If you’re a seasoned music-lover, I’m pretty sure you have ever passed a time in your life when you simply got tired of always listening to the same tracks. Sometimes reviews that appear in specialized media aren’t enough or just aren’t anything that you like. Beathound is the solution. It tells you what you should be listening to based on what you like and knowing that you haven’t listened to it before.
Perhaps it’s not anything new, given that there are other services out there that have similar features, such as LastFm, which recommends bands based off of the concerts you have attended, as well as the music that you usually listen to, and online radio apps based on your likes from music streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio. However, Beathoud offers a new twist by offering music that isn’t just inline with what you like, but also music that you haven’t heard before.
Beathound analyzes your music library through a very simple process. You’ll only have to upload a .xml file of all everything your iTunes library contains. To do so, once you are in iTunes you will have to click on Export (right click on the Music icon, located in the menu on the left side under the Library menu).
From there you’ll have to save the output file in .xml format. Once it’s saved, all you have to do is upload it to Beathound. It usually takes between one and three minutes to scan depending on how much music you have in iTunes.
Next, the program takes you to a results page where you can view all the recommended bands and albums based off of the criteria we previously mentioned. The results are ordered based off of the release date and version of the album so you always know if you’ve missed out on an album from one of your favorite groups.
If there is anything to critique about this service it is that it automatically subscribes you to its weekly email list that gives you recommendations for new bands to listen to. Despite that the service has no need to send the report to your email, you can’t skip the mandatory step that makes you type in your email address.
The service is just taking its first steps, which could explain why it is only available for scanning your iTunes library. However, it has a form that those who use other platforms like Spotify and Winamp (among others) can use to suggest to the Beathound developers to build something to analyze their music libraries.
