Review: The Filter music software

A couple of years ago the idea of computers telling us what music to listen to would have been laughable, but now such prediction systems are extremely common. Adding to the likes of Last.FM and Pandora, The Filter is the newest DJ on the block.

It's a small plug-in for iTunes that will automatically generate a playlist to suit your mood, providing you first choose one or more songs to get it going.

It's an idea that works well and, unlike the aforementioned programs, it only works with music in your iTunes library, so you can listen music straight away. It can also fill an iPod with its own predicted playlist.

We found its recommendations good, although it needs a fair few songs to be able to work its magic – we reckon a library of at least 1,000 songs (100 or so albums) is required in order for its proposals to be spot on.

Another interesting aspect is that it can choose songs for you to pay for and download from the iTunes Music Store. Pick one or more songs as before, and it will come up with a list of 10 that you might like. Being iTunes, you get a handy 30-second preview of each song before buying.

There is, we're told, a version of The Filter coming shortly for Winamp, although it should be noted that new versions of Winamp already do this, using a system called Predixis Music Magic, with a similar degree of accuracy.

Installation and registration was painless, although the program seemed a little slow and froze completely at one point. That said, it's completely free and worth giving it a try if you find your music collection too overwhelming to make a listening choice

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