Mufin is Cooking Up Tasty and Satisfying Music Recommendations!

(Mufin is as tasty and singularly good as this baked treat!)

I am not a big music person, which is to say that I like what I like, and have a bit of difficulty discovering new things that I like. Also, in fairness to offerings like Launch, it's probably difficult to peg someone who wants to hear Erykah Badu, traditional Irish, and dreadful poppy pop all in the same sitting.

So I was rather skeptical about Mufin, a new music discovery service that uses characteristics of the songs you like to help you find other songs you may enjoy. I am going to quote a rather large chunk of their press release because it does a great job of explaining their offering -- and in actual understandable language!



Unlike current music discovery applications or Internet radio stations that are
based on popularity in the mainstream, community recommendations and
subjective editorial references, Mufin is focused squarely on a song’s musical
characteristics and construction to encourage greater diversity in music
discovery. Mufin employs sophisticated audio identification technology that was
co-developed at the Fraunhofer Institute, the creators of the MP3 format. Mufin
generates a unique ‘fingerprint’ for each song based on more than 40
characteristics such as tempo, instruments, sound density, and rhythm structure.

To uncover new music, users simply search for their favorite song or artist in
Mufin's database which has millions of songs from major and independent artists.
In a split-second, Mufin's music discovery engine presents a selection with songs
that sound similar using semantic algorithms that determine unique audio
fingerprints for each track. Users are also able to listen, purchase, or create
playlists featuring their new musical discoveries.

Additionally, Mufin’s dashboard gives people the opportunity to uncover new
songs and artists by checking out the latest tracks, fresh discoveries and top
searches within the Mufin community.

The interface is pretty sweet, with the signature Mufin telling you when the service has suggestions to offer based upon your likes. Here's a typical chunk of interface.





So, I typed 20 different performers into the system. Note I used RiverDance as a surrogate for trad Irish because frankly my love of penny whistles is rather uncommon and I felt it would be unfair to judge a service based upon my quirks.

Anyway. Every single solitary time I clicked on a Mufin muffin, I found something I liked. Actually made a shopping list for five of them.

I'm guessing the rev model is a cut of the sales they drive. And I think that will be darned lucrative!

This service if Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, and Pillsbury Doughboy all rolled into one good! It is from scratch good! Triple chocolate good. Oh, enough of that, you get the idea.

They are in private beta, so sign up for a PW and give it a try when an invite comes through. You'll be mighty glad you did. Bake yourself happy, my frien'.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.