Dynamic Shared Playlists

Updated my Blogger profile to reflect the music groups from my iTunes Zeitgeist project, when I started wondering about the music my friends put in their profiles. After reading them, I wondered about how cool it would be to make playlists based on who would be in a car, listening to the music. That is, I carpool with my brother somewhere, and I play my "bro" playlist, of stuff music we both enjoy. In actually reading the music lists, I realized how much of a pain that would be, especially since tastes are dynamic, we might have a favorite song without liking much by the band, and especially if more than one person was present.

Then I thought, this is a perfect task for a computer.

Other thoughts, as I effectively published my musical tastes, I wondered about how someone else could use this information about me. Could someone gift me a mix CD based on this information? Probably not, unless they could put Eva Cassidy and Tool on the same mix. In which case, I want that CD. Could a date put together a playlist of stuff she extrapolated I'd like based on what was in my list? Oh wait, I'm totally going to do that!

Of course, my list is pretty much entirely made up of mainstream artists. Now I'm tempted to add a "tripwire" artist. That is, an artist which would signal to me that someone was trying to influence me by creating a list based on my profile. In order for that to work, it would have to be a pretty mainstream artist with obvious hits which I don't actually like, but not so mainstream that it could be just a random playlist. Michael Jackson, might work, as his stuff sticks out, but that might be too weird. Maybe Fergie (but I like the Black Eyed Peas). Justin Timberlake might work, but seems so mainstream that someone might just like the guy. Aaron Neville? Possibly.

Is profile-stalking a real term? It should be. Now I need to think up an tripwire movie too. Yes, this is how my brain works.