If you’re unsure how to start, try searching for one of your favorite bands-the site will not only return a list of links with the band’s name, but also display a Common Tags box, which you can use as a jumping-off point, on the side of the page. So, for example, you could enter to find all the URLs tagged with both jazz and MP3. To further refine a search, you can combine keywords by putting a plus sign (+) between them. You can also enter a search string directly in your browser for example, if you wanted to see all the URLs tagged with the keyword jazz, you’d enter -the site would return everything users had tagged with that keyword, with the newest items presented first. You can view URLs associated with any tag on by entering a keyword in its search box. To access all its features, start by signing up for a free account. Since users update the site millions of times a day, searching its tags can help you find the absolute newest music on the Web. Last.fm even gives you the code for publishing your charts on your blog (MyStrands has a similar feature).Īlthough software that works with iTunes is a great way to find new music, you don’t always have to download a program-you can turn to the Web as well.ĭel. The popular social bookmarking siteĭel. lets anyone upload a link and tag it with keywords. You can browse your charts by artist, album, and track to get a better idea of your weekly, monthly, and overall listening habits. Menuet, can also submit song data to Last.fm.) The Last.fm site maintains a database of every submitted track, and it records the information in charts on your user page. (A handful of third-party applications, most notably Launch the Last.fm app, and as you play songs in iTunes, Last.fm submits track data to your user page on its Web site iScrobbler lives in OS X’s menu bar and submits track data in the background. However, its strongest features are its charting and networking options. Like MyStrands, the full Last.fm application lets you tag tracks and view community tags for songs in your library. To get started, you create a free account and download the Last.fm application-either the full app or the (currently unsupported) iScrobbler iTunes plug-in. Last.fm combines a social-networking Web site with Mac software. Last.fmĝesigned to help you find fresh tunes, Visit the site to browse user-created playlists and more. The site will even generate a list of potential buddies-the list is based on what you’re listening to right now, what you’ve listened to this week or month, or your all-time listening habits, and it includes percentage ratings that show how likely a match MyStrands thinks each person is. On the MyStrands Web site, you can click on the Discover Members link to find people with musical tastes similar to yours. The program also helps you find compatible friends. Even if you’ve never tagged a track, you can use MyStrands’ community tags to generate playlists. You can then click on the Create Playlist In iTunes button, and MyStrands will make a new iTunes playlist with all those songs. Click on any of the tags, and MyStrands will list all the tracks in your library that share it. The Tag Cloud window can display all your tags or all the community tags for songs in your library. MyStrands builds a database of all your tags, which you can view by clicking on the Tag Cloud icon in the lower right-hand corner of the MyStrands window. Tags can be anything-not only simple genre keywords, such as jazz and folk, but also keywords that express how the music makes you feel, what it reminds you of, or anything else that you think categorizes it. MyStrands downloads community tags from its database for each track, and you can add your own (see “Leave Your Mark”). There’s also a field for entering tags-user-contributed keywords that describe the song. As you play songs in iTunes, MyStrands runs in a separate window, displaying track information and a Recommendations list of similar songs you might enjoy (recommendations are based on several aspects of the entire community’s listening habits). MyStrands scans your iTunes library and compares it with the MyStrands database. MyStrands tracks informa-tion about the music you listen to, builds unique online charts, and has several interesting commu-nity features. MyStrands service is a great starting point. MyStrands If you’re interested in discovering music via the power of social networks and the hive mind, the free
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |