Open the iPod Bay Doors, HAL!

Kelli Richards’s straightforward suggestion for ending the fighting between Apple and Apple Corps got me thinking about software enhancements for the iPod ecosystem. Specifically, I envisioned a tool that would create iPod Packs—enhanced enhanced podcasts—without all the overhead of GarageBand.

I’m imagining something like MixMeister, a Windows program that detects the tempo of each song in a playlist and then creates a smooth, crossfaded mix. The twist would be that the PodPack program would run inside iTunes and operate on the 30-second previews from the iTunes Music Store.

MixMeister is an app I’d love to see on the Mac. The top-left pane is the playlist, with autodetected tempo for each song. The top-right pane shows the transitions between songs, and the waveform view at bottom lets you adjust the transitions for smooth beatmatching.

The more I think about this, the more ideas I get. For example, people who downloaded the resulting micro-mashups could click a button during playback to mark the song for future investigation or purchase. Another enhancement would be to let the tastemaker embed videos or visualizer presets with the files, creating a complete package.

So often, working with limited resources leads to creative breakthroughs. I think these micro-mashups, PodPacks, or whatever they’re eventually called could be a fascinating way to explore music.