The quest for the perfect playlist generator, part two

In the last installment, I attempted to make various playlist generators read my mind by feeding it Yes but meaning mid-80s, post-prog synth-heavy rock & new wave with limited success.  For my second experiment, I picked “I’m Afraid of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” by Murder by Death (which ended up being just a Murder… Continue reading The quest for the perfect playlist generator, part two

The quest for the perfect playlist generator, part one

There is a secret to creating the perfect playlist.  It’s a complex process touched upon in Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity” (and John Cusack’s performance in the film version).  A lot of variables are involved.  It needs to flow.  It needs to have cadence.  There are a lot of factors. Sometimes, though, it’s too exhausting to… Continue reading The quest for the perfect playlist generator, part one

the lost art of the mix cd

coming back from a long road trip — for which i threw together several mp3 cds for the car in under a half hour — got me thinking about something i will call “the lost art of the mix cd.” i use the term “cd” fairly loosely because, before the mix cd, there was the… Continue reading the lost art of the mix cd

MusicIP Mix handles huge mp3 libraries better than WinAmp [Abandonware]

let me get this out there: i love winamp.  i’ve been using it since its’ inception.  i used to listen to tag’s trance shoutcast station back in the day (tag is/was one of the winamp devs and was responsible for a lot of the visualizations that come bundled with winamp).  i’ve tried many, many other music… Continue reading MusicIP Mix handles huge mp3 libraries better than WinAmp [Abandonware]

unbox pandora

i’ve been using Pandora for a long time, and i’ve always been a big fan.  when Tim Westergren came to Salt Lake City on his speaking tour, i went to see him at the SLC Main Library and i have the raglan-style Pandora tshirt to prove it.  the unique recommendation engine — powered by humans who actually analyze… Continue reading unbox pandora