TODAY’S PATENT – SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR SELECTING MUSIC ON THE BASIS OF SUBJECTIVE CONTENT

This invention “System and methods for selecting music on the basis of subjective content” was invented by Jonathan C. Cluts assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing LLCand was granted a patent on 01^st April 1997 by USPTO bearing patent grant number US5616876A to the patentee.

An interactive network provides music to subscribers. A “more like” function allows a subscriber to use a seed song to identify other songs that are similar to the seed song and to add the new songs to the current playlist. The similarity between songs is based on the subjective content of the songs, as reflected in style tables prepared by editors. The subscriber may control the closeness of the match by adjusting a style slider provided by the user interface. A style equalizer employs eight faders that indicate the predominant styles of the songs in the playlist. A subscriber may use the style equalizer to see what types of songs are included in the playlist and to adjust the mix of songs that are played from the playlist.