Wow, I’m a posting machine. Unfortunately, I’m home sick today since I fear I’m going to explode into a fair-sized puddle of vomit. Besides that joyous news, I’ve discovered some really cool features in the new version of Winamp.
To put it simply, Winamp is good–the best music player around in my opinion. I’ve used it for as long as I can recall it existing.. since late 1990-something I’m thinkin’. A lot of people feared that once Nullsoft became affiliated with AOL, all that goodness might be lost. Winamp 3, many said, was just that failure. I stuck with good ol’ Winamp 2 during these days of turmoil. But, “fear not!” I told myself, “Winamp will pull through!”
When the folks at Nullsoft came back with Winamp 5 (skipping version 4, since 5 was just that good, their site cleverly claimed), I was blown away with greatness.. They literally took all the good features from version 2, all the good features from 3, and fantastically combined them in a speedy package. My heart was tittilated with tittilative tittilation.
Skip to the now, maaan. Winamp 5 has been regularly updated, with new features being added with a vengence. And the best parts: it’s still free, there’s still no spyware, no advertisement icons to remove (well, there is the eMusic.com icon for free music, but you can just disable that in the installer). Sure, there is the “Pro” version that costs, but I’ve never needed one feature I couldn’t get elsewhere for free. There is plenty of free cd burning software out there. As well as excellent song ripping options.
I think I’ve gotten on a bit of a tangent, huh. Anyway. Winamp 5.1. New features. Friggin’ awesome.
SHOUTcast Wire:
What is SHOUTcast Wire?
SHOUTcast Wire is the solution for Winamp and Podcast lovers who want a lightning-fast way to discover new feeds, subscribe to favorites, and listen, all without any additional software or websites.
New to Podcasting?
Think of it as audio on demand. Tired of missing the morning news? Like blogs but can’t read? Now you can get your daily dose of sports, current events, gossip, and much more, all in a convenient byte-sized form. Subscribe to your favorite audio personalities, or worship the unknown ‘Podcaster.’
Discover – Subscribe – Listen.
It’s that easy.
I tried it. It is that easy, I was instantly discovering new music, at about 4 mouse clicks of work!
Predixis MusicMagic:
The MusicMagic Mixer is the ultimate music library power tool to create dynamic and interesting playlists, or mixes. MusicMagic automatically analyzes your music collection. Analyzed songs are used to build custom mixes for hours of listening enjoyment.
This one is fucking amazing! I don’t know how they analyze the songs, but let me tell you, I’ve been listning to the first playlist I generated using this while writing this post, and it has been god damned wonderful.
After it took a few minutes to analyze my music, I selected “A Man/Me/Then Jim” by Rilo Kiley in my Winamp Media Library, and clicked the “MusicMagic Mix” button added by the plugin. Wow. Here’s what It came up with:
1. Rilo Kiley – A Man/Me/Then Jim (5:24)
2. Belle and Sebastian – I Love My Car (5:12)
3. chicago – Baby What a Big Surprise (3:04)
4. Styx – Come Sail Away (5:32)
5. Thompson Twins – Sister of Mercy (5:09)
6. Alpha Blondy – Miri (5:44)
7. Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous (3:27)
8. XTC – Easter Theatre (4:37)
9. Yes – Close to the Edge: The Solid Time of Change/Total Mass Retain/I Get Up (18:14)
10. Peter Gabriel – Downside Up (Live) (5:32)
11. Belle & Sebastian – My Wandering Days Are Over (5:25)
12. The Cure – treasure (3:45)
13. strung out – Velvet Alley (4:17)
14. chicago – All Is Well (3:50)
15. Yes – An And You and I: Cord of Life/Eclipse/The Preacher the Teacher/Apocalypse (10:11)
16. The Decemberists – On the Bus Mall (6:06)
17. The Good Life – Inmates (9:39)
18. Spyro Gyra – Send Me One Line (4:57)
19. David Bowie – Life On Mars (3:54)
20. beach boys – Caroline No (2:20)
It’s hard to beleive what a good mix it came up with. Some of these songs I would have never thought to pair together (some I forgot even existed!). I have to say, this is easilly one of the best new features Winamp has ever included. I usually listen to all my music collection on random, to enjoy a little bit of everything. Unfortunately, this also means listening to a bunch of crap I’d rather not hear at the time. My song skipping finger sometimes gets tired. It’s nice to know I can achieve a certain mood or style of playlist with just a click of a button.
I think I’m a Winamp fan for good.
Hey you! »« Cripes..
Hi Justin!
