Earlier this week Whitney Houston’s lackluster performance debut on Good Morning America caused quite a stir of criticism when she blamed her lack of vocal strength on Oprah saying, “”I’m so sorry. I did ‘Oprah.’ I’ve been talking for so long. … I talked so much, my voice,” she said, trailing off.”

Even though they have been here for years, these artists’ albums failed to satisfy the hype surrounding their highly anticipated return from a musical hiatus.

Coffee grinders are often taken for granted, but they are an extremely important piece of equipment in producing the best espresso coffee.

A typical commercial coffee bean grinder consists of 5 main parts each of which we will now explore in more detail.

Bean Hopper – The sits on top of the main body of the unit and obviously contains the roasted coffee beans that by means of gravity feed beans directly to the grindstones. Commercial grinders typically have a hopper that can hold 1 full kilogram of coffee beans. Most grinders these days have an automatic cut off feature that cuts the power to the grinder if the hopper lid has been removed.

For general maintenance purposes the hopper should be removed, washed with warm soapy water, rinsed and dried on a weekly basis.

Motor – The grinder motor on commercial grinders are large robust electric motors usually operated by a start/stop switch on the base of the casing. The motor should be designed so that it avoids the grindstones overheating and scorching the coffee.

Grounds Reservoir and Doser – Good quality grinders usually contain a sensor in the reservoir that senses when the coffee grounds are running low and automatically tops up the reservoir. At the base of the unit a segmented wheel or lever device allows the user to dose the correct amount of ground coffee into the filter handle of a typical espresso machine. The coffee doser is usually calibrated to dispense between six and eight grams of coffee. Beneath the doser is a cradle to hold the filter handle in the correct position beneath the dispensing hatch.

The doser should be completely emptied, cleaned with soapy water, rinsed and dried on a regular basis.

Grindstones – Located between the base of the hopper and the top of the motor are the grindstones. The higher grindstone at attached to a screw adjuster within the unit. The bottom stone is fixed to the motor drive. The distance between the two grindstones is increased or decreased by the adjuster screw mechanism. Only a very small adjustment is needed to dramatically alter the degree of grind.

Tamper – Tampers range from grinder to grinder, but are usually fixed stubs or plungers on the body of the doser. Some professional baristas prefer to use stand alone tampers made of wood or aluminium. The purpose of the tamper is to assist the operator in compacting the coffee in the filter handle so it produces a compacted wad of coffee for use in the espresso machine.

General maintenance procedures dictate that the grindstones are dismantled and thoroughly cleaned of all coffee residues, using a long stiff brush and a clean cloth.

Grindstones have a limited life and will need replacing after approximately 300-500 kilograms of coffee beans have been used.

Just seen the latest Nielsen numbers for video consumption on Mashable. In the US alone, there were 11.2 billion video streams in July – that’s some 31% growth compared to the year before. Mashable dig further into the stats pointing out that “there were 135.9 million unique viewers of online video… that means that the average viewer watched 82.4 streams in July.”

This continued growth in video consumption in the US confirms what we know – that there is a lot of activity in the video related digital market. Traditional media companies are digitising more content and promoting their online video services, and then digital start-ups (like Boxee and Hulu) are gaining traction. This growth in new content and video services is not slowing down any time soon, making it easier for people to find specific content (because it is all available through search) but making it harder to discover new content because there is too much of it.

My team at The Filter have been working closely with some of the top 10 video providers in Europe and the US to increase user engagement by finding ways to help discovery through offering relevant video recommendations. The results have been really exciting – in all of the services we have been working on over the last 12 months, we have been able to deliver uplifts in video streams per visit of 20-50%, and users who get more relevant recommendations also visit more frequently.

I was reading NewTeeVee’s quarterly review – it highlights two main facts: (i) we are buying more and more “living room” devices that are capable of playing online video (e.g. set top boxes, games consoles) – projections are for 57 million devices to be sold in 2009 in the US, and (ii) cable operators are sensing a threat and responding with their own authenticated services – e.g. Time Warner and Comcast with TV Everywhere.

