
Psychologist Says: iPod Most Played Songs More Telling Than Bedroom - KevinBongart
http://cultofmac.com/psychologist-says-ipod-most-played-songs-more-telling-than-bedroom/5249
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electromagnetic
This kind of thing is just laughably stupid. Psychology is basically still a
guessing game and claiming your iPod most played list gives an insight into a
person is likely valid and mostly useless.

For example, when someone's asked to recall a memory they generally look up
and to the right. When they lie they look down and to the left. However, if
the person's left handed then it's wildcard because their cognitive functions
are splayed between the two hemispheres. Even then this isn't even 80%
accurate with right handed people.

Just looking at someones iPod doesn't tell you what they actually listen to.
My iPod has songs in my most played that I've never played before because my
wife uses my iPod when hers runs out of battery. Just because a woman's
playing soft jazz on an iPod where the top 25 songs are death metal is likely
to mean she doesn't try to have sex with someone everyday of the week. I mean
if she plays soft jazz when she invites you back to her place, it not being in
the top 25 means she doesn't invite people back very often more likely meaning
you won't get herpes.

I'm a big fan of California Punk Rock, but it's one of the lowest scoring in
number of plays. My father-in-law loves the Rolling Stones, yet I've only
heard him play 1 song by them.

I'd hedge a bet that what's on someones iPod that they don't play says more
about them than what they do play.

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derefr
Well, it has sensible _elements_. The Netflix contest algorithms, for example,
aren't helped at all by throwing in demographic data about the users or their
tastes, because that information can apparently be "derived" from their movie
ratings. Assuming you only own music you like (and throwing in your star
ratings for good measure), I bet Apple's iTunes Genius department could tell
you just as much about yourself. A single playlist probably won't tell you
much, though, unless the library it was built from contains remarkably little
variety, such that it can reliably be expressed with 25 samplings.

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kenver
I think iPod playlists probably do say something about a person, but I for one
listen to totally different tunes based on the situation I'm in.

I'm not sure you can draw conclusions about someone, based on what they have
on at a particular moment in time, the song choice might just suit the mood
theyre trying to create at that moment.

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yummyfajitas
_If a woman plays soft jazz when you come over but the top 25 played songs on
her iPod are death metal, she’s not showing her true self._

The soft jazz tells you to stay the night. The death metal tells you to stick
around in the morning and cook her breakfast.

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swombat
More people have bedrooms than iPods, and bedrooms are harder to get incorrect
clues from than playlists (because the amount of information is much greater).

Therefore, the article's argument is crap.

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jackchristopher
I've noticed my brain queues up songs that match my walking pace.

And sometimes I get locked into a mood where I only find certain songs
pleasurable. And my iPod can't break me out.

