Test Your Personality, Digitally

Byline: Robert MacMillan

In a recent Random Access , I referenced a study that concluded you can tell a lot about someone's personality by analyzing the playlists on his or her iPod . Not long after that, I found myself standing at a red light in midtown Manhattan noticing that nearly everyone around me had white wires winding from their ears into their pockets.

It was then that it occurred to me that the study was right. I was looking at little white devices that held the key to what makes these people click. And that is where the iPod goes beyond cool and into profound. It's a less accurate -- but more interesting -- tool for psychological analysis -- a Myers-Briggs for the digital age.

The study, conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Palo Alto Research Center , is by no means exhaustive in its pursuit of accuracy. As CNET's News.com noted , it's "more anthropological than representative. The researchers interviewed 13 people at an unnamed office about their use of iTunes and their perceptions of other people based on playlist-reading."

The workers were taking part in an increasingly common exercise -- using space on the company's computer network to share music. (Try looking at some of the parts of your computer network shared by the whole office. You might be surprised by what you find.)

"Along with the culling of items in personal playlists, the researchers detailed the way that people browsed and judged other people's collections," News.com reported. "In general, people reported that music libraries didn't dramatically change their perception of their co-workers--except for one or two people who seemed a little too attached to the most current pop hits."

News.com said that the phenomenon of "playlist anxiety" is not new, noting that college students experienced similar feelings when Apple Computer started letting them stream music from other people's hard drives onto their networks.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that some people are taking this a step further: "Experts say these playlists and digital music libraries may even become a new way for people to size up potential mates or political candidates. 'We do find that people are able to make fairly accurate assessments solely on the basis of a person's top 10 songs,'' said Jason Rentfrow , a psychology consultant who co-authored a 2003 University of Texas study of more than 3,500 people that showed musical taste can provide a road map to a person's personality."

The Chronicle pointed out that people have shared music throughout history, but the iPod is different because people can present their entire collection on a digital music player, giving others the opportunity to derive their first impression of you all at once rather than a little bit at a time.

One real-world example of this that didn't go over so well came from the Boston Globe's Christopher Muther , who failed to win friends and influence people with his 15 minutes of iPod fame. Muther visited the Common Ground Bar and Grill in Boston where music fans can play amateur DJ every Wednesday. They hook up their iPod or MP3 player into the club's sound system and let 'em rip.

"To me, it was an ideal musical casserole, blending tracks from obscure 1960s divas (Helen Shapiro's 'I Don't Care') with 1970s pop chestnuts (Neil Diamond's 'Kentucky Woman') and topped with just a pinch of hipster credibility (the Postal Service's 'We Will Become Silhouettes'). Once the general public heard my range, I figured it was only a matter of time before I was plucked from obscurity to become a superstar New York DJ and soundtrack coordinator for 'The O.C.'" he wrote. "When [DJ Sarah] Korval switched the music from my iPod back to her own, and began playing the Kinks' 'All Day and All Night,' someone sitting behind me said: 'Finally! Some real music.'"

This is by no means a new phenomenon, as this February Washington Post article shows. In fact, when you think about it, Generation iPod is using the speed and capacity of today's digital music players to perfect a process that was begun by thirtysomethings and some folks who are just a little older.

We turned cassette tapes into personal statements back in the pre-digital era, though the music we shared at the time might raise a few eyebrows nowadays. (The Human League? Who are they?) Only a few years ago, mix tapes were still great forms of personal greetings, something that we used as a personal resume to give people just a little taste of the way we spent our private time.

We spent our time poring over just the right mix without having to spill over into a second 90-minute tape. Do I put on "Girlfriend in a Coma" or "How Soon Is Now..." "Girlfriend is four minutes shorter... that'll fit on the end of the tape." We discriminated in our choices like a hyper-manic Rob in the 2000 film " High Fidelity ," especially when the tape was designed as a tool of attraction.

With the arrival of the iPod (and all the other digital music players), we have the benefit of not having to discriminate. We can still make great mixes if we want, but on the other hand, we can just send the whole collection and let the recipients sort it out. I love the idea of putting my entire music collection on such a convenient device, but part of me would rather get the well-thought-out mix that the cassette forced us to make.

Singing From the Grave

It's reader feedback time. Last Thursday I highlighted a Los Angeles Times article about how music producers are resurrecting dead singers by digitally breaking apart and reassembling their voices to make them "sing" songs that never passed their lips.

I sided with country music singers like Vince Gill who aren't so hot on messing with the dearly departed. But at the same time I was intrigued. If you had the chance, who would you bring back from the dead and what would you have that star sing? Well, some readers shared their thoughts:

* Francisco Guerrero of San Francisco: "I've always thought that if I ever could make something like this work I would have Elvis Presley sing 'Wicked Game' by Chris Isaak. That would be one hell of a song, to have the King sing it."

* Philippe Herndon opined that "Conway Twitty's vocals were no more of a personal voice than John Bonham's beats, James Jamerson's bass lines, or Curtis Mayfield's wah-wah stabs." He suggested that "those a capella performances of the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' are just begging to be looped, cut, pasted, and thrown over beats."

* Greg Lee: "How about Jimi Hendrix doing anything Back Street Boys? Bob Marley doing Eminem ... Tammy Wynette doing Pink?"

* Justin Wahe: "I'd like to have Screaming Jay Hawkins sing 'Chocolate Jesus' by Tom Waits. Or maybe 'Red Right Hand' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds."

* Jack Halsbond came up with a good one for suggesting Elvis Presley replacing Jim Morrison on "Riders on the Storm," as well as the winner for weirdest idea -- Dean Martin singing "Werewolves of London."

* Reader Steven Chandler of Dodgeville, Wisc., wondered why we should continue graverobbing when there are plenty of great singers out there today who don't benefit from good marketing because they aren't necessarily camera-friendly: "I think I'm going to start a record label called Not So Pretty But Damn We Can Sing -- and we'll match our best against anything you can produce with electronic/computer wizardry!!"

Rest Stop Love

Doesn't that just sound too sleazy to print? A posting on the Slashdot.org Web site says that the Texas House State Affairs Committee plans to vote on a bill that would require the state to filter wireless Internet access at rest stops in the Lone Star State. The person who posted this item wrote, "This bill protects truckers at highway rest stops and campers in their RVs at campsites from adult content. Sounds both wasteful and unconstitutional."

Speaking of truck drivers, the San Jose Mercury News reports on a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup called Xora that has developed software for big rig haulers to keep digital logs of their load weights, maintenance records and hours spent behind the wheel. Why bother to replace the dead-wood versions? Apparently, some truckers keep two sets of books, one for the record and one for what they really are up to, the Merc reported: "Xora's technology also will note if a truck moved while the driver was supposed to be sleeping. Truckers who break the rules by carrying multiple logs would have a tougher time because Xora's electronic sign-on, sign-off system makes it tougher to cook the books... . The system also will alert drivers -- and their home offices -- when someone is nearing their maximum daily hours of driving."

Bringing Up Baby Via Cellphone

The New York Times reported today on " mobi-toons ," video programming displayed on cellphones that can be used to pacify wailing babies. The Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. are working on this project, as are "Teletubbie" creator Anne Wood , the BBC and the crew behind "Sesame Street." The technology was on display at the MIPTV international television conference in Cannes.

Send links and comments to robertDOTmacmillanATwashingtonpost.com .

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