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.
Like K-Fed? Well, if you did, MyStrands.TV could tell you some other artists you'd like, too.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
(Credit:
MyStrands)
MyStrands provides event goers with an easy way to interact with their surroundings using their mobile phones. The derivative of PartyStrands got a substantial update this week. The service (which we covered in November) has rolled out a few new tools for users to host similar features in their own homes.
MyStrands now lets you pull from Napster's music library to host music for parties. Users can browse through Napster tracks using the MyStrands app and play any full song for free up to three times, without actually having to use Napster. There's also an indie-artist radio player, with suggestive interactivity similar to Pandora, where the playlist changes based on your likes and dislikes.
What's really neat is the new embeddable music widget. You can put it on your blog or social networking profile, and if you're using the MyStrands music player, your current song will automatically be shown to other users. People can just click on the artist and get more information about how many other MyStrands users have listened to that same song.
I first experienced a service similar to PartyStrands at a concert last year, and it was surprisingly entertaining. People were sending pictures and messages to a special number, and their content was being shown on the JumboTron. Some wrote haiku, others just shout outs to friends, but when you're waiting for a concert to start, anything is entertaining. I'm not so sure the same can be said about using a service like this at smaller house parties, though.
[via Mashable]
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