The Music Genome Project

"A company called Pandora (formerly Savage Beast) has launched an Internet radio
service designed to deliver a personalized music stream based on the listener's
favorite music's "DNA."

The service uses the Music Genome technology, built around a database of
thousands of songs "analyzed using up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by
a trained music analyst." According to Pandora, "these attributes capture the
many significant qualities that are relevant to understanding the musical
preferences of listeners." " - from Radio Internet News Daily

At first I thought this was a joke - how could it be possible to map songs, with their complex nature and ranging styles?Pandora attempted this near-impossible feat by taking songs and analysing them using various criteria including harmony, melody, and rhythm. They then compile the data to create a custom "station", relaying recommended songs for listeners based on this data. Pretty cool!