Embed an iPod on Your Site

Mark Isham has composed some terrific music over the years. (His soundtrack for The Beast, featuring David Torn on textural guitar, is one of my favorites.) This year, Isham launched a new website featuring sonic treasures from his vault. He calls it Forward Musik Radio.

FMR presents the tracks in a nifty Web player that looks like an iPod. (See screenshot at right; the highlighted song is from the Beast soundtrack.) Clicking around the interface, I discovered how to make my own at MixPod.com.

Surprisingly, the site lets you load your embedded iPod with MP3s floating around the Web, not just your own. It even provides a search function for that, so I loaded up this player with a few Isham files I found, starting with an interview he did with gear manufacturer M-Audio. Click the center of the circle to start playback.

You can add tracks to my playlist or create your own. There are ten or so basic player styles, with dozens of color and texture variations. I wish the meters reflected the music instead of bouncing randomly, but otherwise, the system seems pretty slick.