Comments on: Last.FM needs a “serendipity factor” dial

By: Ross Dawson

Ross Dawson — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:51:21 +0000

Good tip nok! You still need to find the DJs you like, but this provides some great discoveries. 8tracks tell me they’re working on some kind of collaborative filtering system for launch in due course.

By: nok

nok — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:33:57 +0000

I concur that last.fm loses it’s serendipity factor after awhile. I’ve been using 8tracks, which scrobbles with last.fm, and has made for some great discoveries. It is worth checking out.

By: Ross Dawson

Ross Dawson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:47:02 +0000

Interesting comments all – thanks!
It seems people choose music channels based on their serendipity factor. This suggests that a channel that allowed you to vary this should get a lot more listeners…
Domini, that’s very insightful. A key issue is how customized content is in the first place. For example your Twitter stream is customized in who you choose to follow, though you still end up with lots that’s not of interest.
Most of us adjust the serendipity factor of our content through a portfolio of content sources. But there is still scope for a lot better single sources.
Serendipity factor adjustment transcends the problems of a ‘Daily Me’ which is too narrow.

By: Peter van Heusden

Peter van Heusden — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:43:57 +0000

I can recommend Grooveshark (www.grooveshark.com). The serendipity factor is great. I’ve also been listening to Last.fm and I liked the serendipity factor but I quit when they asked money (I’m Dutch).

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:08:45 +0000

This is one of the reasons I stopped listening to Pandora Radio. Telling Pandora you liked or disliked something only served to narrow the musical spectrum that was presented to you. I found my self constantly changing my preferences (gangsta rap to new age to easy listening) just to mix it up. Having to hit ‘skip’ for the next song is not the end of the world, just don’t make me do it too often.

By: domini

domini — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:34:26 +0000

Serendipity is a very important topic and it comes up regularly. The issue with it, and I have not cracked it yet, is more the “toomuch” than the “notenough”. From that angle Twitter has clearly wandered on the side of toomuch.
Any newspaper front page is a good “old”model for that, even economic news papers have serendipity built into the first page. In a way, “toomuch” is so costly in terms of time loss that I personnally prefer the “notenough” and relying on my own diversity of sources and contacts for the “right” level.