Webware

Launching in private beta on Wednesday is Mufin, a Berlin-based music discovery service that helps users find similar tracks based on identifiers within a song. It scans each track for its density, tempo, and rhythm, then draws comparisons with other songs that match. What you get is a system that lets you find similar tracks by sound, even if they cross multiple genres.

Last week I chatted with Petar Djekic, the service's marketing manager, about this process and its origins. What's interesting is that it's a spinoff from the technology that was created to identify songs from short clips--the same thing that's found in Midomi and Shazam. The difference here is that songs must first be worked through a cataloging process that takes just a few seconds to scan a 10 to 20-track album.

The information gets fed into a massive search engine which assigns a percentage of similarity from track to track. It can also do the same for albums, so if you're in love with the specific work from an artist you can see other entire albums you might like.

You might have wondered what other songs are similar to Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up.' Mufin knows.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

You might be asking yourself how this could be at all useful in an age where two of the highest profile MP3 players (iPod and Zune) now have built-in recommendation tools both on the player hardware and computer software. Djekic's answer to this is that both of these solutions, as well as those found on Last.fm and Amazon.com, are all based on user behavior. You can get similar tracks, but not without some effort either on your end or that of other users. Djekic says anyone can simply come to Mufin with their existing library and get a list of related tracks without having to make friends or provide ratings.

In addition to its search tool, Mufin provides a playlist creator for tracks that have streaming rights. You can't share these playlists with anyone else (yet), but you can save them for later, as well as pop them out in their own window to play while you're off doing other things. If you're more keen to own the tracks the service is integrated with iTunes, and soon Amazon's MP3 store, so you can buy what you like.

Mufin is a really cool and handy service. There are already 3.8 million tracks in the catalog, which is growing rapidly. It's currently in private beta, although we've got 100 invites to give out. To get yours, visit the service through this link.

Note: Last.fm is owned by CNET parent company CBS Interactive.

Note 2: Information regarding album processing times has been amended. It was originally stated that it took 2-3 days to process an album, whereas that's how long it takes to be fed into Mufin's search index.

Bands in Town is a simple ticket finder for upcoming concerts. It figures out where you're connecting from and filters the names of artists with shows in your area, complete with links to buy tickets and subscribe to a band for future tour dates.

Last.fm users can plug in their credentials to whittle down the ginormous tag cloud or artists. Doing this also highlights and suggests the ones you like or it thinks you'd like. Even without a Last.fm account, it's a far superior browsing experience compared to parsing your local paper.

To further aid the search, there's a set of simple sliders on the left-hand side where you can dial up or down how much you want to pay, and how far you're willing to drive to go see a show. There are also filters to set whether you're looking to see just indie and unsigned artists, or a high profile pop band.

Speaking of the bands, each artist has its own page that hosts a small biography, a "mix tape" compiled of streaming music, and a list of upcoming shows complete with links to selected ticket sellers. Missing, however, is some of that all-important information like when you should be getting up at 5 a.m. to buy tickets for a show.

Compared to Songkick (coverage), Bands in Town is missing the integration with music jukebox software like iTunes to figure out what you're interested based on your listening habits. Of course this won't be an issue for heavy users of Last.fm, but iPod users with a few years of rating history will be left out of the loop.

Bands in Town does just what it says by telling you what concerts are coming to your area. It also links up with Last.fm to let you listen to a band before getting tickets.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Last.fm's music-centered social network is one of our favorite ways to discover, share, and stream music online. Currently in version 1.01, the Last.fm application for the iPhone and iPod Touch allows many of the best features of Last.fm to break away from your computer and go on the road with you. The Last.fm app isn't perfect, however, and people looking for a straightforward Internet radio application would do better with offerings from Pandora and AOL.

The Last.fm app's main menu offers many ways to hear streaming music...maybe too many.

When launching the Last.fm iPhone app for the first time, you'll be prompted to enter your existing Last.fm account username and password, or you'll be offered the option to create a new account. If you're new to Last.fm, we recommend you get started with the service using your home computer, since many features depend on an ongoing analysis of your computer's music collection (also known as scrobbling).

Once you're logged in, the Last.fm app offers eight ways to stream music over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi. You can listen to songs Last.fm has already scrobbled from your computer's music collection, treat yourself to recommended songs, do a cold search for new music, or hear what your friends have been listening to. The music playback screen is similar to Apple's own iPod screen, displaying large cover art, volume, pause, and skip controls, as well as an iTunes purchase link and Last.fm's own song rating buttons, which help to steer the quality of song recommendations. On the very bottom edge of the screen you'll find tabs for the currently playing track, artist biography, similar artists, events (such as related concerts), and a More tab that includes the track's tag information and Top Listeners.

With all its features, tabs, and buttons, the Last.fm app is one of the most in-depth and dynamic streaming music applications available for the iPhone. Unfortunately, despite its ambitious list of features, the program is bogged down with performance issues that make it frustrating to use at times. During testing in both Wi-Fi and 3G modes, we often experienced 5 to 10 second buffer delays each time we initiated a music stream or skipped between songs. The buffer issues subsided under ideal circumstances where Wi-Fi or 3G reception was strong; however, similar streaming audio applications from Pandora and AOL offered better streaming performance under more realistic conditions.

