This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on December 9, 2005). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Cool toy if you use iTunes to listen to your music: the iTunes Signature Maker.
People often ask me what music I listen to, and I find it difficult to describe my enormous music collection in just a few sentences. So I created iTunes Signature Maker (iTSM) to answer in sound a question I cannot answer in words. iTSM analyzes your music collection and creates a short audio signature to represent it.
iTSM selects a small number of your “favorite” tracks based on some simple selection criteria, such as the number of times you have played them or the rating you have assigned them. Then it analyzes the audio content of these files, combining a small bit of each of them to create the signature.
Here’s my first one (464 Kb .mp3, 23 seconds).
And with slightly different settings, one more (1.2 Mb .mp3, 64 seconds).
Here’s the analysis that iTSM provides — if you know the songs and listen fast enough, you can hear them all in this order.
(via Kottke)
| First try (23 seconds) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Artist | Album | Starting At | Ending At |
| Beloved | VNV Nation | Futureperfect | 4:56.3 | 5:00.0 |
| Bring on the Dancing Horses | Echo and the Bunnymen | Pretty In Pink | 0:23.3 | 0:25.3 |
| Break | Kleptones, The | A Night at the Hip-Hopera | 1:03.9 | 1:08.2 |
| When You Don’t See Me (German Release) | Sisters of Mercy, The | Temple of Love | 0:25.1 | 0:27.2 |
| If I Only Had a Brain | MC 900 Ft Jesus | One Step Ahead of the Spider | 3:09.3 | 3:12.5 |
| Sex on the Flag | K.M.F.D.M. | Money | 1:31.7 | 1:33.4 |
| Pleasant Smell (Rethought by Clint Mansell and Keith Hillebrandt for the Nothing Collective) | 12 Rounds | Pleasant Smell | 4:38.7 | 4:41.7 |
| Temptation | Sister Machine Gun | Metropolis | 2:13.5 | 2:16.0 |
| Kathy’s Song (Come Lie Next to Me) | Apoptygma Berzerk | Welcome to Earth | 0:01.8 | 0:03.6 |
| I’m On My Way | Clumsy Lovers, The | Barnburner | 1:38.3 | 1:41.9 |
| Destillat (VNV Nation) | Das Ich | Re_Laborat | 0:27.0 | 0:29.2 |
| Another Rhyme | Truffles, The | Truffula | 2:23.5 | 2:27.6 |
| Goodbye Forever Once Again | Webley, Jason | Counterpoint | 0:24.2 | 0:26.9 |
| Da Da Da | Out of the Ordinary | Welcome to the Future | 2:50.3 | 2:54.5 |
| Mind Your Own Business | Pigface | Easy Listening… | 2:33.7 | 2:37.0 |
| Wasted | And One | Virgin Superstar | 1:24.7 | 1:27.3 |
| Take California and Party | Propellerheads feat. The Jungle Brothers | Take California | 2:28.3 | 2:32.2 |
| Allen’s Got A New Hi-Fi | La Tour | La Tour | 3:23.3 | 3:26.1 |
| Sympathy for the Devil | Jane’s Addiction | Jane’s Addiction | 0:00.0 | 0:03.4 |
| Going Going Gone (Razed in Black) | Information Society | InSoc Recombinant | 1:52.4 | 1:56.9 |
| Second try (64 seconds) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Artist | Album | Starting At | Ending At |
| If I Only Had a Brain | MC 900 Ft Jesus | One Step Ahead of the Spider | 2:41.1 | 2:45.9 |
| Pleasant Smell (Rethought by Clint Mansell and Keith Hillebrandt for the Nothing Collective) | 12 Rounds | Pleasant Smell | 4:38.7 | 4:43.3 |
| Everybody Knows | Cohen, Leonard | I’m Your Man | 3:50.6 | 3:53.8 |
| Will the Circle Be Unbroken | Staple Singers, The | Folk, Gospel and Blues: Will the Circle Be Unbroken | 0:40.5 | 0:42.6 |
| Beloved | VNV Nation | Futureperfect | 4:56.3 | 5:01.6 |
| Temptation | Sister Machine Gun | Metropolis | 3:09.6 | 3:13.8 |
| Goodbye Forever Once Again | Webley, Jason | Counterpoint | 0:13.1 | 0:17.5 |
| Wasted | And One | Virgin Superstar | 1:06.9 | 1:11.2 |
| Another Rhyme | Truffles, The | Truffula | 1:55.8 | 2:01.4 |
| Take California and Party | Propellerheads feat. The Jungle Brothers | Take California | 0:27.3 | 0:32.8 |
| Sympathy for the Devil | Jane’s Addiction | Jane’s Addiction | 0:05.0 | 0:10.1 |
| Mind Your Own Business | Pigface | Easy Listening… | 2:32.0 | 2:37.0 |
| Bring on the Dancing Horses | Echo and the Bunnymen | Pretty In Pink | 0:22.4 | 0:26.1 |
| Destillat (VNV Nation) | Das Ich | Re_Laborat | 0:28.0 | 0:32.0 |
| Making Believe | Social Distortion | Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell | 0:00.0 | 0:02.7 |
| Drive Driven | Yello | Essential | 0:03.0 | 0:06.1 |
| Sex on the Flag | K.M.F.D.M. | Money | 1:35.4 | 1:38.8 |
| I’m On My Way | Clumsy Lovers, The | Barnburner | 2:29.5 | 2:34.7 |
| Da Da Da | Out of the Ordinary | Welcome to the Future | 2:49.6 | 2:55.3 |
| Break | Kleptones, The | A Night at the Hip-Hopera | 1:03.9 | 1:09.8 |
| Inbetween Days | Eddie, John | Rubáiyát: Elektra’s 40th Anniversary | 0:10.0 | 0:13.3 |
| Down By the Water | Harvey, P.J. | To Bring You My Love | 0:31.2 | 0:33.6 |
| Allen’s Got A New Hi-Fi | La Tour | La Tour | 3:12.9 | 3:17.5 |
| I Got You (Hot Tracks) | Split Enz | Edge, The Level 2 | 4:28.3 | 4:31.0 |
| Galileo | Indigo Girls | Folk, Gospel and Blues: Will the Circle Be Unbroken | 0:08.8 | 0:11.7 |
| Kathy’s Song (Come Lie Next to Me) | Apoptygma Berzerk | Welcome to Earth | 0:03.5 | 0:07.1 |
| Obsession | Blue Eyed Christ | Shut Up Kitty | 1:41.1 | 1:43.6 |
| Dreamer’s Ball (Live) | Queen | Live Killers | 0:47.6 | 0:49.8 |
| When You Don’t See Me (German Release) | Sisters of Mercy, The | Temple of Love | 0:27.0 | 0:30.9 |
| Going Going Gone (Razed in Black) | Information Society | InSoc Recombinant | 1:50.9 | 1:56.9 |
You know; a certain someone would be eternally grateful and would be making with the cleavage if someone else wanted to share any And One or Apoptygma Berzerk that they had.
Just sayin….
Awesome program
It’s funny that iTSM and Wishmix came out about the same time. Are these guys related?