In the dark ages between the Mrs Ivans 1 and 2, I found myself living in a pretty but tiny and very isolated cottage in Staffordshire with only Radio 4 for company. So I did something that I had previously scorned and took out an ad in the personal column of a national broadsheet.

It was a large and eccentric advertisement and I look back at the experiences that followed with a mixture of amusement, pleasure and outright horror. I met many extraordinary women, the psychiatrist was the most extraordinary but that's another story, however the process was too random to be very useful in finding a prospective 'life' partner.

I discovered that a quick browse through an individuals music collection was a good pointer in terms of whether you were going to get on, but not in any hard and fast manner, the presence of a surfeit of Celine Dion was not a definite contra indication as one would suspect, but you could form a general impression.

On this basis I would suggest that an internet dating service that required you to upload the titles in your cd collection (yes ALL of them even the christmas presents), analysed them and provided matches with other users would be loads of fun and provide a more targeted source of 'friendship and maybe more' as they say.

The matching algorith would have to be a lot more sophisticated than merely finding others with the same recordings as this would be very dull, it should account more for the quirks and traits of personality exposed by a lovingly assembled collection.

It has to be said at this point that shared musical appreciation isn't the be all and end all of course, I fell in love with Mrs Ivan 2 in spite of and not because of the contents of her cd rack. Indeed it is only the lightness of spirit that her companionship brings that compensates for her unnatural penchant for Enya.
-- IvanIdea, Oct 31 2002

because it solves almost http://www.audioscrobbler.com
every known CD application [neilp, Dec 21 2004]

s'funny but I think a quick scan on someone's bookshelves is a similar indication. perhaps likewise their fridge. +1
-- po, Oct 31 2002


She who became Mrs Angel had only one record in common with my elf (Wide Awake in Dreamland); she converted me to Dylan, the Who and Tom Petty; I converted her to Yes, Rush and All About Eve.
-- angel, Oct 31 2002


Thats a nice story Angel, however if she had attempted to convert you to Cher and danni Minogue then the outcome may have been less happy.
-- IvanIdea, Oct 31 2002


Well, she failed to convert me to Louis Armstrong, and I failed to convert her to Renaissance. Our relationship did not suffer as a result.
-- angel, Oct 31 2002


// it should account more for the quirks and traits of personality exposed by a lovingly assembled collection.

I suspect this might be very, very difficult, if not impossible. Witness how Amazon's recommendation software generally struggles unless you actually actively follow a genre. Mind you I might just be saying this because your cdddb would probably just pair me with partners who fall into the category "weird".
-- namaste, Oct 31 2002


hmm... as with all 'blind dating' mediums, i think there may be a tendancy for fibbing. Trying to attract a partner by showing your cd collection contents may require some editing depending on the sort of person you wish to attract. Isn't it the law that you fib on the net?
-- phatflaresblack, Oct 31 2002


To my knowledge, amazon seems to tell you that you're perfectly suited to whatever they feel like peddling this month.
-- sadie, Oct 31 2002


//A flaw in their logic, it seems.//

Er... not if you are planning to get them another present.
-- whimsickle, Oct 31 2002


As far as the idea goes: someone smart once said "You can't judge a book by its cover, but you *can* judge the cover."

I like the idea. Not to be a snob, but certain records would simply disqualify potential snarfygirls.
-- snarfyguy, Oct 31 2002


It's not a substitute, rather a signpost.
-- bristolz, Nov 02 2002


[idi] whats that short for by the way?

how many vegans have you married that have trapped you into marriage by pretending to eat steak?
-- po, Nov 02 2002


they would have to be...
-- po, Nov 02 2002


hello Ivan

isn't irony a funny thing!
-- po, Jun 28 2004


nowadays it could match up iTunes playlists
-- neilp, Jun 29 2004


I HAVE felt a sudden surge of attraction upon learning that a girl appreciates the exuberant genius that is AC/DC...it could work.
-- Eugene, Jun 29 2004



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