Comments on: Outsmarting Smart Technology

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:06:33 +0000

And both XM and Sirius blow for music. Their channels are so ineptly managed that it's mindboggling. Could you elaborate? I've been considering sat radio as a Christmas gift for my wife.

Basically, they give their channels genre-specific names and then proceed to play randomish songs not connected to said genre. Example: Both XM and Sirius have a channel called "Outlaw Country." To me, that's Hank Jr, Waylon Jennings, and various other artists of that ilk, including plenty of more current ones. They'll play Loretta Lynn or Neil Young or damned near anything they feel like on the channel.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:47:46 +0000

Pandora works by finding what attributes you like in a song. They use the Music Genome project for this. It's pretty interesting stuff, actually. It recommends songs that have similar "genetic" characteristics to songs you've rated favorably. So long as your taste in music doesn't change, it can determine whether or not you'll like a song you've never heard before. Suffice it to say, giving John Mayer a thumbs down won't have much impact on how many Tom Petty songs you'll hear.

By: Trumwill

Trumwill — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:43:37 +0000

And both XM and Sirius blow for music. Their channels are so ineptly managed that it's mindboggling.

Could you elaborate? I've been considering sat radio as a Christmas gift for my wife.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:44:01 +0000

Don't you feel these systems will end up locking you into a single genre or two without any hope of ever hearing or seeing anything truly different again?

Actually, just the opposite. I've only fooled around with Pandora for an hour or so but it allows you to create multiple "stations" based on an artist or a song you like. It then suggests songs that you can rate. It suggested several songs that I'd never before heard by artists of whom I'd never before heard of, some of which I gave a thumbs up. So, theoretically at least, it should expand my musical horizons. Since I'm no longer willing to put up with commercials, and thus don't listen to music radio, that's a good thing. (And both XM and Sirius blow for music. Their channels are so ineptly managed that it's mindboggling. I keep Sirius solely for NFL Radio.)

By: Franklin

Franklin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:52:57 +0000

Don't you feel these systems will end up locking you into a single genre or two without any hope of ever hearing or seeing anything truly different again? Variety is the spice of life, although I must admit I never purposefully listen to country music.

Oh, and BTW, that Mayer version sucks all life and emotion out of Free Fallin'.

By: David

David — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:35:28 +0000

There's actually a bit more to it than that with Pandora, a service to which I am borderline addicted. I think you'll like it.

But I can sympathize with you on the strange "suggestions" of DVR systems.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:16:17 +0000

Since I don’t understand the algorithm these things use, I always feel a need to second guess the system.

That's not "outsmarting" the system, that's misusing the system. GIGO. A smart system would see a negative vote on John Mayer signing Free Fallin, compare it to all other ratings by the user, and determine that he does in fact like Tom Petty, and the song, and must therefore object to John Mayer.

it would interpret my approval of a movie as an indication that I wanted to see that particular movie as often as humanly possible.

That's not exactly a "smart system".