When I was in college, I had a weekly college radio show where I played a lot of new music. I wasn’t like one of the guys from the movie High Fidelity, but to give you an idea, in fifth grade I was mentioning Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix in writing exercises at school not to mention that some of my earliest preschool memories are hearing Tango music in my house. Music has always been a part of my experience and so for me, the leg work of looking for new music is exciting but for many people, there just isn’t time for that.
So how do the rest of you find new music you should be listening to but aren’t? Edmonton-based startup Beathound has come to the rescue.
How does Beathound get the job done for you? Well, once you’re on the site, all you have to do is upload your iTunes XML file (if you don’t know where that’s located, there’s a Trouble Finding Your Library? button you can hit that’ll give you the low down) and then enter your email address. The site then analyzes this XML file that contains the information from your iTunes library and it sends you an email with information on releases you don’t already own from the artists that you like.
Beathound follows up weekly with an email detailing new releases from the bands it has read from your XML file. Right now, the analysis is based on music you already own although in the future, founder and developer Luke Hutscal says that Beathound will also be able to recommend artists you might like based on your taste in music as reflected in the XML file.
At the moment, Beathound draws its information directly from iTunes although in the future, Hutscal says that it will also draw from sources such as Last.fm, eMusic, Insound, and Amazon.
Created in Hutscal’s spare time, Beathound is already generating quite a buzz in forums as Hutscal himself has taken to respond to users’ concerns and suggestions. The site has also been featured on Lifehacker and O Music Awards. If you’re on the Beathound page itself, there’s even a chat window available where you can chat with Hutscal about Beathound. Now, that’s customer service. You can also find them on Twitter for updates about the site.
I gave Beathound a spin this morning and it worked well. I’ve read that large iTunes collections take longer to process, as is noted on the Beathound site, but overall, Beathound seems to be a useful tool for any music lover wanting the latest and greatest from their favorite artists.
