Taking Google’s new music offering for a spin
So far so good. None of the skips and pauses I get at home with Spotify. The few radio stations I have tried have played, again unlike the frustrating Spotify service which frequently tells me it can’t start (I will never understand that error).
Next up — playing music all weekend and seeing how the suggests music algorithm does.
Really need an iOS version to make this stick.
I enjoy Spotify for the most part. But their new radio feature is just not well done.
First off some of their default stations won’t play. I like jazz during the day at work. Mellow, easy to think and write, not too loud or active so as to break concentration. And yet half the time the station won’t play. It’s a *default* folks, a preset. Of all the things that should work top of the list should be the stations you suggest.
Secondly the algorithm for the playlists are just poor. Worse than Pandora for sure which is hampered by licensing issues. Certainly worse than Zune (ahem, Xbox Music) and Smart DJ. Which is amazing as that algorithm was written years ago and has a smaller sample set of users to draw from.
So please Spotify; I pay for this service. Improve it, with Apple coming soon and Microsoft having a credible (if I so say so myself) offering fix this.
Great playlist when you just can’t find anything new and great and you just want to hear some good music.
Enjoying Big Deal from a SXSW playlist, good stuff. Remind me of someone but I can’t remember who.
I don’t have much taste in music, it’s a well-established fact. But even I know that listing Pearl Jam as an influential band today is silly. When was their last song that anyone listened to? “Daughter” maybe? I loved Pearl Jam in the 90s, I went to their magnificent concert in Magnuson Park, saw them at the Gorge. But tastemakers and trendsetters they are not.
And the rest of the full list (you need to click through from the meta-article to the article) is worse. Green Day?
Amusingly enough the list at the end which had Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes is probably closer to reality. And even that is so incredibly limited as much of the trending music today is DJ driven.
I read Lefsetz frequently. It is repetitive for sure. And his logic goes off the rail sometimes. But there is truth in them thar hills.
This post is about the music business but could equally be about software. Have fun, don’t sell out, leave money on the table, enjoy the ride, and most importantly have fun.
92.9 kilos this morning, guess the pizza for lunch yesterday wasn’t a great choice. On the plus side I ran for 52 minutes this morning. I rarely listen to music while I run. I prefer to zone out, get into a groove, get outside my own head. But this morning I didn’t want to do that. I rocked out to my favorite music and of course as a result I ran a lot faster than I normally do. One of these days I will time a few different routes to see how much speed I really gain with music.
The 100 Pushups App suggested doing a test this morning rather than a workout. Fine, I like that better since it’s a single set. 27 pushups which isn’t great but does keep me in the higher bracket for now. I really think the app would be better if the pushup test were 3 sets pushing to exhaustion for instance.
