This paragraph made my wife ask me why I was laughing out loud:

 "Employees go through weeks of training before they can recognize such song 
  attributes as the degree of vibrato in a singer's voice, a trait
that could represent
  the difference between a song by Karen Carpenter or Mariah Carey."

Hmm, I started seriously listening to pop music at age 5 (Bo Diddley,
Everly Brothers,
top 40 radio circa 1957), and I'm 52+ now, so that means I have 2488
weeks of popular
music listening experience. And my experience is not only via sitting
in a cube with
headphones, reporting to managers with deliverable deadlines, but
among peer age
groups that span the entire music buying populace, in an almost
limitless variety of
social and non-social situations. I've had pure pop periods,original
cast recordings
committed to memory (including the degree of vibrato, such as Robert
Morse singing
"I Believe in You" as a just-right touch of vibrato), years where soul
and jazz ruled the
day, 40 years of garage where I can tell bands by geographic region
and appoximate
year, etc, etc. And I'm still a student - starting this list lead to a
pop music education
I never expected.

But I'm overqualified, too expensive & too obstinate. I'd be fired in
a New York minute.
And I mostly don't listen to what passes as "popular music" since
1990. But I could
(as could most of you) tell consumers - given their likes (most
probably very limited
considering the choices nowadays) - where to go to deepen their love &
appreciation
of their musical tastes. Probably enough options to break their musical budget.

 - michael




> OAKLAND, Calif. - Music retailers are turning to
> high-tech firms that combine computer analysis with
> the art of listening to come up with new music
> suggestions for consumers based on what they already
> like.
> 
> The rest at --
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050605/ap_en_mu/dissecting_music
>