With any luck, future updates to the Last.fm app will improve streaming music reliability and refine the somewhat confusing assortment of menu options and playback screen features. In its current state, the Last.fm app presents a bite-size version of the Last.fm Web site experience in a way that may satisfy existing users, but is unlikely to win new converts.

Editors' note: Last.fm is owned by CNET's parent company, CBS Interactive.

We swear, there's no reading required to expand your musical horizons these days. Well...aside from this article, at least.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

When you're young, new music is everywhere: radio, Facebook profiles, borrowed iPods, or even burned CDs. It's not hard to find tunes you love. The music appetites of 13- to 21-year-olds are voracious and the consequences of being musically unhip can be punishing.

Then something happens: you get older; work a full-time job; get married; have a mortgage; have children; adopt a particularly demanding parrot; and so on. You wake up one day and realize your taste in music hasn't budged since your early '20s and the prospect of discovering good, new music now seems like an overwhelming chore, fraught with disappointment. I know, I'm living proof.

We're all familiar with the long, depressing list of activities that seemed easy in youth that now take effort. Fortunately, finding good music isn't as tough as working off that middle-age gut. Since its inception, the Internet has helped us--mostly illegally--discover new music. Finally, tools for legal and efficient online music discovery are hitting their stride.

To help you help yourself, we've collected our favorite techniques to help the lazy, hurried, or unhip (or, face it, aging) connect with good, new music.

New music search tool Mix Turtle is a very simple and elegant way to search for hosted music tracks. It provides search-as-you-type suggestions and a playlist creation tool that lets you add any search result to your mix just by clicking the big plus button next to it.

Like other music search engines, Mix Turtle provides variations on results if there are multiple sources. You can shuffle between each of these in succession and it will automatically jump to whichever one is still online since being indexed. It's not as elegant as mix tape creator MixWit's track surfer (which blends Seeqpod and Skreemr), but you can very quickly scour results and find what you're looking for.

Unfortunately, there are no real player controls that let you tweak things like a volume level or advance to a different part of the track, but you can simply pause it or jump to another track on your list with just a single click. Your playlist also stays with you from search to search, but remains out of sight. It can be summoned with a right click on your mouse.

Mix Turtle's database houses more than 2 million tracks. I was able to find some basic tracks from big bands with ease, including live tracks and remixes. For indie stuff you might be better off perusing eMusic's catalog.

See also: Songza, SeeqPod, Deezer, TinySong, and SkreemR.

Search for songs and add them to your playlist on the fly with Mix Turtle.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

For music lovers, the Pandora internet radio application for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a welcome addition.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

Apple publicly unveiled the Pandora Internet radio iPhone and iPod Touch application during the unveiling of the iTunes App store on Thursday, July 10. Tim Westergren, CEO for Pandora, was kind enough to give me a personal tour of the new application. The following is a synopsis of just about every question I had for Tim. Editors' note: This is not an interview transcript, but a roundup of information on the Pandora iPhone application presented in a FAQ format.

An option key allows you to bookmark artsist or songs, or purchase the current song directly from iTunes.

(Credit: Pandora)

How much will iTunes charge for the Pandora application?

It's free.

Will the iPhone version of the Pandora application stream music over the new 3G cellular connection?

Yes. New iPhones can use the Pandora app to stream music over 3G or Wi-Fi. Updated first-gen iPhones can stream over Wi-Fi or Edge, and the iPod Touch will obviously only stream over its Wi-Fi connection

What's the audio quality like?

Pandora's serves its iPod Touch and iPhone audio streams as 64Kbps stereo MP3 files; however, the quality and file format may be retooled once Pandora's tech team has some time to work with the new iPhone's hardware.

How will Pandora make money off a free application?

Pandora may eventually consider placing short audio advertisements in its streams, but, Pandora's first priority is to grow its user base.

Will Pandora stations I've already created using the Web service be available on the iPhone application?

Yes. Any stations, artist bookmarks, and song like/dislike preferences will be identical between the Pandora Web service and the Pandora application.

You can create and save custom stations directly from the Pandora app.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

What can I do with the Pandora application for the iPhone and iPod Touch?

Most of the features of Pandora's Internet radio Web service will be available on its iPhone application as well. People can create radio stations based around artists or songs, bookmark favorite artists or songs, pause and skip tracks, vote on songs, and view descriptions of why a currently playing song was included in your stream. You also have the option to purchase the currently playing song directly over the iTunes Wi-Fi store.

Pandora's intelligent recommendation engine explains song choices.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

Can I stream Pandora wirelessly from my iPhone over Bluetooth?

The iPhone does not currently support streaming stereo audio over its built-in Bluetooth; however, third-party Bluetooth audio adapters are available that fit any minijack audio output.

If I can connect my iPhone to my car stereo and stream Pandora over 3G, why would I listen to music on commercial or satellite radio?

