[pcolbeck]

Is it just my Amazon reomendations that are weird ?
The only music I buy from them is classical, I get all my Rock/Pop on the spur of the moment in high street outlets or supermarkets.
So when I log in Amazon says "we have recommendations for you" and the list goes like this:

Bach
Bach
Bach -- hmm maybe they think I am a touch obsesive
Handel
Schumann
Beethoven
Dido <--- WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM !
Montiverdi -- back on track now
Van Morrison -- WHATS GOING ON NOW ?
Bach
Schubert
etc

Does anyone know if they have real people making these recommendatios and they just stick non appropraite stuff in for a laugh or do they use an algorithm and sometimes it goes bannanas ?

Not that Dido or Van the Man are bad (well maybe Dido is a tad boring) but I can't see how they would think I want these CDs.

Pat

 

[rsaavedra]

I think they use some statistics-based algorithms. They check the preferences (e.g. past purchases, or surfing favorites) of people that seem to fir your profile from their point of view (e.g. again similar purchases, or surfing favorites, or things you have in your shopping cart), and they collect the most frequent common choices among all people with such profile. Something like that. There are many methods to actually come up with those "most frequent common choices". The interesting thing is that these kinds of algorithms running on such large databases as Amazon's consumers, provide insights into correlations that are not really very easy to predict or anticipate.

Columbia House had on their pages some similar "If you like X you might like...", and then a list of suggestions followed. Those suggestions provided some interesting clusters of musical genres and performers.

 

[blessingx]

One day every CD I looked at on Amazon suggested if I liked it, I'd like a copy of.... the same CD. Well at least they got it right that time.

Actually the suggestions are often pretty good. Another member posted this alternative a few months ago.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx Another member posted this alternative a few months ago.

Pretty awesome graphs showing those musical clusters.

In a different venue, but also a tool that displays pretty awesome and informative graphs, here's an interesting link:

http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html

Enter for example www.head-fi.org

 

[Lisa]

Did you or anybody else on your computer by any change look at a Dido or Van Morrison album on the amazon website? Or a simulair album for that matter?

What Amazon does is recommend stuff not only based on what you bought but also what you looked at or rated or put on your wish list or whatever you can do on their site.
I find it annoying that when you rated something to be bad you get a recommendation for something simulair.
If you want to use Amazons recommendations system it's advisable to go to the section where you can improve your recommendations and put things straight onces in a while.

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx One day every CD I looked at on Amazon suggested if I liked it, I'd like a copy of.... the same CD. Well at least they got it right that time. Actually the suggestions are often pretty good. Another member posted this alternative a few months ago.

The imagery is great, but the suggestions from musicplasma are dubious. For example, I typed in "Laurie Anderson" and one of the nearest matches was Led Zeppelin.

 

[pcolbeck]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lisa Did you or anybody else on your computer by any change look at a Dido or Van Morrison album on the amazon website? Or a simulair album for that matter?

Possibly, but she would be using a separate account (its Windows XP) and certainly wouldn't be using my Amazon login.

I don't actually use the Amazon recommendations to choose my music, I just look at it occasionally and find it amusing how whist in general it has the right kind of stuff it occasionally has these off the wall suggestions.

 

[idiot]

yeah, i've noticed that also...

 

[chillysalsa]

Their algorithms are based on what you've viewed, bought, and what others that also viewed or bought those titles.

I was really gittin annoyed when I bought some things for my friend on the same order, and they constantly recommended Prince to me....

"Darnit, I'm not into that kind of stuff!!!!!!!" I wanted to tell them..