Thing #6 - The Toolbox

I'm gonna play around with Pandora. I just got the update for my iPhone (haha, it's iPhone 2.0!), and Pandora is an available application. I want to play with it so I can have access to music that I'll probably like, based on extrapolations of a computer.

Anything touted as a "genome project" appeals to me! From the creators:

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony.

Awesome!

First, I added many of my favorite bands to "Summer Radio," the "station" I created. I like that it has a "smart add" button (though it took a while to use because the navigation relied on some pop-ups and menus I didn't really understand). Then, I clicked play! Simple as that! The first song they threw at me was by the White Stripes, a band I didn't put on my list... and a song I didn't particularly like. But, never fear, they let you "thumbs up" a song or "thumbs down" it; it'll drop songs like it from the playlist evermore! I have it playing in the background now. Here 'tis!

I don't like that when you share the station(s), the emails take so long to arrive! I'm waiting for a "share" email so I can link to my stations! Search for "Summer Radio"

I'm really excited that I'll be able to use this with my phone. I'm not taking advantage of the iPod feature of my iPhone at all yet, so having this (free!) resource to entertain me (and plug into my car!!!) will be great.

It's useful because I'm always seeking out new music, and Pandora (based on the selections for Summer Radio) has quite a few obscure selections.

For school, wow... That's an interesting problem challenge!

It might help me relate to my students if I create a "Class Radio" station by inputting their favorite songs/bands... We could play it as a reward. Or if we have a certain unit theme, we could list songs and see what Pandora comes up with...

I created "Science Radio" by entering bands I know are into the whole science songs thing and certain science songs I know. But it didn't really come up with sciencey songs, because it's looking at musical connections, not lyrical/content connections. Check out its not-so-greatness. Oh well.