Firstly, let's assume that (even over broadband) online radio does actually stream without inexplicable breaks. Secondly, I realise this is a frivolous idea that does not aim to make the world a markedly better place.

I have fairly conservative music-listening habits, one might say unadventurous. At the computer, I listen to a couple of tried and tested radio stations via their web broadcast. I particularly like the relatively recent development of displaying the track name and artist, since it shows in the minimised tab on my toolbar. However, my two stations themselves have a restricted playlist, and sometimes there are popular acts which have completely passed me by, because they weren't to the taste of station A and station B. But I am loath to browse other stations because I know that I will be forced to listen to a lot of pap before I encounter the thing I was interested in hearing.

e.g. I haven't yet heard 'American Life' by Madonna - it might be rubbish but I would still like to hear it at least once. Numerous pop acts put out an occasional song which belies the low quality of the rest of their oeuvre; these I would miss since I have not put that pop act onto my mental white-list.
So, I would find it useful to have a web-radio browser which defaults to one of my 'home' stations, but in which I can black-list certain songs which Ifind irritating. On receiving notification that a blacklisted song is playing (or perhaps in slightly advance warning), the browser will search for other stations which are playing music which I have white-listed, or specifically asked to find. The browser will stay on this station until I actively dislike a song - blacklist it. Any song towards which I express no active opinion will implicitly be held on a grey-list, but since that is effectively infinite, the grey-list will not actually exist.

Some other things may be needed here:
a setting by which I can avoid extended periods of talking when there is music playing elsewhere;
a large enough starting white-list so that in the early stages the browser does not just bounce constantly between my five favourite songs playing all over the internet;
fast enough searching to avoid long silences while the 'dial is being retuned';
shortcut keys to white/black-list without getting too distracted from work;
easy review pages for white/blacklists which point out any inconsistencies in taste - e.g. I detested Daniel Bedingfield's first two, but really like the latest.. "are you sure?" yes!
and finally, a "never mind, stick with my default" option.
-- badgers, Apr 27 2003

this guy has the same sort of feelings but towards a different part of entertainment media.. http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Automute
[badgers, Oct 05 2004]

I'm not sure if I understand. Doesn't this mean you'd have to manually type in the title and artist info for each song you want to hear before you hear it (and thus before you know you want to hear it)?
-- snarfyguy, Apr 27 2003


no, not at all - the total playlist of my two starting stations is considered the 'a priori' whitelist, since they are my default enjoyable-music stations. All of that information has to be available in some coded format off their websites which is understandable by my radio browser. Something like an ISBN for songs; that coding system itself is a big task, I know.
Then every time I judge a good (or bad) song, Shift-F11/F12 or some other shortcut key-set will add the code for the song to the white/black-list. These decisions must be held in a cache of some sort, in the support files for the browser program.
And also, I said that once the browser seems to have found a station that plays music which I like, it will stay on that station until I dislike something. So most of the time it plays grey-list things - otherwise it would be constantly hopping between stations, which is irritating itself!
-- badgers, Apr 27 2003


Ah, I see, sorry.
-- snarfyguy, Apr 27 2003


mind you, one would have to manually add data for a song you know you'd like to hear, as the 'American Life' example I gave. However, I realised today that this coding does already exist - e.g. when you put a CD to play in your computer and it goes to search for the track listing online. An online listing of codes for artists you want to hear must be easier to use than specific downloading of the mp3 or trawling radio playlists manually.
-- badgers, Apr 28 2003


I love it.

And when you're done with product development, will you please rework the model so it can be used with porn?
-- normzone, Apr 28 2016


[Ian], that is a fantastic idea! Possibly even one of the best I've ever heard from you (but I'm half a month behind on here, so I can't say for sure yet). You should post it on its own. I might bake it when I get around to building my Raspberry Pi clock radio.
-- notexactly, May 12 2016



random, halfbakery