Keep in mind that Pandora is a music-only service, so you'll need to get your talk radio, sports, and traffic reports elsewhere. That said, so long as you have decent 3G reception in your area, streaming Pandora internet radio to your car stereo via your iPhone should work fine.

Pandora's song voting system has made it to its iPhone app as well. Voting on songs helps fine-tune Pandora's personalized song recommendations. People can also pause and skip tracks.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

Can I wake up to Pandora radio if I dock my iPhone or iPod Touch into an iPod alarm clock?

Not likely, since most alarm clock docks trigger song playback from your music library. Some iPod alarm clock docks include an auxiliary input, however, so if you kept music streaming from Pandora all night (and somehow managed not to run down your battery), then it's possible. Seems like a pain though.

Will Pandora music streams display album art?

Yes, although some music in Pandora's catalog is still without cover art.

The Pandora playback screen looks much like the standard iPod playback screen, complete with cover art.

(Credit: Pandora)

Does the Pandora iPhone/iPod Touch application have the same limitations on track skipping as the Web version of the Internet radio station?

Yes. Because of legal restrictions, users cannot skip tracks on Pandora more than six times per hour. Fortunately, Pandora's Music Genome Project is pretty good at coming up with song selections.

Will using the Pandora iPhone application run down my battery quickly?

Yes. Reports so far suggest that the new iPhone's battery performance is at its worst when using its 3G connection. Streaming Pandora content over the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection should produce better battery performance than using 3G.

Earlier today, I sat down with Jasmine France, CNET's Senior Associate Editor of MP3 & Digital Audio and host of the MP3 Insider Podcast, to talk about free online services for streaming music. We've covered all of the ones we talked about in previous posts on Webware (see link dump below), but who knows--you might learn something new.

Also, for information on the legality of sites like these, read this post from CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman, who digs deep into how these start-ups are avoiding DMCA crackdown to keep your cloud-sourced mixtapes safe and sound.

I've embedded the podcast below. We've also got a live version of the show on video after the break. Feel free to share your personal favorites for music streaming and discovery in the comments.

Links from the show:
MixWit (Coverage)
MuxTape (Coverage)
ThisIsMyJam (Coverage)
Pandora
GrooveShark lite (Coverage)
Songza (Coverage)

CBS' $280 million darling Last.fm has unveiled a small, somewhat unexciting portion of its services this morning called "Playground." The space will be a new test bed for works-in-progress features that aren't quite ready for prime time and need a little user testing to work out the kinks. While lacking in eye candy, some of the tools are actually quite useful for music discovery.

Starting today there are three to play with: multi-tag search, artist name variations, and a listing of the tracks that make it the most to the weekly top 10. Of the bunch, my favorite is the multi-tag search, which lets you combine several tags together to build and execute highly customized searches either with tags you type in, or those selected from a large cloud. In comparison, the site's current utilities only let you browse by single tag or search by band name.

Speaking of band names, the new search tool that splits up the results by band name spelling is really neat. Band names are one of the key reasons for disambiguation in people's digital music collections, and the artist name variation tool lists some of the alternate names that make their way onto the service via ID3 tags. Anyone with a large music library with content from multiple sources will run into this unless they've used some sort of ID3 tag clean-up utility. (Here's a good one.) A fun one to try is guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. I've purchased a ton of his albums over the years, and when ripping them to my library I've managed to get several spellings of his name. A simple search in the band name tool pulls up 20 different spellings and variations of tracks he's on, including percentages of how much that particular name appears in his online music presence. Neat.

And I thought people had trouble with my last name. In Hendrix's case, it was his first and last that gave people trouble, which we can see with Last.fm's experimental artist name search tool. (Click to do the search yourself.)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Yesterday MyStrands, the music discovery service/social network launched MyStrands.TV, a new offering that serves up music videos related to your tastes. If you've ever used Last.fm, the idea is similar--just type in an artist name and you'll get a playlist full of their videos, along with several recommendations for similar artists or genres. The service keeps track of which videos you've watched, and shows you a listing of members who have added that artist to their own playlists. There's also a social element with user pages full of custom band picks you can share with friends, and other MyStrands users.

What makes MyStrands.tv jump out is its simplicity. The focus is entirely on the videos, and the UI is pleasingly intuitive. You can tweak little things like whether or not you want just your artist to play, or for MyStrands to pick from other artists to surprise you. There are also simple StumbleUpon-like navigation controls to give whatever video you're watching the thumbs up or thumbs down, which will affect future recommendations.

The service supports itself with ads, which lay unobtrusively on the side of the page. They're contextual based on the artists and songs on the page, so if you like what you hear, there are links to buy the album on Amazon.com. The videos come from YouTube, so clicking on any of them will take you to the video's page on the service.

Altogether MyStrands.tv is a dead-simple way to explore music videos and get introduced to new bands. Although since it's video-only, you're missing out on some of the goodness that comes your way with the less popular indie bands that find their way into services like Pandora and Last.fm.

Related: MogTV (review)

Like K-Fed? Well, if you did, MyStrands.TV could tell you some other artists you'd like, too.

(Credit: CNET Networks)