shuffleswap

I read this article in The Guardian today - about various popstars swapping ipods, it made me think I'd love to swap ipods with interesting people and discover some new music. I've got a shuffle sitting in a box that I don't really use any more (since I was lucky enough to get a nice nano) - it's loaded up with a fairly random selection of stuff from everything I own. Anyone want to swap?

Comments

[Gareth]

I'll swap you a loaded shuffle

[Brett]

great idea.
Id swap, I have mine loaded with my finds of 2005. Not everything released in 2005 but favorites from the cd's I bought.

[anthony]

We once had this cool idea for something like flashmob/mobile clubbing dance party, where everyone arrived, tossed their iPod shuffles into a box, then picked one out randomly and just started getting down - but it turned out noone was happy with the copyright issues.

:(

you could do it if it was all artists bringing their own music - something like an unsigned, independant music sampler party. that would be wicked.

[russell]

There's a few people up for this, I'll wait a couple of days to see if anyone else wants to play - and then we can maybe arrange some kind of group swap.

[Phil G]

Russell,

I recently got an ipod nano for Christams and while I've loaded it with the 550+ songs I've downloaded from itunes prior to ever having an ipod, it's still too new for me to part with. However, your idea did get me thinking...

This is nothing groundbreaking, but I was thinking about the fact that as planners, we don't always utilize the importance of music when analyizing/getting to know/consuming an audience or target. It seems to be one of the few areas of a person's life that is honest and vunerable. Music will always tell you a lot about a person's tastes, sensitivities and interests that observation and interviewing may never unearth. Now that ipods have personalized the process even more and you don't have to have outward facing album covers adorning your apartment or home to impress your friends, I think that just talking to a person about their selections and taking their music collection as a whole could garner insight which is pretty deep into a target's psyche. And when briefing a team, it crystalizes this person better than flashy imagery and a thought about how they "like listening to music"...which provides no insight at all.

Anyway, just an idea I thought was worth sharing. Maybe music critics would make good planners if they weren't so preoccupied with being "cool" themselves...

[Iain]

Following Phil G's post - Just a quick plug for last.fm (http://www.last.fm/) - one of the best musical exploration tools around.

I've got no iPod to swap - but you can listen to a 'Radio Station' made up of what I've been listening to. http://www.last.fm/user/iaintait/ - then click on 'start radio'. And you can listen to what people who like things that people like me like (blimey that's hard to read).

The really smart thing about last.fm is that once it's set up, you don't ever need to tell it anything new... And even if you don't really use iTunes you can get it working with your iPod's recently played lists.

I've got no interest in plugging the site apart from the fact I think it's ace.

[Steve K]

In that line of thought, check out www.pandora.com I picked it up from TrendCentral, but it is based on the Music Genome Project. Dissecting a song, it will play a 'radio station' of songs similar to a song or band you suggest. I've already picked up on at least 6 new bands to check out.