What I'd like my pod to Do
Sometimes I think my I pod is smarter, almost intuitive, than it really is. Sometimes I will put my larger capacity I pod on full shuffle- meaning it can randomly pick from any of the 2962 tracks and it will some how pick two in a row from the same artist or even the same album. The other morning a sequence started out with a Radiohead song, then The Who covering the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time" (I didn't know I even had this one) and then it played U2 covering "Creep"-a Radiohead song! If this is totally random than it is amazing. According to my mathematician friend Pete the odds that any one song will follow another are the same and I only notice these patterns when they are obvious- most of the time there are no connections.
But I want more than this- I want my Ipod to be able to make obscure connections and be able to play songs that go perfectly together and even suit the mood that I'm in. Maybe it could play a set of songs from bands who have had members die? What if my Ipod knew what the weather was like outside and could automatically tailor songs to that - songs that mention rain on a stormy day or The Beach Boys and summer songs for a perfect July day. How about it knows my pulse and plays high energy stuff when it senses I'm working out? Maybe some mellow songs later at night when I'm trying to get to sleep. I'd like it to download the albums from my favorite artists automatically (and let me return the album if it was a stinker) It should also make suggestions and actually play new stuff I might like based on what I already have.
Some of these things should be totally possible - maybe if I changed the settings on my pod correctly they would happen right now. If you are worried about your Ipod learning too much about you - don't worry it's really nothing next to what your cell phone and your television already know.
posted by Gregory Owen @ 10:48 AM
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