This all translates to a healthy and active sector in terms of investment and opportunity. Which is refreshing in the current climate.

I can back this trend up with what we have been experiencing at The Filter over the last few months. Demand for our video recommendations and relevance technologies is at an all time high: whether from content owners, distributors or aggregators, they all have a pressing business need to find intelligent ways of connecting more of their content to their customers. Editorial and popularity-based suggestions are better than nothing, but our experience is that it is only when companies start using consumption data and sophisticated and matured algorithms that they get seriously exciting results in terms of increases in dwell time, video streams per visit and visits.

Every week there’s a news alert about ‘ad funded music services’ Spotify or We7 reaching new milestones for user numbers. Last week Spotify announced 2 million UK users, this week it’s We7’s turn to announce 2 million unique users.

I am chuffed to bits to see two European-based music businesses growing so rapidly. These guys have clearly demonstrated that there is a demand for free (and legal) music which is effortlessly available on the web/desktop. This demand will ultimately lead to us having access to all entertainment content at any time on any device. There are still many distribution, rights and business model issues that need to be sorted before this happens, but it will happen.

So, once digital distribution has been sorted, the businesses that will thrive will be those who have also sussed out digital demand. In a world where everything is available to everybody at any time and on any device, demand is no longer based on what is available, but on what content is most relevant to us at that specific time. We will need smart filters that serve up relevant content to us based on location, time, entourage, past activity, tastes and mood.

That is why I am so excited about the work that my team is doing at The Filter. For the last 5 years we have been developing recommendation and relevance technologies for all types of digital content that use multiple inputs (consumption data, meta data, location, time zone, social data, etc…) to build models that enable us to work out the probability of what content goes with what situation – by using behaviour and mashing it up with meta data to provide a user with the most relevant content possible for them.

I am very proud that we have proven beyond any doubt that providing users with relevant choices of content leads to an increase in consumption per visit AND an increase in the number of visits because the user finds more content that they like at each visit. Over the last 12 months partners that use The Filter on their sites have seen uplifts in consumption of 15-20% based on increases in streams per visit and visits per week. And for us, it is just the start. As we get access to more data (using location on mobiles) and fine tune our engines, technologies like this will provide better content choices to individuals leading to more consumption.

OVGuide.com, an aggregator for video sites, raised $5 million from Baroda Ventures, the investment firm of David Bohnett, founder of GeoCities, who is also acting as OVGuide’s CEO.

OVGuide says it uses a combination of video search and editorial to index video sites and their offerings. Personally I find the site a bit cluttered and clunky. (I mean really — a full-page ad on a search engine? And opening up a new window with its own ad before sending you to another site?)

One aspect that some visitors surely find useful is that the site links to less-than-legal streams of movies and TV episodes. Of course, search engines are most likely legally allowed to send visitors to infringing content, but many sites avoid doing so to maintain relations with the entertainment industry. OVGuide reported more than 12 million unique visitors in January (though comScore’s measure is 5 million).

Also today, recommendation engine The Filter said it had raised an undisclosed amount of additional funding from Peter Gabriel and other angel investors. Updated 2/19: The amount was $1.2 million.

With the release of his third studio album, Freedom, Akon is proving that he can make much more than just Konvict Music. Taking a more personable approach to his current project, Kon’s mature sound is reminiscent of Wyclef and musically and lyrically reveals an apologetic side that may take fans by surprise. Guest appearances by Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain, Young Jeezy, and Ray Lavender all provide a special presence that provide an electrifying addition to the track listing. Despite his efforts to show a softer side, listeners may feel emotionally drained with conflicting feelings wondering if they should be out there grindin’ or making love last forever.

