iPod Shuffle is neat but it isn't really random. Everything it plays is one of your songs. Your selection only gets bigger when you add new songs and you have no chance of hearing a new song.
The new Napster is also neat. For a fixed fee per month you can listen to anything you want out of a monstrously huge selection of songs. But in your MP3 player it's still the same old thing - you program what you want to hear and there's really no big help to find new things.
What we need is MyFM. Here are the requirements:
- Fixed monthly fee.
- Monstrously huge selection of songs.
- Automatic programming/download to MP3 device.
- Random download/playback.
- Random download selection is configurable by preferences. Specify that you hate country music, you don't get country music. Say you love bubblegum pop, you get more bubblegum pop.
- Feedback on artist and song basis. Four buttons - While a song is playing you can give a thumb up or down for the song (feedback to category, type) and for the artist.
- Web-based or program-based feedback for people using legacy MP3 players without feedback buttons.
- When you dock your MP3 your feedback goes into your personal profile to figure out what songs will be loaded next.
- It's all automatic when you dock the MP3 player. Preferences go up, the new songs come down.
Savvy internet people are looking at the last item on the list and saying "You're nuts! The bandwidth requirements are unbelievable. An MP3 player might hold 40 or 60 gigs. You want to swap that every time the unit is docked?"
No, of course not you silly goose. The new playlist will be created by category/artist criteria. Most of the songs on the MP3 player will not have been heard. All of those can stay as long as there is a spot on the new playlist that they can fill. The actual download wouldn't be that bad, depending on how much of the current load has been listened to.
The best part is that a very simple unit could be used for the MP3 player. Something like the iPod Shuffle would be just fine, with the addition of the feedback buttons. The storage for it doesn't need to be huge like on the newer MP3 players because you aren't trying to store your entire music collection on it, just as much as you need until the next time the device is docked.
The end result is your very own personal radio station. The longer you listen to it, the better it matches your tastes. You get to hear new things. You are not restricted to your own purchased songs. And it is EASY.
Best of all, it is all possible with current technology. The MP3 device would need to be built but everything else is just programming, and pretty simple programming at that.
Would you pay for a service like this? How much? What if a compliant MP3 player was included with a 1 year or 2 year contract (like they do with cell phones)?
It is a good idea. Especially the contract like cell phones.
I really like this idea.
They are coming out with a portable XM ipod looking thing.
that is really a sweet idea man.
Nice idea. Maybe this meshes with the satellite radio thing a little better. Or as an addition. The MP3 player can mix some of the music you own also.
It has taken a long time for the music moguls to 'get' the internet music idea.
I have probably purchased more downloadable music than I would 'hard' product, but not spent any more cash. That means the artist gets more of my money, I hope and I don't need the extraneous paper.