Launching new iPhone apps is a bit like making babies, but with a less predicable gestation period. There's a lot of anxious waiting for the big day. So we're proud to announce that you can now download Moodagent by Syntonetic -- free for a limited time!

As a beta tester for Moodagent, I've had the opportunity to discover first-hand what distinguishes the various music playlisting options available. As you can imagine, playlist quality is quite subjective. And no one wants to listen to music the same way in every situation. Therefore, the good news today is that you can automatically build playlists for an ever-increasing array of music in more ways than ever.

Automatic Playlisting Distinctions

To explain the fundamental distinctions between automatic playlist generators, I'll compare four products:

• Pandora Radio from Pandora Media
• iTunes Genius from Apple
• MusicIP Mixer from Amplified Music Services
• Moodagent from Syntonetic Media

On the face of it, all four products have similar goals -- to pick music tracks that sound good together in a playlist. But each one works in different ways and employs different technologies under the covers -- producing different results.

In this post I'll briefly provide some context for comparing these products and summarize their features and technology differences. Following a head-to-head comparison, you'll find further discussion and links to some important issues.