[reginalb]

Dont wanna ruin your good time at the office

.
Lets just say I have a very diff exp and opinion after 15+ years of IT. And no FB account. Same "sausage issues"

 
I mean, you might have worked in corporate IT. Google Play Music, dealing with a whole butt load of users, is a lot different than a corporation and its internal tracking. That might be your exposure, and that is often pretty darn heavy handed. But there is just too much data (and it's not useful anyway) to track what any one individual is doing on a high traffic site. It would be the same for music. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

So? They need a counter which says "song X was played 500 times". Make it even more detailed "played 500 times in London before lunchtime". Thats fine. Just dont include me and my listening habits into any of that. That brings me zero benefits.
If I want to discover new artists there are a hundred plugins/apps who do it from my PC. Most are free too... and I can even decide how to cfg them to match *my* prefs. Those recommendations you get online dont even care much about what you like. That's secondary at best. No1 is what you are likely to buy. Lets say your taste matches and old, out of print album 90% and a freshly released one 60%. Guess which one you'll receive as a recomendation. And that's just one of the easiest, most obvious tricks.

Dont wanna ruin your good time at the office

.
Lets just say I have a very diff exp and opinion after 15+ years of IT. And no FB account. Same "sausage issues"

 
I know what you mean about being paranoid. There are so many unethical ways we're tracked. (Then again, how would your taste in music be used against you?)
 
For what it's worth, I just buy the music I like and rarely ever stream anything.

 

[prot]

I mean, you might have worked in corporate IT. Google Play Music, dealing with a whole butt load of users, is a lot different than a corporation and its internal tracking. That might be your exposure, and that is often pretty darn heavy handed. But there is just too much data (and it's not useful anyway) to track what any one individual is doing on a high traffic site. It would be the same for music. 

I am quite pretty absolutely sure that google is a corporation. And when it comes to privacy few (if any) are worse. But you seem to enjoy their brand of coolaid ... good luck.

 

[prot]

I know what you mean about being paranoid. There are so many unethical ways we're tracked. (Then again, how would your taste in music be used against you?)

For what it's worth, I just buy the music I like and rarely ever stream anything.

How? In every single possible way .
Use your imagination to come up with the worst way. And then remember that a big company has hundreds of people who do the same. Experts who do it every day. If any of those scenarios has the potential to produce extra revenue, it will be used. No matter how bad it is for you, sooner or later someone will just do it.
Doesnt even have to be against you ... just not for you. Noone cares about your taste in music. Thats just collateral used to get to your wallet. Or further. And there are no limits to "further".
Oh well, that may sound too grim. Guess I just saw it done too often. Cant tell you how exactly any of those companies use the stats. But can tell you one thing for sure: they do *not* use them for you.

Some "nice" samples
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/04/06/how-mastercard-predicts-divorce.html
Enjoy

 

[Music Alchemist]

How? In every single possible way

.
Use your imagination to come up with the worst way. And then remember that a big company has hundreds of people who do the same. Experts who do it every day. If any of those scenarios has the potential to produce extra revenue, it will be used. No matter how bad it is for you, sooner or later someone will just do it.
Doesnt even have to be against you ... just not for you. Noone cares about your taste in music. Thats just collateral used to get to your wallet. Or further. And there are no limits to "further".
Oh well, that may sound too grim. Guess I just saw it done too often. Cant tell you how exactly any of those companies use the stats. But can tell you one thing for sure: they do *not* use them for you.

 
I can't think of a single way your taste in music could be used against you. The worst thing I can think of is what you mentioned: a "related music" suggestion that isn't something you're entirely crazy about. *shudders in sarcastic terror*

 

[Greenears]

I have no idea why this thread has a tendency for every detour and dead-end possible in the history of threads.
 
In any event, I really like last.fm.  Not only do they track, I intentionally scrobble my own music! Mon dieu!
 
They take things you know and love and give you new interesting stuff that is really cool that I would never have found on my own.  How is that bad?  If you don't like it - fast forward.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I have no idea why this thread has a tendency for every detour and dead-end possible in the history of threads.

 
My guess is because the original topic has broad appeal due to how ambiguous it is.
 

 

[Mr Rick]

What was the question??

 

[prot]

I have no idea why this thread has a tendency for every detour and dead-end possible in the history of threads.

In any event, I really like last.fm.  Not only do they track, I intentionally scrobble my own music! Mon dieu!

They take things you know and love and give you new interesting stuff that is really cool that I would never have found on my own.  How is that bad?  If you don't like it - fast forward.

The OPs Qs were answered long ago. It's just a freestyle thread nowadays.

All fine if you dont share my grim views about those stats. Many ppl enjoy sausages too
And btw, this is a nice music reccom engine http://liveplasma.com. Plenty of those all over the place. Free and private too.

 

[Music Alchemist]

All fine if you dont share my grim views about those stats. Many ppl enjoy sausages too

 
What are your grim views? So far, you haven't listed any of their nefarious schemes; just using the data for marketing purposes or music recommendations.

 

[bigshot]

  I have no idea why this thread has a tendency for every detour and dead-end possible in the history of threads.

 
A few people had expectations that it would troll us. It didn't. Now they are grabbing at straws.

 

[bigshot]

Really good sausages are great. I like Portuguese Lingueca myself.

 

[prot]

I can't think of a single way your taste in music could be used against you. The worst thing I can think of is ...

I'm sure you thought about it for almost 10 minutes . And that's the same as someone doing it as a job for years. Say, a few google guys with phd-s in stats and psychology.

And btw, I did post a link with sample stats usages a few messages above, maybe you missed it. Your playlist is same as good as your shopping list... or a very detailed psychological profile

 

[prot]

Really good sausages are great. I like Portuguese Lingueca myself.

Of course they are. I am a fan of the east EU spicy varieties: hungarian, croatian, serbian, etc. Not even sure about their names, I just buy from the so called BalkanShop a few streets away.
I wont visit a sausage factory though...

 

[limpidglitch]

How? In every single possible way

.
Use your imagination to come up with the worst way. And then remember that a big company has hundreds of people who do the same. Experts who do it every day. If any of those scenarios has the potential to produce extra revenue, it will be used. No matter how bad it is for you, sooner or later someone will just do it.
Doesnt even have to be against you ... just not for you. Noone cares about your taste in music. Thats just collateral used to get to your wallet. Or further. And there are no limits to "further".
Oh well, that may sound too grim. Guess I just saw it done too often. Cant tell you how exactly any of those companies use the stats. But can tell you one thing for sure: they do *not* use them for you.

Some "nice" samples
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/04/06/how-mastercard-predicts-divorce.html
Enjoy

 
Just adding this to the lot.
Transparency International report, Apple, Amazon, Google and IBM near the bottom of the heap, along with nice guys like Citigroup, Gazprom and PetroChina.