Wouldn’t it be terrific if you could just switch on the radio and just get the music (or kind of music) that you like, without a lot of messing around? That, in a nutshell, is what Mentor FM tries to do.
Mentor FM is an internet radio channel that connects with your Facebook account in order to figure out what music you might like (assuming you do a lot of ‘Like’-ing of Facebook) and takes it from there. It will construct a playlist that it thinks you might like, and allow you to vote the music selections up or down within a very minimalistic and straightforward interface. It also offers a ‘surprise’ mode where it will take a chance on music selections that you will probably like, but might not.
My experience with Mentor FM: I don’t do much liking of anything on Facebook, but I must have done something along the way that clued Mentor FM to the fact that I LOVE Radiohead and Alternative music, because sure enough it started piping out exactly the kind of tracks that I like. So, insofar as it wants to be a simple turn-it-on and listen to music you will probably like, Mentor FM is a success.
My attempt to try out the ‘Surprise Me’ mode wasn’t too successful though, as the application reported that it didn’t have too data from my Facebook account to work with. Which sounds about right.
But would I recommend Mentor FM? Absolutely. It is super awesome; you will like it, your friends will like it. It’s the sort of thing that you could connect to your speaker system at a party or in a café or restaurant and you can be more or less sure that most every track will be a gem (and it is totally commercial free and geographically unrestricted to boot). Try it out for yourself.
[Thanks to reader Panzer for the tip about this one]
Go here to start listening.
The expanding number of sites that only allow access to Facebook users is a disgrace. I think you need to start revising what is considered ‘freeware’ in light of this trend.
Websites like these that require Facebook accounts are spreading like a rash on the interwebnets. I think it’s time a site like freewaregarden started to review their policies of what is considered ‘freeware’ given how much privacy individuals have to sacrifice in order to use Facebook-login-only accounts.
Registration is now closed due to them getting to many new members today.
And just to add it didn’t bother to tell me this until after I had allowed it access to my Facebook account.
The privacy you sacrifice is just the one each facebook application ask you to… the window you have to confirm when you allow a new facebook application contains all the details about what an application can “see” and technically it can’t do anything more.
Furthermore, you can all the time revoke the permission to a facebook application.
The privacy you sacrifice is just the one each facebook application ask you to… the window you have to confirm when you allow a new facebook application contains all the details about what an application can “see” and technically it can’t do anything more.
Furthermore, you can all the time revoke the permission to a facebook application.