Filed under: Fun, Internet, Web services
Goombah music matching service is your friend
If you've seen one music matching service, you've seen them all, right? Think again. The Goombah music service doesn't just throw general recommendations at you that are loosely based on genres you select. This cool tool scans your iTunes library and makes realistic suggestions that are actually, you know, good. Don't use iTunes? Not to worry, other music players will be supported shortly. In the meantime, check out the Napster Play Button to stream music right to your desktop.Goombah is a tool that's meant to be used in conjunction with other music services like Napster or iTunes. It's designed as a way to introduce music lovers to new music without relying on blind luck or random clicking at overloaded websites. Instead, your computer's music library is analyzed and compared to other members' lists with similar tastes so Goombah can make accurate recommendations. When you hear tunes you like, you're only a click way from purchasing them from Napster or iTunes.
Download Squad caught up with Goombah's CEO Diane Sammer to get a behind the scenes look at the service and find out where it's headed:
Download Squad: Tell us a little bit about the technology behind Goombah.
Sammer: Goombah is based on some pretty cutting edge technology. It is based on our patent pending distributed architecture which uses each Goombah member's desktop as part of the computing network. This gives us the ability to process each user's entire music collection rather than some subset of it and that big, broad data set gives us a lot of information to use when computing recommendations.
Download Squad: Does Goombah get smarter over time as it learns what you like and don't like?
Sammer: Goombah tracks your collection and what you are playing and adjusts recommendations accordingly. It keeps up with your tastes and what you're into at the moment.
Download Squad: Goombah's website has a free music section and Free Music Fridays. Is the downloadable music restricted in any way?
Sammer: No. All of the free music that you find on our website, inside the application or in our new Radio Free Goombah widgets is completely free and unrestricted.
Download Squad: Why did you choose to use the iTunes Music Player to analyze preferences? Do you plan on incorporating any other media players in the future? Any plans to support Linux?
Sammer: We started with iTunes because it has such a big base of users. You'll see support for other music players soon. If enough people express an interest, we will definitely support Linux -- if we have a groundswell from the Linux community we will absolutely pay attention to that. In the meantime, although the Goombah application itself is not supported for Linux, the Radio Free Goombah widget runs there.
Download Squad: Music lovers can have a ball with this service. What about music artists? Can they showcase their own music?
Sammer: Right now, we're working with labels to make music available to the Goombah community. Soon we'll have the tools available for artists of any level to submit their music for community distribution.
Download Squad: You've surveyed your members a couple of times in the last few weeks. What kind of feedback have you gotten? What aspects of the service do they like most? Where would they like to see improvements?
Sammer: Overall, our users favorite functions are as varied as the service with the top mentions being member matching,browsing other people's libraries, and of course the recommendations and free music. Some say they love the user interface and some say they would like it to change, so that's one area we are reviewing for change. We've added a lot to Goombah in the last year and a half and it doesn't flow as well as it could. Our users sometimes have to work a little too hard and we have a plan in place to change that.
Download Squad: What features do you plan to roll out in future releases?
Sammer: The next thing to go out will be the ability to play Goombah recommendations in Napster's free player so next week we'll release the Napster Play Button. It will be on the member recommendation screen and it will play recommendations and queue it on Napster. If you love Goombah now, you're going to be overwhelmed by it next week.
We are also working on putting more features to browse the community and play good music on the web. We have some cool things coming up with the Radio Free Goombah Widget as well as some cool collaborations with other great music companies. We have a busy summer planned...stay tuned.
Download Squad: Tell us a little bit about the funding behind Goombah that helped launch it. Do you plan to offer a premium service in addition to the free service?
Sammer: Goombah is free to users now and I expect that it always will be. The company is funded by the founders and a small group of friends, family and angels. The great state of Maine has also been very generous with its support.We received funding from the Maine Technology Institute last year which has helped immeasurably.
Download Squad: What's on your iPod?