BURN IT

The most significant thing that struck me at Digital Music Forum West over the past two days is that despite the dismal state of the music industry – and the economy as a whole – there’s tremendous opportunity for growth right now in digital music. The opportunity is large and out there for creators, investors, and artists who are willing to take risks through experimentation and outside-of-the-proverbial-box thinking. I found the panels to be inspiring because something exciting is percolating under the surface this time around. Discussions were less about policy – and more about the encouragement of creating and discovering something new. Many of the new tools invoke change and are on the cusp of something great all while taking the needs of the listener/user in mind.

Buzzwords: pandora, imeem, recommendation, discovery, user generated content, tags, API, ad supported, niche.

As listeners increasingly participate in the process of music selection, recommendation and playback, I wonder if editorial heavy sites like Pitchfork and Stereogum will eventually be edged out by sites like Hype Machine (blogs aggregator), playlist.com and The Filter (discovery), all of which empower the user to find and share new music on their own.

What do you think?

Esta pagina web, era accesible mediante una beta privada, ahora desde esta misma semana esta abierta a todo el publico. The filter es una red social, con contenidos de musica y video.

Para poder acceder a la beta, solo tienes que registrate y crear tu perfil en 5 pasos. ya que te registraste te enviaran a tu E-mail, contenidos sobre Web’s,albumes musicales y videos sobre el estilo que escogiste en tu perfil.

Podremos crear nuestra red de amigops y socializar, se dispone de un buscador en el cual buscas tu artista o cancion preferida, puedes compartir tus gustos musicales con tus amigos en The Filter.

Via: TheFilter ya está disponible como beta pública

Link: The Filter

Where do you go when you want to hear new music – a friend, or a computer?

Sounds like a trivial question, but it becomes rather a pressing one if you are a (friendless or otherwise) broadcast journalist looking for appropriate music to capture the mood of the piece you’re working on.

Large media organisations provide options – most significantly a library of production (and commercial) music, and often a librarian or researcher (or two) who will take the hassle out of finding appropriate music, using their knowledge and expertise.

As a freelancer or independent, you will find no shortage of production music out there, where you can browse and pay a nominal fee. And as for commercial music, if you want a quick and dirty solution, you can always piggy back on the marketing types at commercial breaks and beats (come on – we all know the first thing you think is ‘what was that track I heard last night on the latest Subaru advert???’).

But for those of you seeking a more personal touch, the options available in this most hit-and-miss of fields in which to recommend, are beginning to seriously open up.

At its most basic level, you can always start with the Listmania section in Amazon (whether or not you are convinced by your own ‘personalised’ suggestions, once logged in). Here people pull together lists of their favourite albums around genres, moods, time-spans, and many other more abstract nuances.

But these selections can be pretty convoluted (to say the least). They can be more of an intellectual than an instinctive means of gathering together music – people create lists by sitting back and thinking what would go well together.

If you want a more instinctive range of selections, then you would do well to set yourself up with a LastFM account. Once you’ve downloaded the software, the music you listen to on your MP3 player will be communicated to your account, which will be updated in the system.

You can then search LastFM for bands you like, and will be presented with lists of other users who have also recommended these bands.

Once you’ve clicked on a profile you will see what they have listened to most recently – and so get a more gut-driven sense of what people are actually listening to – and what’s out there.

I decided to blog this subject following a conversation with a BBC colleague of mine, Andy Aldridge, who is a bit of an ‘early adapter’ when it comes to the whole musical recommendations lark.

The conversation arose after I read of a new music recommendations site – The Filter, as reviewed at The Register.

The difference between the way LastFM and The Filter recommend music is subtle – both use playlist recommendations using your favourites – albeit The Filter uses a statistical model (Bayesian inference) to filter results.  As Andy points out though, both are essentially rooted in the ‘tyranny of the crowd’ approach you will find in the more basic Listmania suggestions:

The sign up forces you to rate artists which is likely to be as useful to them for working out what OTHERS like as is it is in working out what you like!

In a practical sense though, one reason why its worth persevering with LastFM over The Filter for now (despite their similarity), is because their full song licensing deals mean you can actually listen to the music you’ve been recommended within the same application.

