Last.fm is better than Pandora: Personal Taste Trumps Science Once Again

(free radio, 2.0)

I am way behind the times on discovering last.fm, I know. What I didn't know until a few weeks ago, is just what I was missing out on.

As a longtime user of Pandora.com, I thought Pandora was the proverbial *stuff*. I could listen to all kinds of obscure bands, tailored specifically to my tastes and preferences, musically speaking, based on Pandora's "music genome project". This means if I say I like Elliot Smith, Pandora would analyze Elliot Smith songs for things such as vocal pitch, instrumentation, tempo patterns etc., and would then play me a selection of other artists with similar "musical DNA".

For a station focused on Elliot Smith, the first song is Elliot Smith's "Rose Parade", exactly what I wanted. Track two played is "Your Scars" by Charlemange, followed by "Waitin' for the Superman" by the Flaming Lips. I like both of these songs, but not that much. The Flaming Lips are a band that I've never really loved, although they do have many songs with similar sounds to other music I like very much.

Last.fm, rather than recommending music based on the elements of sound in the music I like, uses a more democratic, social media kind of approach. If I say I like Elliot Smith, it looks at the other music I listen to and then gives me a recommendation based on what other users who like some of the music I like and ALSO like Elliot Smith have been listening to.



When I select a station based on Elliot Smith, the first song is Elliot Smith's "I didn't Understand", not exactly one of my favorite of his, but a great song nonetheless. Next up is "Niagara Falls" by Sufjan Stevens. This song I did not previously know, but I really like. After that is "Song Against Sex" by Neutral Milk Hotel. This one sounds almost nothing like Elliot Smith, but definitely fits my actual taste. I knew this song already, but was more than happy for it to come up on my station.

The downside of Last.fm is that a band has to be listened to by a decent number of people before the algorithm is going to recommend it to other listeners, but also means that the songs put on my stations are that much more likely to be a "hit" in my little world.

Also, Last.fm has a download-able application that keeps track of the music you listen to on iTunes or Windows media player and factors those selections into its suggestions of music you might like. On one hand, I don't like being "watched", but the program can be easily turned off if you are listening to some secret stash of horribly embarrassing music.

But really, good music is good for you, so don't listen to crap songs, if you can help it. And check out both Pandora.com and Last.fm and let me know what you think.