Many artists don’t get math. Conversely, a lot of mathematicians can’t do art. It’s rare to find a person who appreciates both and even more inimitable to replicate the synthesis of art and science Pandora has created.
Pandora is not just an online music station, it’s also a music genome project combing through the irreducible aspects of millions of songs and discovering the nuances of why we listeners like a particular song. Log on to Pandora and type in an artist you like. A song starts playing and you rate if they chose well for you. If not, you get a new song. If so, the song plays through and then Pandora creates a playlist for you on the fly according to your musical tastes. As more songs play, you continue to rate the songs you hear. Pandora evolves a customized playlist that you are sure to like.
Staffers of Pandora are combing through millions of songs and tagging each song with a series of more than 400 attributes. As you, the user, indicate which songs you like, a personalized list of attributes are created and the service is able to recommend songs to you based on your previous judgements. It’s a customized radio station just for you without ads!
The Music Genome Project is a clever name for such an innovative service. Members of Pandora are helping the program to learn the science of why we like music. It’s the science and personalization of art. Give it a try at www.pandora.com ; user registration is free well worth the music experience.