I've been tossing this idea around for a couple of years now, ever since I got the empeg. But I envision something that's even simpler for the end user.

Imagine the empeg keeping track of skips and replays as well as just plays. Then it would be able to infer, in a general sense, which songs you prefer in your collection. Without you having to intervene and vote, or otherwise do anything special.

Then, on the next synch with your PC, a simple connection to an online database would give you names of artists and albums which are similar to the tracks you liked, and would offer you a free sample track or two, with a "buy online" button for the rest of the album.

The only tricky part is getting the online database together and getting them to partner with SonicBlue. There are companies which are starting to head in this direction, and the Amazon system comes pretty close. A little more work and it'll be there. Amazon's system requires that you rate albums and movies before it presents you with good recommendations. The system I described above would eliminate this step by supplying a pre-created database of ratings based on the songs you skip or play.

I think the MoodLogic software is supposed to already do something along these lines, but I can't get it working properly on my system. Probably because it's just the demo version and doesn't really do anything.

This system would be the first step towards my idea of a utopian future where all artists can connect directly with their fans, regardless of how obscure or non-mainstream their music is. Because this online database would be looking up music based on what you really like to hear, as opposed to what the record companies think you should like to hear.