Thanks for the music
Feb. 25th, 2008 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jducoeurBTW, been meaning to mention: thanks for all the musical recommendations folks chimed in with a couple of weeks ago. I seem to have settled on a mix of Live365 and Pandora as my main listening options.
Live365 is better for moods when I want to explore -- with its hundreds of channels, there are a remarkable number of options. Both the Celtic-Rock station and Ethno-Techno have round up on my presets, and I come back to them frequently, although I'm finding some other very worthwhile stations. (Such as David Byrne's highly African-oriented playlist, or the Lebanese dance music station Mazaj. And I just found the all-Putumayo station, which I'm listening to now.)
Pandora is better for "comfort food" listening: I've built a single, *very* eclectic seed list, and the system has proven to be extremely good at sussing other things I will like based on that. (Indeed, many of the seeds come from Pandora throwing in a song, and my going, "Oh, right -- that group should be in the seed list.") It's getting better than 90% thumbs-up tracks. That said, its algorithms can be disconcerting. It's clearly not 100% random: it tends to run in "tracks" of a single style for half-a-dozen songs or so before switching over to something different, so I'll just have settled into a comfortable run of Stan Rogers-style maritime tunes when it suddenly switches over to AC/DC.
Anyway, I've sent real money over to Live365 (to get rid of the incredibly irritating commercials, and get the better sound quality), and will probably do so to Pandora soon (simply as a matter of supporting a good service). Both well-recommended options, if you have the bandwidth to listen online...
Live365 is better for moods when I want to explore -- with its hundreds of channels, there are a remarkable number of options. Both the Celtic-Rock station and Ethno-Techno have round up on my presets, and I come back to them frequently, although I'm finding some other very worthwhile stations. (Such as David Byrne's highly African-oriented playlist, or the Lebanese dance music station Mazaj. And I just found the all-Putumayo station, which I'm listening to now.)
Pandora is better for "comfort food" listening: I've built a single, *very* eclectic seed list, and the system has proven to be extremely good at sussing other things I will like based on that. (Indeed, many of the seeds come from Pandora throwing in a song, and my going, "Oh, right -- that group should be in the seed list.") It's getting better than 90% thumbs-up tracks. That said, its algorithms can be disconcerting. It's clearly not 100% random: it tends to run in "tracks" of a single style for half-a-dozen songs or so before switching over to something different, so I'll just have settled into a comfortable run of Stan Rogers-style maritime tunes when it suddenly switches over to AC/DC.
Anyway, I've sent real money over to Live365 (to get rid of the incredibly irritating commercials, and get the better sound quality), and will probably do so to Pandora soon (simply as a matter of supporting a good service). Both well-recommended options, if you have the bandwidth to listen online...