Today’s interesting find is iLike.com, a music social networking website devoted to helping you find new music. I realize that if you read Mike Went West at all, you remember my VolumeSessions post about last.fm, a site that is devoted to finding new music, but iLike.com has several distinct advantages over last.fm, despite the fact that iLike.com is still in its infancy: it went public on October 25, 2006.
iLike.com provides a sidebar attached to you iTunes window, which currently provides recommendations based on what you’re listening to (both song clips and full songs of free mp3s), tells you what your friends are listening to, and lets you access your iLike.com profile. The iLike iTunes sidebar hides either into a compact tab accessible at any time, or it can hide completely and run in the background. This is exactly the type of application transparency that is missing in the official last.fm player – the sidebar is non-obtrusive, well designed, and hide-able.
The site is also extremely well designed (and in Web 2.0 fashion), and allows you to connect to users based on your iTunes library, playcounts, and overall musical preferences. Since the site is just starting, its features are being implemented almost daily, and though the site is quite functional and interesting currently, there’s a whole lot of features on the way. My plan currently is to continue using iScrobbler for Last.fm and the iLike sidebar in the backgroun until iLike grows in both userbase and features, and then switch over.
Very cool interface, very cool site. Check it out, create an account, and be sure to add EGordin as a friend :).