A crash course in Amazon's item similarities
I bought the album It Means Everything by the ska band Save Ferris. (This could be a post about how Pandora is FINALLY helping me discover new more popular music, so I don't blank out when discussing music or have to say "Oh, I'm listening to drum corps on my iPod right now...")
Anyway, here are items similar to this album according to customer purchase data on Amazon.com:
Honey I'm Homely by Dance Hall Crashers (a ska/punk band I believe)
Go! by Letters to Cleo (no clue...)
Turn the Radio Off by Reel Big Fish
Lockjaw by Dance Hall Crashers
10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack (has a Save Ferris song on it...)
Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt (back when they were punk)
So for the most part, pretty reasonable stuff. Obviously similar to No Doubt and Reel Big Fish, and I'm mildly interested in finding out about the couple other bands.
Now when it finally downloaded into iTunes, I clicked into the iTunes store and checked out their recommendations:
Riot! by Paramore (if it's all like that one song from Rock Band 2, shoot me in the face)
Soundtrack to Juno (huh?)
Soundtrack to Across the Universe (gross)
Little Voice by Sara Bareilles (doubtful)
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At the Disco (I hear they are pretty emo)
Viva la Vida by Coldplay (and speaking of emo...)
Also interesting to note that besides the Panic! album being released in 2005, the rest are all released after 2007. This album was released 10 years before that.
Now granted, Amazon has years more CD purchase data than iTunes does, but I can tell you that if there weren't some kind of historical downweight, everything would have similarities to Harry Potter forever. But I thought I'd bring up how bad iTunes recommendations can be. Score one for the guys who feed my kids!
Anyway, here are items similar to this album according to customer purchase data on Amazon.com:
Honey I'm Homely by Dance Hall Crashers (a ska/punk band I believe)
Go! by Letters to Cleo (no clue...)
Turn the Radio Off by Reel Big Fish
Lockjaw by Dance Hall Crashers
10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack (has a Save Ferris song on it...)
Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt (back when they were punk)
So for the most part, pretty reasonable stuff. Obviously similar to No Doubt and Reel Big Fish, and I'm mildly interested in finding out about the couple other bands.
Now when it finally downloaded into iTunes, I clicked into the iTunes store and checked out their recommendations:
Riot! by Paramore (if it's all like that one song from Rock Band 2, shoot me in the face)
Soundtrack to Juno (huh?)
Soundtrack to Across the Universe (gross)
Little Voice by Sara Bareilles (doubtful)
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At the Disco (I hear they are pretty emo)
Viva la Vida by Coldplay (and speaking of emo...)
Also interesting to note that besides the Panic! album being released in 2005, the rest are all released after 2007. This album was released 10 years before that.
Now granted, Amazon has years more CD purchase data than iTunes does, but I can tell you that if there weren't some kind of historical downweight, everything would have similarities to Harry Potter forever. But I thought I'd bring up how bad iTunes recommendations can be. Score one for the guys who feed my kids!