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Smart Party Wireless DJ System Will Get Playlist Votes From Your Trousered MP3 Player
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 11:42 PM on January 21, 2008
A new system devised by a pair of UCLA students could well bring democracy to music selection at parties. The two scientists have created a software-and-antennae combo that currently works on laptops, scanning people's music collections, grabbing the most popular tunes from guests' MP3 players and adding them to the night's playlist. The next step will be to see if Smart Party can be made to work on MP3 players (currently it only works on laptops), polling partygoers' music devices as they arrive at the party. More info below.
Kevin Eustice and Peter Reiher have built and tested a version that works perfectly using playlists stored inside laptops running their software, but since very few (sober) people stroll into a party with one of those tucked under their arm, they're aiming it at Wi-Fi-enabled MP3 players. Since Smart Party can triangulate people's position, it can also deduct their votes when they leave the party, making everything all fair and square. The one stumbling block is DRM, since copying the tracks into the system even temporarily isn't exactly RIAA-friendly activity.
It's a good idea, and it sure would make for a pretty eclectic set to groove away to, but for that one fatal DRM flaw. They're pinning their hopes on a temporary porting of the license, otherwise it would be limited to DRM-free tracks shame. We imagine it wouldn't go down too well at foam parties, either, but you wouldn't be able to hear your fave track from your soaked iPhone with all that foam in your ear anyway, would you? [New Scientist]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
manyou07
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
Instead of copying songs, they should just use the tag data to match against songs the house has in their collection. That way:
a) they wouldn't be copying files, so it wouldn't be illegal
and
b) the house could control, to a certain extent, what was being played (it would only be something in their collection)
manyou07
ry_ry
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
@ry_ry: God, what redundancy...proofread next time...
ry_ry
ry_ry
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
What if it had a minimum...like 25 people had to have it in order to be played? That might ensure just the most popular stuff gets played.
The DJ could just work around it, I suppose. Kind of cool in any case...
ry_ry
Out2gtcha
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
So how do you make sure your party isnt full of idiot FBs who have their MP3 players full of crap like Echo & the Bunnymen or Darkness?
Guess if your party is full of idiots who like crap music, it doesnt matter what you play, its gonna suck regardless.
Out2gtcha
coregazm
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
Cool Idea...As a DJ, Ide be bitter if I had to do this. Im an Electro House DJ. DJ's spend countless hours hunting down music for their set. If i had to stop, and play some crap that is heard everywhere...Bad Times Bear.
coregazm
LittleJon
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
I like to hear new music at a club, not just the same old stuff that I already own.
LittleJon
soldstatic
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
it'll never work effectively. As a dj for the past 8 years, this would suck ass. if I HAD to play what people brought on their wifi enabled mp3 players, it would be a disaster.
There is a lot more involved in reading a crowd and trying to play the right music, it gets even worse when you have an 'eclectic' crowd as you mentioned. play any one thing from any one person's extremes, and that one person will enjoy it while everyone else sits down.
and since not many people have the wifi enabled mp3 players, i imagine the same two people (the creators) will be dancing all night while everyone else goes home.
voting would be cool, i would love to be able to present a few choices (of my selection) to a crowd and get votes on what to play next. But again, only 1% of the dancing populus would vote, since everyone else is dancing (or because only two people are voting)
soldstatic
cmsjustin
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
Just because I listen to Cake and Radiohead all day doesn't mean I want to dance to it.
cmsjustin
fcaico
Posted 10:09 AM 22/1/08
Yeah DRM is only 1 flaw. They are already breaking the law by playing recordings in a public space without paying licensing fees (presumably) to ASCAP or similar organizations.
fcaico