23 Musings

Is that just because he wants to get access to all those MP3 player owners who don't use iTunes?? Probably, I can't see him being too bothered about DRM and how it impacts users, more likely he just can see the dollar signs that could be his if iTunes was opened up to all users of portable digital music players! Sceptic? Me? Damn right!

Sometimes I come across an idea that just blows me away. It doesn't happen that often but it's usually something I have an affinity with so a connection is made which activates some synaptic delight inside me.

Today I got an email from an old friend containing nothing but a url and the words 'you'll love this' beneath. The url was www.undersound.org, and yes, being an old friend that person was absolutely correct!

It's a research project by three female technologists/artists into how travellers on the London Underground could become the source of a huge musical sharing community. They hope that one day Undersound will allow travellers on the tube network to upload, download music to places with the network and then share with fellow travellers all by the power of Bluetooth. When someone downloads a tune from your phone you'll be alerted to the fact, this nice touch gives it a real social aspect and makes the idea of a system like this feel more organic and much less impersonal than just selfishly downloading for yourself.

It's a really quite exciting idea in my opinion. The tube feels devoid of emotion or any connection between strangers these days. Something as small as knowing someone in your carriage likes the same artist as you enough to download it could give a warm glow that the tube rarely affords.

Tracks will be tagged with meta data so you'll know when and where it was uploaded to the network and you'll be able to browse the music of all people in range.

I really hope this gets off the ground! I love simple ideas like this that have a real social aspect to them. Society needs more ideas like this! Technology doesn't have to be impersonal it can accentuate the social aspects of our lives.

The reason this idea resonates so strongly with me is due to my background in the free underground music scene in London. Every weekend for many years the collective I was involved with worked to bring a little bit of musical distraction to inner city areas. To hear of an idea like this (which I'm sure has no connection) which carries the same ethos is a pleasure!