Andy then pointed me in the direction of a radically different approach to anything already covered – the Music Genome Project (steady! Its still bubbling away in development, and ain’t ready yet). The recommendations proposed from this service will incorporate mathematical interpretations of what you like, rather than what others like.

So what are the pros and cons of these two different approaches?

Well, with the former (to which any scholar of 19^th Century Utilitarianism will attest) you have a very blunt instrument when applied to human affairs. Those who shout the loudest stand a good chance of making the biggest impact – which is far from ideal (as it is far from idealism).

However, one practical advantage of external influence, is that it encourages you to re-try music you may have listened to in the past but dismissed. If left to your own devices, you might never return to it, but the badgering of the crowd may be more effective in getting you to give something another try.

With the Music Genome Project approach you risk getting trapped in the echo-chamber of your own tastes – it’s a potentially solipsistic approach to finding music, and is miles away from those traditional means of finding new music we are all familiar with, and which have served us well (radio, friends and family etc.). Indeed, if we can’t get computers to deal passably with creating and using spoken language with its structure and rules, how on earth can you expect a system to delve into your unconscious and unpick what you ‘like’ in music?

That said, you will at least evade the ME ME ME-type hysteria that can drive the crowd.

The exponential rise in music (both professional and amateur) available via social nets and other sources, is driving a need for ever more sophisticated means of filtering out what you like.

It will be interesting to see whether systems based on the tyranny of the crowd, or the solipsism of the self, succeed.

If either???

The Filter Launches, With A Message From Peter Gabriel

The Filter, the media recommendation engine that we covered last April, has opened its doors to the public. The Peter Gabriel-backed company offers an entertainment start page that provides recommendations on movies, music, and online video (it is mostly focused on perfecting its music recommendations for the time being).

In the following video Peter Gabriel explains why we need sites like The Filter to reduce the overwhelming abundance of information available online down to a manageable level.

(Via TechCrunch.)

The Filter Launches, With A Message From Peter Gabriel

The Filter, the media recommendation engine that we covered last April, has opened its doors to the public. The Peter Gabriel-backed company offers an entertainment start page that provides recommendations on movies, music, and online video (it is mostly focused on perfecting its music recommendations for the time being).

In the following video Peter Gabriel explains why we need sites like The Filter to reduce the overwhelming abundance of information available online down to a manageable level.

(Via TechCrunch.)

I just got my login and password for the beta version of The Filter. As I start using it I’ll let you know how it goes. It took awhile to get it. I signed up a few weeks ago and now I’ve been accepted. It’s kind of like waiting in line for a new toy. I’ve now got my Cabbage Patch doll.

Recommendation systems are great and very important for media consume in the future (I wrote about it a while ago here and here). Most of the content providers and services in the online world are currently based on concepts which use/need the “lean forward mode” of media consumers. But consumers love the “lean backward mode” a lot in a age of information overflow (the burden of choice). In the music area we have already one great product: Last.Fm.

Now there is the launch of a new online service:

The Filter, a new media recommendation and discovery service, announced on Tuesday the launch of an invite-only private beta. But not like last.fm which just recommends and personalizes your music programme, the filter also includes movies, TV and other media, and considers past purchases, websites viewed, searches performed, friends’ picks and critics’ opinions into its recommendations

I`m quite excited about that… I was looking for such a service for a while… can`t wait to see how it will doing..

Here some more informations from The Filter website

“The Filter is powered by an engine that provides a holistic approach to recommendations – filtering out irrelevant content and only filtering in content that reflects an individual’s tastes and moods through unique algorithms.

In addition to the consumer entertainment experience here at TheFilter.com, The Filter can also provide white label and co-branded solutions for content partners seeking to better match their inventory of content to their visitors’ tastes.

The Filter’s core is a recommendation and discovery engine derived from a branch of Artificial Intelligence, called Bayesian mathematics. Simplistically, the engine uses an evidence model (which includes purchase, consumption and browsing data) to derive the similarity of items. When The Filter’s engine is supplied with one or more items of interest it delivers a pick-list of items that are statistically relevant by order of probability.”

