A friend sent me this story about a new iPhone app that lets you geotag your own musical journeys–and discover neighbors with similar tastes in music.

Think of it as Pandora with propinquity: Just like the popular internet radio station, Soundtrackr creates playlists based on users’ favorite songs and artists. But then it goes one step further, allowing the user to tag favorite stations by where they listen. Then, by searching for similar locations and playlists, they can find out what others in their vicinity are tuning in to.

The potential appplications for this tool are many, as a Wired article notes. For example, music marketers could use it to track trends and plan events in specific areas. In the future, it might even offer rich opportunities for augmented reality–imagine being able to literally “see” songs all around you, like walking down the street in the midst of your own music video.

For now, it enables those of us content with audio enhancement of our world to see who else is listening to the Rocky theme as they run up the Capitol steps, what on Earth that person across from us on the bus is rocking-out to, and who in our apartment building shares an affinity for Peter Frampton. Which may be a valuable service in an era when people no longer blast the bass from their boomboxes as readily as they once did, and are more likely to have private dance parties with their iPod earbuds (interestingly, the app developer lives in the apartment building of the friend who sent the link–not sure if she learned about it through face-to-face communication, or the tubes of the internet). It’s certainly easier than knocking on a neighbor’s door to introduce yourself. Or at least when you do knock on their door, you can discuss your mutual love for 80s hair bands over fruit cake. 

Sarah Jane for My Wonderful World

Image courtesy Wired.com.