Concept:
if you are familiar with dynamic playlists, feel free to skip to “Requirements” below
This is, by now, an old idea in internet years (these days, 1 day = 1 year): use a collection of ’smart’ dynamic playlists to create the illusion of Intelligent Design behind automated music selection. The goal is to create an environment in which you need do no more than press play, and a fresh, random selection of music hits your ears, tailored to your personal tastes; not the mechanical blankness of the decades-old “shuffle” function, the designs of industry megagiants or a distant robotic jukebox. Instead, you want a smart selection of tunes, mostly favorites, yet playing those few forgotten gems lurking in your music library. And life in the age of self-absorption is good, temporarily.
The infrastructure behind such a personal radio station is simple, thanks to such music library management programs such as iTunes, Winamp, or MusikCube. These programs make use of dynamic playlists, which automatically stock themselves from your personal library of music based on criteria you set. For example, you can create a playlist comprised only of soundtracks from the 80’s that haven’t been played for at least a month. In iTunes, such a playlist would be set up thus:
And the finished product would look like this:
Neat thing: as you play each of these songs, they are automatically removed from the list for one month. You wouldn’t have to hear them again for as long as you like, and the list continues to draw from your supply of 80’s soundtracks (mine is fairly limited) to provide fresh tunes.
It is this combination of dynamic generation and month-long probation that provides the driving force behind my own personal radio station (Mattland Radio International). Here are my requirements for the resulting playlist:
- The illusion of a random, but “smart” personally-tailored selection of music
- Higher-rated songs played more often than lower-rated songs
- Songs must be “fresh,” not having been played in the last month
- Unrated and lower-rated songs still allowed on the list
Here’s how you make one:
Requirements:
- A decent-sized library (200+ albums) of music you mostly like.
- A decent number of rated songs.
(If you haven’t rated any songs, take a few moments and rate the tracks in a few albums. Get about a hundred songs if you can. As you use your personal radio station, continue rating songs as you go along. The more you rate, the more ‘accurate’ your station becomes.)
- Music management software (iTunes, Winamp, Musikcube, etc.)
- A decent working knowledge of dynamic/smart playlists.
Procedure:
- In your preferred music management software, create a dynamic playlist containing 100 of your highest rated songs:
- 100 songs, selected by random
- Rated five stars
- Not played in the last month (or week, if you have a smaller library)
- Tracks must meet ALL of the above criteria to be on this list (otherwise, you’ll get the phone book.)
In iTunes, the setup dialog would look like this:
Note that “Live Updating” is checked. In iTunes, this ensures that the list will continually update itself, and not remain static, ensuring a fresh supply of tracks.
- Name the new playlist “Magic 5,” or something else cute.
- Using the same method, create a dynamic list of only 80 tracks, rated 4 stars, not played in the last month. Make sure “Live Updating,” or its non-iTunes equivalent, is enabled.
By including fewer lower-rated songs in our equation, we’re increasing the likelihood that higher-rated, better-loved songs play more often in the finished product.
- Name the new playlist “Magic 4,” or whatever naming convention you prefer.
- Create a dynamic list of 60 tracks, rated 3 stars, not played in the last month, named “Magic 3.”
- Create a dynamic list of 40 tracks, rated 2 stars, not played in the last month, named “Magic 2.”
- Create a dynamic list of 20 tracks, rated 1 star, not played in the last month, named “Magic 1.”
- Create a dynamic list of 20 tracks, with no rating, not played in the last month, named “Magic 0.”
Again, by decreasing the pool of lower-rated tracks, we’re increasing the chances a higher-rated song gets played. We’ve also included songs that maybe you haven’t had a chance to rate yet. Adjust the list lengths above to whatever you like to fine-tune your statistics.
Now, we’ll create the One List, a playlist that references other playlists, and the only playlist you’ll actually need to interface with in order to enjoy your fresh, random selection of music.
- Create a dynamic list that includes ALL of the lists you’ve just created:
- Allow tracks to match “any” of the criteria instead of “all.” In other words, a track can belong to any of the lists you’ve created to make it onto the One List. Otherwise, you’ll end up with an empty One List, and a puzzled expression on your face.
- Add each of your playlists as “rules” or criteria for the list. (See the screenshot below.)
- Ensure that tracks will be randomly selected.
- Limit the size of the playlist to whatever you feel is appropriate: 2 hours, 50 tracks, etc.
For example:
- Give the final list a clever name, and you’re done!
Here’s an example of the finished product. There are quite a few 4 and 5-star tracks present, but things are broken up a bit with unrated and lower-rated tracks. Plus, many of the tracks haven’t been played in over a month, or ever (in iTunes or on my iPod, at least):
At this point, you can just hit play, and enjoy a random stream of music! Or, you can throw in a bit of randomness to your randomness with additional dynamic playlists:
