Who is this record keeping genius inside the world of Amazon? First, isn't is a bit frightening that a web site is cataloguing the minutia of my personal taste. I usually don't find Amazon's recommendations helpful, but since I shop there so frequently the site offers a plethera of recommendations for me from cds, to clothes, to movies, to whatever you can think of.
The problem for me is that so many decent bands of today make good music in a genre littered with bands just like them, who are making not so good music. It is the pleight of the industry. Guns 'n Roses was a great 80s rock band that enjoyed a lot of success with its fans. Record companies scrambled to sign as many bands just like them as they could to capitalize on and also create a kind of fad - and RCA said let there be HAIR. As is to be expected I would still by a GnR album now, but I certainly wouldn't consider buying Black n' Blue's self titled album released in 198-who cares.
I prefer to take recommendations from trusted friends, not Amazon. But thanks anyway for the suggestions...from time to time the Amazon catalogue finds a nugget of goodness for me.
Posted by hourenk at March 15, 2005 07:19 PMRecommendations from friends - agreed - but a much larger circle of them. Amazon would be a source for a larger network for journeys with musical "friends." Time based algorithms certainly aren't the end-all of recommendations, but they may be a way to optimize the search patterns and enable users to latch on to trends or niches they might otherwise miss. I don’t see recommendation engines as replacing personal recommendations so much as needing to emulate them, but with access to a larger selection.
Posted by: Chris at March 16, 2005 12:19 AM