Music Streaming Service Comparison/Migration Tool

I've been a Rhapsody subscriber since 2003. Although it was one of the earliest music streaming services, it never really got a lot of attention. Lately, though, a bunch of new services like Rdio and Spotify have been getting a lot of attention and new subscribers.

One advantage of on-demand music streaming services like Rhapsody, Rdio, MOG, Spotify, etc is that monthly subscriptions means there's no investment to lose if you decide later to switch to another service. However, one thing you do have stored with the service that you'd have to give up if you left is your personal library of tracks, playlists, and ratings. Since all the services store similar information, why doesn't there yet exist a tool to allow you to copy your library and playlists from one services to another, not by actually copying any music but by automatically setting up identical playlists from the new service's catalog.

Along with this functionality comes another incredibly useful feature. When deciding between music streaming services one of the prime points of comparison is the size and makeup of the catalogs. Comparing these things in general is tricky with reviews saying things like "service A has the biggest collection, while service B's somewhat smaller collection is still pretty large but with certain glaring holes." Without them specifying what these holes are, I have no idea if they would be a deal-breaker for me or not. However, as an existing subscriber of one of the competitors, there is a very straightforward way of showing me whether the catalog gaps would be significant to me. Any tool that could migrate my library from one service to another could also do a side-by-side comparison of potential new services to my existing service by showing me which tracks from my existing library I would lose after the transition.
Keywords:Music | Ideas
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TV-synced Watches

Use of watches may have seen a decline since everyone started carrying cell phones everywhere which also have clocks. However, I hear they're making a comeback. I always wear a watch as my phone in my pocket isn't nearly close enough when I want to know the time. For a long time I've had an unfortunate habit of checking my watch for all sorts of information that it doesn't contain. I think it could have the potential to have more of that, but more about that in a later post about my thoughts on the upcoming smart (meta) watches.

One specific idea I've had for a while is a way for my watch to show me the time in the TV show or movie I'm watching. Read more... )
Keywords:Ideas | TV
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Famous Last Words

I like making lists of things. The latest is Statements which mean you're about to do something stupid. So far the leaders on this list are:
  1. "What could possibly go wrong?"
  2. "I can't believe this is actually going to work."
  3. "Watch this!"
Keywords:Ideas
Comments:1 comments
Another Restaurant Idea

A couple years ago I posted about my restaurant ideas. This is something I often talk about, a fun little hobby of mine that could become a business one day, although probably not before I retire from what I really do. This summer I came up with another idea I wanted to mention.

It would be a train themed restaurant. The waiters and waitresses would be dressed as conductors and would take your order with a whole punch like on a train ticket. The food would all be delivered to your table by model trains that run on a series of tracks throughout the restaurant.
Keywords:Ideas
Comments:4 comments
Matched Chatting Class

I thought this a good time to talk about some of my more peculiar ideas. One great thing about Thanksgiving flights is that I can almost always count on some other college students to chat with. And chatting brought up some interesting subjects I wanted to mention. I have been telling many people lately about my restaurant ideas. I really just wanted to include that link again. I really do think at least 1 of those is a good idea and would love to see someone do it. I like having neat little quirky ideas like that.

But the real idea I wanted to metion that this flight started making me think would really be great is a "matching class" on airplanes. I mentioned it before but I've been thinking about it more. I like chatting people people on planes. I don't know why, but while traveling is my favorite time to meet new people. I often see people in the waiting area that I'd hope would be seated next to me to talk to, but usually I just get some old lady and so I read a book. What if there were a service for people like me that put all the talkers in a section of the plane for those looking to meet others and then did seating assignments based on mutual interest like most dating and other personality matching services. They're always offering upgrades to first class and I don't really care, but I'd pay real money to sit in matching class...

...Especially if I could get matched with that cute girl on my flight who was staring at me. I saw her in the waiting area and said nothing.

Read more... )
Keywords:Ideas | Travel | Girls
Comments:7 comments
Airport Dating Service

Ok, it's been a while. Let's recap. My first week of break I was at home, it was good, I got a lot of good Hanukah/Xmas gifts. On my way back this past Monday, USAir lost my luggage. Now let me rant about this for a minute.

I guess USAir is in some pretty serious trouble. They have been screwing people over left and right this holiday season. If I were flying with a connection I might understand but I how do you lose a bag on a short direct flight from Manchester to Pittsburgh? I mean that plane only fits about 60 people, so how do you not notice that half the bags are missing? I really wish they could have at least told me that many bags were misplaced when I got there. Instead I waited an hour and a half at the baggage claim before the flight finally dissappeared from the board. In the middle someone from the airline came over and asked if anyone was from our flight. She said she was checking on it but then she ran off and never came back. Finally I went to the baggage office where they said it would be in on a flight later that night and would be delivered Tuesday morning. Next to the baggage office was a closed down baggage carosel with the whole area filled with bags that must have come in later than their owners. Someone in line suggested it was like a Yankee Swap, we had donated a bag and we could go and take a bag. I had already missed 4 busses.

It did not get delivered Tuesday, or Wednesday. I did finally get it on Thursday. However their customer service sucks.

Read more... )
Keywords:Rants | Ideas
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Restaurant Ideas

Over the years I've come up with a few restaurant ideas. Some of them are completely silly and do not require deep thought. Others I think are actually brilliant in a way. Some are in between, but beware that in general some things that sound crazy might be a great idea that people are just not expecting to hear (So crazy it just might work). I had a new one recently that I think might be the best. I'll list all 4 in chronilogical order.

The restaurant where "You Get Your Check By The Time You're Done or Your Meal is Free" and that's the name of the restaurant. That basically sums it up. This one requires no thought about what a terrible name that is or how you'd deal with desert. It is just something I like to say when I'm sitting around waiting for a check, that this place should exist.

My next idea isn't actually mine. It was based on an idea of Monzy's. You know that carival game where you shoot the water gun into the clown's mouth and the balloon blows up? The idea is to build that game into urinals in a men's room. This would make a great gimmick for a bar. People would come because it's such a crazy gimmick and they'd have to drink lots if they wanted to play. Plus they might have better aim. It was Monzy's concept to build a urinal game. In fact he built one, called You're in Control (Urine Control) and published a paper in a human-computer interaction conference.

My third idea was a chain themed restaurant where each branch has a different theme. If you've visited one Hard Rock Cafe you've seen them all.

Read more... )
Keywords:Ideas
Comments:8 comments
Links
Thought Repository » Ideas