The trouble with Last FM is that to stop people 'cheating' they prevent you from uploading your complete iTunes listening history, so your data is skewed to include only those songs you've listened to since you became a Last FM member.
I've been looking for a way to get more information out of my iTunes database for a while, and I came across a couple of MySQL based solutions: iTunes Stats and SQLTunes.
iTunes Stats is nice and simple - it comes with a set of pre-written PHP reports that show you your favourite albums, artists etc, and it makes it easy to add your own new reports. The trouble is that it doesn't export enough information from your iTunes Library XML.
This is where SQLTunes comes in. It exports everything into MySQL for you, but doesn't include pre-written reports or a web interface. The obvious solution is to combine the two.
By changing the database that iTunes Stats points to, and by writing some new SQL queries, it's pretty easy to come up with some cool stats. The results are in for me (I'm into alternative indie and singer/songwriter stuff mostly) - 2006's best albums were:
iTunes Stats is nice and simple - it comes with a set of pre-written PHP reports that show you your favourite albums, artists etc, and it makes it easy to add your own new reports. The trouble is that it doesn't export enough information from your iTunes Library XML.
This is where SQLTunes comes in. It exports everything into MySQL for you, but doesn't include pre-written reports or a web interface. The obvious solution is to combine the two.
By changing the database that iTunes Stats points to, and by writing some new SQL queries, it's pretty easy to come up with some cool stats. The results are in for me (I'm into alternative indie and singer/songwriter stuff mostly) - 2006's best albums were:
1. Writer's Block - Peter Bjorn and John
2. El Perro Del Mar - El Perro del Mar
3. The Concretes In Colour - The Concretes
4. 5:55 - Charlotte Gainsbourg
5. Everything All The Time - Band Of Horses
6. Let Me Introduce My Friends - I'm From Barcelona
7. The Letting Go - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
8. Gulag Orkestar - Beirut
9. Post-War - M. Ward
iTunes tallies the number of times you've played each track and allows you to rate each one out of 5. This list is based on the average playcount of each track * average rating of each track.
if anyone is interested in getting this working or has some cool ideas for reports they'd like to write, give me a shout.
Paul.
mccu7pj2
2 Comments
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)