MusicIP Mixer 1.8 Beta
It’s been a bit quiet around here lately, but we have a few more things to talk about in the coming week, as we’re getting ready to launch the MusicIP Mixer 1.8 Beta. This post will get the basic introduction out of the way, and we’ll be following up with a series of posts showcasing some of the most important new features.
Initially, the beta will only available on Windows. If you aren’t signed up as a beta tester yet, you can check out our earlier post on joining the MusicIP beta program.
I’ll touch on the two biggest changes right now, but look for future posts to fill out some of the details.
Rule-Based Playlist Controls
This is the biggie. In the past, we’ve received lots of requests about ways to tweak, cajole, massage, and adjust how playlists can get created. (Like “Can my ratings affect a playlist”, or “Can I make my playlist %50 pop and %50 rock”). Rather than taking the most popular recommendations and hardcoding those, we’ve opened up the playlist engine so you can create your own rule sets, and share them with your friends. These rule sets get exposed as XML, which we call recipes. This simple change opens up tons of new opportunities in making playlists, which I’m sure we’ll be exploring those for a long time.
World Search
Our MusicDNS acoustic fingeprint service has been experiencing tremendous growth. We’ve now been able to take that same data, and provide an extension to the mixer’s search box which gives you access to more options. Now you can search for artists, albums, or songs which are not in your collection, and create mixes based on those. For instance, if you want to make a mix based on Lily Allen, just select “Search World” in the mixer, type “Lily Allen”, and you’ll get a mix based on tracks by Lily Allen.
If you want to get full details on all the bug fixes and minor changes, those will be posted on the Beta Forum as soon as the MusicIP Mixer 1.8 beta is available.