I downloaded an early version of The Filter two years ago and was underwhelmed. But Peter Gabriel’s recommendation software has had a complete makeover and is close to being released in beta.

It’s all grand, and goodness knows I am loathe to disparage St. Peter, whose musical work I adore, but I have yet to see any recommendations on any kind of site that have ever shown me something I haven’t already heard of. Indeed, in the original Filter, I was constantly being recommended the latest Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails albums. Thrilling.

Here’s hoping the new Filter surprises me and sets the world on fire…

Visible World and PermissionTV Get Money; video ad company Visible World secures $25 million in Series C round; online video services company PermissionTV takes $3 million in venture debt. (Visible World: MediaPost; PermissionTV: paidContent)

The Filter Wants to Recommend Media; Peter Gabriel-backed company follows the music, video, books, etc. that you enjoy and makes recommendations. (The New York Times)

CBS Launches Mobile Citizen-Journalism Site; users can upload photos and videos directly from their cell phones. (mocoNews)

Local TV Stations Form Open Mobile Coalition; group will push to develop open standard that lets stations skip carriers and broadcast directly to phones — and tap into the advertising. (The Associated Press)

Technicolor Partners with CinemaNow; two companies joining forces to offer digital content distribution services. (Video Business)

Network Reporter Quits to Go on the Web; Mike Boettcher leaving NBC to start NoIgnoring.com. He and his son will be embedded with the Fourth Infantry division in Iraq. (Lost Remote)

Mark Rosenthal Joins SpotRunner; former MTV Networks chief joins Internet ad company as vice chairman and president of media platforms. (Broadcasting and Cable)

With the 3,700 songs of my iTunes library constantly pushing some sort of noise out of my speakers, iTunes is easily the most used app on my computer. It literally never gets closed.

With it being my most used app, I’ve taken quite a bit of time trying out different add-ons to make the most of iTunes. Below is a listing of 10 apps that I’ve used and feel comfortable saying they’re worth the price you pay for them.

CoverSutra

CoverSutra (previous coverage) is one of my favorite add-ons. It is packed with little features that aren’t immediately apparent when you first start using the app.

A few features include music search, a mini-player, Last.fm integration, keyboard shortcuts, and album cover display.

The $22 price tag seems a tad much, but I’d suggest giving the free trial a run and then deciding for yourself if you can live without it.

Moody

I tend to listen to music based heavily on my current mood, or the mood I’d like to be in. Moody (previous coverage) makes that a piece of cake.

Moody lets you tag your music based on color. The app has a spectrum of 16 different colors to classify your moods. From there, you can pick a combination of colors to create a dynamic playlist based on your mood.

What is even better about this is the fact that it is completely free.

Tangerine

In the same vein as Moody, Tangerine (previous coverage) creates playlists based on the BPM of your songs. So say you wanted to create a playlist for a workout (something more intense with a higher BPM), Tangerine can whip up a playlist for you right on the spot.

Tangerine will set you back $24.95 after the 15-day free trial.

Awaken

I find the sound of a regular alarm clock to be one of the most abrasive and painfully horrible ways to start my day. Awaken helps change that by turning your mac in to an alarm clock.

By tying in to your iTunes library, you can now wake up to something soothing like Sunrise instead of that horrendous, ear-piercing buzzer.

Awaken is well worth the $12.95 (with free updates for life). Give the 14 day free trail a run for the next few mornings and see how you like the change.

Simplify Media

One of the really nice things about living in the dorm rooms back in college was that I had access to the iTunes libraries of hundreds of other iTunes users…effectively expanding my listening options exponentially.

Now that I live in suburbia with no one else on my network except for my wife, I’ve lost that easy access to other music.

Fortunately, Simplify Media (previous coverage) has created a really cool add-on that basically gives you that access back.

All you do is add the username of other Simplify users (who have approved your adding them), and you’ll then be given access to stream their iTunes library just as if it was on your own local network.

Simplify Media is free in every way possible.

