides suggestions based on the playlists of other users who've listened to the same track(s), and allows for social networking based upon groups of similar listeners. So far I've not had the time or patience to throw myself into this - clearly the rewards increase the more time you commit.
   
   
4. www.thefilter.com - my thanks to Murray at Palm-Mac for this recent entry. A downloaded application, this studies your iTunes and WMP collections and makes suggestions based upon what it finds. Compatible with OS X, XP and Nokia, I've not had time to investigate this fully; there are options to upload to your iPod (yippee!) but no doubt that involves the lightening of wallets!

So there are plenty of new opportunities for finding what you want out there, if you're prepared to commit time and effort. I've found that the more knowledgeable and intelligent the method, the more pleasing the results. That said, there must be issues relating to privacy of personal data relating to all this, but I'll leave you the reader to consider this! Happy listening.