Latest Google lab program tracks music choices

Google Music Trends offers alternative top-20 chart

17 August 2006 16:02 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Google has posted a new program on Google Labs that tracks your music tastes and then posts aggregated results online.

Google Talk users can now check off the option for Google Music Trends in their settings to allow the search engine to monitor what tracks you’re listening to on iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, and Yahoo Music Engine.

Every night Google then updates the list of top 20 songs from a range of genres of the past 7 days on Google Music Talk.

Those worried about Google collecting personal data from them should know that opting for Google Music Trends also enables Google Personalized Search, which keeps track of your music choices; however Google does offer information to opt out of Personalized Search.

What benefit Google Music Talk has to the average Joe is not clear. It simply seems like an alternative to the mainstream US top-40 chart listings, but one that reflects the personal taste of a specific demographic, namely, Google Talk members.

On Google’s music charts, a click on the song name or artist will take you to a Google Music search page, which then leads to online retailers.

To learn more about the program, click Google Music Trends.