Synergy

Synergy is a “classic” iTunes add-on. It has been around for over 5 years and is probably one of the most widely used apps for iTunes.

The latest major release (3.5) was a complete rewrite for Leopard.

Synergy basically adds 3 small buttons to your menubar to give you immediate access to controlling iTunes. It is an affordable $8 and includes a free trial. Be sure to check out the tour.

The Filter

The Filter (previous coverage) is another playlist-creation add-on that almost seems magical.

Simply select a few songs that you are interested in, click on The Filter and an entire playlist is created with other songs you’d probably want to listen to at that point.

The Filter uses “advanced recommendation technology” to create these unique playlists by tying in to The Filter community of other users.

The Filter is free to download and use.

DiscoBrick

I don’t use the iTunes visualizer that much, but sometimes it’s just fun to check out what what your music visually creates.

DiscoBrick takes that one step further and creates some seriously amazing visual effects based on the beat of the music.

DiscoBrick is $10.95 for a single, personal license and up to $55 for a public-use license if you want to use DiscoBrick at parties or other events.

TuneBar

TuneBar picks up where Synergy leaves off. On the surface it’s just a simple iTunes controller. Past that…it’s still an iTunes controller. Ultimately TuneBar is more customizable than Synergy and lets your create your own themes by editing simple HTML.

Is it worth the $4 extra over Synergy? Maybe not. Just depends on how much you’d like to customize your player.

iWow

The iTunes equalizer is quite capable for the majority of iTunes users.

But if the sound controls are quite what you’re looking for, or if you’re looking to make those small headphone or desktop speakers sound better, I’d suggest you check out iWOW.

iWOW is an audio “enhancer”…which basically means it uses different settings and effects to make the audio larger, fuller, and more crisp than what iTunes can do.

iWOW is currently on sale for $19.99 here.

I’ve often said that one of the qualities of the hardcore geeky is that we have needs that sane normal people don’t have. That’s why there are so many web startups focused on RSS when most people don’t have a clue what RSS is — the geeks don’t realize that their need to have a continuous stream of information and never miss an update from a site they are interested in isn’t the way a lot of people use the internet.

One geek itch I’ve been wanting to scratch is to be able to listen to my MP3 collection using the recommendations from Last.FM. I’ve you’ve never heard of Last.FM, it is a music service that lets you listen music as a radio station over the internet. I’ve been using it for a year and a half and I love it; it’s helped me discover so much good music.

I’ve found two ways to automatically build MP3 playlists using online recommendations. The first way uses iTunes replacement Media Monkey and some extensions to connect to Last.FM (thanks TJOHO!) and the second way uses software by a new startup called The Filter (backed by Peter Gabriel).

Software Thunderdome: Media Monkey vs the Filter

• The Filter is free while Media Monkey comes in a free and pro version. The pro version of Media Monkey is needed to create smart playlists. The Filter makes money by linking to iTunes/eMusic/Amazon where you can buy more music.
• Media Monkey Last.FM support comes from a bunch of extensions written by users. The Filter is professional software supported by a company.
• It’s about a million times easier to get started with the Filter than Media Monkey.
• Media Monkey uses Last.FM. I’m not sure what the Filter uses for recommendations.
• You can browse Last.FM through Media Monkey using Last.FM node.
• The Filter needs iTunes or Windows Media Player software to generate playlists.
• The Filter can run on your Nokia mobile phone. The Filter can also send playlists to your MP3 player (iPod) so you can still use it’s recommendations without a computer or internet connection.
• You can generate 100 song playlists at a time with the Filter. The Media Monkey Last.FM extension only does one song at a time. Both will automatically extend the playlist when you get to the end of your playlist.
• The Filter can fill in missing artwork for your songs.
• The Filter can publish your playlist to a widget you can incorporate on your blog.
• With either software you can still scrobble the songs using Last.FM and display the Last.FM widget on your blog.
• The Filter + iTunes took an obscene amount of memory compared to Media Monkey.