Sammer: I have a lot of great Goombah Free Music on my iPod. You can see for yourself by taking a look at my public proflle -- press the play buttons to play my music right from the website. All the Goombah Free Music can be downloaded from that page, too. If my music isn't to your tastes then Goombah will find the people whose music you will really like -- just download Goombah from and it will take care of the rest. Enjoy.
Sammer: Goombah is based on some pretty cutting edge technology. It is based on our patent pending distributed architecture which uses each Goombah member's desktop as part of the computing network. This gives us the ability to process each user's entire music collection rather than some subset of it and that big, broad data set gives us a lot of information to use when computing recommendations.
Download Squad: Does Goombah get smarter over time as it learns what you like and don't like?
Sammer: Goombah tracks your collection and what you are playing and adjusts recommendations accordingly. It keeps up with your tastes and what you're into at the moment.
Download Squad: Goombah's website has a free music section and Free Music Fridays. Is the downloadable music restricted in any way?
Sammer: No. All of the free music that you find on our website, inside the application or in our new Radio Free Goombah widgets is completely free and unrestricted.
Download Squad: Why did you choose to use the iTunes Music Player to analyze preferences? Do you plan on incorporating any other media players in the future? Any plans to support Linux?
Sammer: We started with iTunes because it has such a big base of users. You'll see support for other music players soon. If enough people express an interest, we will definitely support Linux -- if we have a groundswell from the Linux community we will absolutely pay attention to that. In the meantime, although the Goombah application itself is not supported for Linux, the Radio Free Goombah widget runs there.
Download Squad: Music lovers can have a ball with this service. What about music artists? Can they showcase their own music?
Sammer: Right now, we're working with labels to make music available to the Goombah community. Soon we'll have the tools available for artists of any level to submit their music for community distribution.
Download Squad: You've surveyed your members a couple of times in the last few weeks. What kind of feedback have you gotten? What aspects of the service do they like most? Where would they like to see improvements?
Sammer: Overall, our users favorite functions are as varied as the service with the top mentions being member matching,browsing other people's libraries, and of course the recommendations and free music. Some say they love the user interface and some say they would like it to change, so that's one area we are reviewing for change. We've added a lot to Goombah in the last year and a half and it doesn't flow as well as it could. Our users sometimes have to work a little too hard and we have a plan in place to change that.
Download Squad: What features do you plan to roll out in future releases?
Sammer: The next thing to go out will be the ability to play Goombah recommendations in Napster's free player so next week we'll release the Napster Play Button. It will be on the member recommendation screen and it will play recommendations and queue it on Napster. If you love Goombah now, you're going to be overwhelmed by it next week.
We are also working on putting more features to browse the community and play good music on the web. We have some cool things coming up with the Radio Free Goombah Widget as well as some cool collaborations with other great music companies. We have a busy summer planned...stay tuned.
Download Squad: Tell us a little bit about the funding behind Goombah that helped launch it. Do you plan to offer a premium service in addition to the free service?
Sammer: Goombah is free to users now and I expect that it always will be. The company is funded by the founders and a small group of friends, family and angels. The great state of Maine has also been very generous with its support.We received funding from the Maine Technology Institute last year which has helped immeasurably.
Download Squad: What's on your iPod?
Sammer: I have a lot of great Goombah Free Music on my iPod. You can see for yourself by taking a look at my public proflle -- press the play buttons to play my music right from the website. All the Goombah Free Music can be downloaded from that page, too. If my music isn't to your tastes then Goombah will find the people whose music you will really like -- just download Goombah from and it will take care of the rest. Enjoy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
travis said 10:56AM on 5-07-2007
here is a site that offers fre MP3 downloads and best of all it is legal
http://www.searchjerk.com/cgi-bin/smartsearch/smartsearch.cgi?keywords=MP3s
Reply
Michelle said 1:10PM on 5-07-2007
Free AND legal !!?? Love it. Will be anxious to hear what Goombah recommends for me. Exciting concept. Thanks for the information.
Reply