I downloaded and played with Windows Media Player 11, beta 2 this weekend.
All the attention has been on the URGE integration, but online music stores aren’t my particular ball of wax at the moment. However, I do have a decent sized CD collection that’s all ripped and accessible anywhere in my house thanks to Media Center.
I’m a junkie for quantifying various aspects of my life. Given that all my music has consistent metadata, it’s a natural place to apply some simple numerical analysis. Media Player 11 to be a big improvement over the prior version in this regard. With just a few mouse clicks, I’m able to determine statistically what my “favorite” groups are, what era did I own the most music from, etc.
(That’s the concept. The reality is a little murkier, as you’ll soon see.)
So onward to the lists!
Most popular artists, by time (hours:minutes)
|
AC/DC |
16:30 |
|
W.A.S.P. |
14:00 |
|
Joe Satriani |
13:20 |
|
Stevie Ray Vaughn |
13:00 |
|
Saxon |
12:15 |
|
Iron Maiden |
11:20 |
|
Monster Magnet |
9:45 |
|
Eric Clapton |
7:50 |
|
Motley Crue |
7:35 |
|
Guns N’Roses |
7:15 (89 songs) |
|
Motorhead |
7:15 (122 songs) |
• No surprise that AC/DC was at the top of the list.
• Saxon comes in surprisingly high, given that I haven’t tried to accumulate all their work.
• Eric Clapton was the biggest surprise at first. Then I recalled that I have the Crossroads box set.
• Finally, note the entries for Guns’N Roses vs. Motorhead. In the same amount of time, Motorhead has more than 35% more songs. I believe it comes down to Axl’s epic songs (November Rain, etc…) vs. Motorhead’s dual metal/punk heritage. (That is, punk songs tend to be faster and shorter.)
Top five longest songs (longer than 15 minutes)
|
Tab...25 |
Monster Magnet |
|
Leave My Girl Alone |
Bernard Allison |
|
The Story Of Jonathan |
W.A.S.P |
|
Forbidden Planet |
Monster Magnet |
|
Time Machine |
Joe Satriani |
The longest clocks in at 32 minutes, 14 seconds, and it’s not a live “jam” song. This is very early Monster Magnet. More recent work from this isn’t so free flowing and “spacey”.
Most Popular Years, by Time (Hours:Minutes)
|
2001 |
17:15 |
|
2000 |
16:45 |
|
1997 |
15:40 |
|
1993 |
15:28 |
|
1995 |
14:50 |
|
1994 |
14:50 |
|
1988 |
13:20 |
The numbers here were quite surprising at first. I would have thought that I’d have a pretty heavy weighting in the 80’s and early 90s. (The metal mainstream years.) However, a closer looks shows that I have a lot of reissues and collections, which skew the “year” into the future. Sadly, the per-song metadata doesn’t appear to contain a “Year originally released” tag.
In all this, it's important to remember that new bands like The Datsuns just don't have enough recorded work to seriously affect these number. Nonetheless, if you have an extensive music collection online, doing a little statistical survey with Media Player 11 can be entertaining.