Getting Started with the Filter

1. Download the Filter
2. When you start the Filter it will also start your music player (iTunes in my case)
3. Pick songs to seed the playlist recommendation
4. There are a few options you can configure to control the number of songs in the playlist

Using the Filter is much simpler than using Media Monkey with Last.FM. Getting MM to support Last.FM is the kind of Rube Goldberg hack I love.

Getting Started with Media Monkey

1. Download Media Monkey
2. Import your mp3s
   • File >> Add or rescan tracks to the library
     
3. Wait until done

Media Monkey doesn’t support Last.FM out of the box. You’re going to have to install several user extensions to get it to work. These are kind of like Firefox extensions, except for Media Monkey. They’re easy to install.

Once you have these three scripts installed you’ll have some very nice integration between Last.FM and Media Monkey.

Media Monkey: Last.fm Top Tracks Script

Last.fm Top Tracks will create a playlist of the top tracks of the currently selected artist according to Last.fm. This is a great trick for putting together “best of” playlists for several artists quickly.

Install the Last.fm Top Tracks script. You can find the latest version of the script here. Here is a direct link to v1.14.

Media Monkey: Last.fm Node Script

Last.fm Node lets you surf through Last.fm artists using the Media Monkey interface. It also has an auto DJ feature similar to Scrobble DJ that I was never able to get working.

Install Last.fm Node script. You can find the latest version of the script here. Here is a direct link.

Potential Issue: Getting lots of SQL errors

If you see these errors then don’t use the Last.FM Node Auto DJ function. It doesn’t work for me.

Media Monkey: Scrobbler DJ Plugin

This is definitely the coolest Media Monkey extension out of the bunch, although I had a pain getting it to work with Media Monkey v3. It will automatically select a “related artist” whenever you get to the end of a playlist. This is the extension that does something similar to The Filter.

Install Scrobbler DJ plugin by psyxonova. You can find the latest version of the plugin here. Direct link to latest version.

Potential Issue: no such column: Songs.IDArtist

The Scrobbler DJ plugin only supports v2 of Media Monkey. You’ll need to update one of the files to support Media Monkey 3.

Media Monkey: Getting Scrobbler DJ to Work with MM Version 3

Install an updated version of the VBS Script. (Instructions from the author)

You’ll have to download that script and replace the file with the same name in the C:\Program Files\MediaMonkey\Scripts directory.

Media Monkey: Configuring Scrobbler DJ

1. Tools >> Options
2. Player >> Scrobbler DJ Settings

• You may want to change the default playlist and allow it to play files with unknown ratings. If you’ve never used Media Monkey before (like me) it won’t find a lot to play the first time around.
• The debug mode is useful for figuring out what the heck is going on.
• Gotcha: you need to have more than one song in the play list for it to work. It’ll kick off when you spot playing the last song in the current playlist.

Advanced Users: Scrobbling Tracks with Last.FM and Media Monkey

Scrobbling is when you send Last.FM the list of song you’re listening to. That’s how Last.FM gets better and finding out what you like. Media Monkey isn’t officially supported by Last.FM but you *can* get it working.

1. Open the Last.FM Player
2. Tools >> Get Plugin
3. Click Next then Add…
4. Choose “Winamp” in the dropdown box and then browse to your MediaMonkey folder.
   Highlight the MediaMonkey.exe executable and click “Open” then click “Ok”

Conclusion

Which is better: The Filter or Media Monkey? Media Monkey has the advantage of using less memory and there are a ton of other extensions you can add to it. The Filter is less buggy and easier to install since this is what it’s supposed to do out of the box. I like that Media Monkey uses Last.FM for the recommendations, but the Filter seems to do the job.

The Filter^ (is an interesting blog run by a couple of English lads) is doing a special edition on Finland. Anthony Evans got in touch with me to do an interview.

In this interview we discuss Finland, economics, pensions, the overpopulation myth, conspiracies, the credit derivatives crisis, and my plans for the future. You can read it here – I hope you like it:

Click here: “An interview with Oskari Juurikkala”