So many good songs out there have been completely killed for me after being overplayed on adverts, crappy TV shows and the like. I'd like a device as part of my telly set-up which can detect when a song I like is being played, and filter it out of the soundtrack.
This detection would be achieved using a similar technology to the filtering implemented by Napster, which is claimed to be able to recognise a song by a unique signature.
The device could have several levels of annoyance, ranging from advert-only filtering right up to removal of any favoured tune from all broadcasts.-- -alx, Aug 23 2001 It could also detect a song that you hate and filter that out. Bonus points if you can get it to work on supermarket muzak.-- angel, Aug 23 2001 angel: I wonder what you would replace that muzak with. More muzak?
Bravo though, good idea.-- sdm, Aug 23 2001 i realised that i need one of these when i heard jesus and mary chain's "happy when it rains" during a car commercial, and the smiths' "how soon is now" during a beer commercial. (both adverts were repeated repeatedly during their respective tv runs)-- mihali, Aug 23 2001 Aside from the annoyance factor is the disgraceful fact that millions of innocents come to know Beethoven's Choral Fantasy as "the (insert financial services co. name here) song." Aaaaggh!
But I will admit that I had allowed memories of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" to slip beneath the waters of my more recent past, until a car commercial resurrected those memories. I don't watch enough TV to have been annoyed by it, and actually looked forward to the ads. Some of them even inspired me to whip out the CD and crank the amp up to 11.-- beauxeault, Aug 23 2001 Bitter Sweet Symphony was completely killed for me by its ubiquity, especially on some car advert.
Venus In Furs has overcome the odds and remains a favourite, however.
[angel] The hate filter is another excellent use for this invention.-- -alx, Aug 23 2001 Of course, this reduces incentive for music (at least the sort of "hit" that gets licensed) to be produced, since advertisers aren't going to be willing to pay royalties.-- bookworm, Aug 23 2001 Not necessarily - many songs become hits in the first place because they're used in frequently-shown adverts. Some people aren't grumpy snobs like me, and actually relish hearing their favourite song in conjunction with soft drink commercials. That's what the advertisers are playing on - you like the song, you associate that positivity with the product.-- -alx, Aug 23 2001 For me, the perfect filter would block every musical commercial bit besides "O Fortuna" and anything by T. Rex or The Crystal Method.-- The Military, Aug 26 2001 random, halfbakery