My name is Rachel and I work for Predixis. Thanks for the kind words! We’re really glad you’re enjoying the app; if there is anything that you think needs improving or if there are some features you want to see, please feel free to email me. Feedback from our users is one of the most important ways for us to know how to make MusicMagic even better!
Rachel
Predixis Corporation
rachel at predixis dot com
Gasp, internet spies!
Hi Rachel 
What I would really like to see is more technical information on how MusicMagic analyzes the songs and decides on how to match them up, etc. Quickly reading through the forums on the Predixis site, I got some hints and clues, but I’m still interested to know more. I know you can’t give away all your secrets, but I’m sure many of your users would love to know more. This is a really great concept for how to enjoy your music, while utilizing technology. Or maybe server statistics on how all these songs are handled.
The “What we do”, “Vision” and “Who we are” links on the Predixis site just lead the the MusicMagic page. I want more information!
As far as the actual software its self, I still need more time to break it. 
Hey, again! It’s me, you’re friendly neighborhood internet spy .
The new site is up and running; there’s a bit more information about what we do on there…
http://www.predixis.com
Basically, the app goes through the songs individually, analyzing up to three minutes of each, and analyzes them “acoustically”. It has to do with the algorithms in the music. So, when you want to create a mix, it matches up similar tunes according to said alogithms. MusicMagic does not rely on user data or input (though with the full app, you can create filters to do so if you want to). It’s all about what things “sound like”.
heh, I hope you don’t break it…but if you do, send me an email and I’ll hook you up with the full app to play with. =)
Thanks Justin!
Rachel
I hate to sound like an alarmist BUT, Couldnt this software some be used to analyze all the music on ones harddrive and determine which ones were say “downloaded illegaly” and say either, notify the Authorities, Or …….
AHA! I knew she was an internet spy!
I think it would be very difficult to determine with enough certainty if the music you were playing was illegally obtained or legally yours (you own the cds etc). I mean, I think up until now all the legal action that’s been taken against people was due to them being caught downloading/uploading music. That brings up an interesting question though: if I were to download nothing but songs I could legally have on my computer, what would happen if I got caught?
I mean, considering my question and the idea of other software tracking files, I suppose you could use a hash of the actual file to compare it with files that have been distributed illegally, but I don’t think that could be enough to legally prove you obtained it that way.
And anyway, Predixis has this in their documentation:
MusicMagic reviews each track in your music collection for the purposes of identifying and providing a unique identifier to enable our patented selection process to work. No data linking an individual listener to music files or collections of any kind is retained in any way, shape, or form. If you have any concerns about this, read our privacy policy statement. If you have further questions, feel free to contact Predixis at privacy@predixis.biz.
I trust them!
thanks for the infos on magicmusic and all the goodies the new winamp had. i stumble upon your site while googling about shoutcast wire/predixis music magic to know more about them since at my place there’s a firewall blocking me to get through the winamp official site. have a nice day!
I’m glad it was helpful
“I think I’ve gotten on a bit of a tangent, huh. Anyway. Winamp 5.1. New features. Friggin’ awesome.”
… I don’t know how to do quotes… but did you say tangent?!?!? 
Just use the B-Quote button above the text box.
like this
Once before the quote, once after… and it’ll put blockquote tags around it.
and oh yes. I definately did say tangent When I play CS, people are still like, “DUR WHERE’S TANGENT?! HAHAH SINE HAHA OH MATH, OH LORDS~!”
HAHA that’s great!! I usually have “Tangent -toked-” these day and there are more potheads than people making jokes about math. I just like to make a lot of bird call noises to entertain the kiddies!!
Pot heads and bird calls! I am definitely missing out on something..
You know you are!! Are you still toying around with the TMNT or Egg type servers?
On a related to this post note, that MusicMagic is something I should look into. I hate playing my everything list and having it bounce from mello songs, to rap, to 80’s, etc.
EGG is still alive, but maybe not so well. Our server just went down due to lack of funds.
http://www.dalitterbox.com
Well see… you could have graduated RIT in CS with a 3.5 GPA in 2004!! Allowing you to get a $50,000+ a year salary and you could have ran the server on your own funds!!! You could have even bought that fancy $40,000 camera, I’m sure it’s sleak and shiny!!
This is like throw-cereal-on-my-desk round 2!
Just wait until gonad.org makes me millions–MILLIONS I SAY!
=O I didn’t mean for it to reach cereal on your desk proportions!! I just like to see friends with talent achieve what they’re able to!! Gonad.org already has interenet spies as well as link posting spam… I think you’re on your way to millions as it is!!
hi
