Are music critics and tempestuous record store clerks going to be out of the jobs? No, the unemployment office won't see a flood of messenger bags and saggy clothing just yet, but there will soon be more competition for their services. MusicStrands, a music recommendation firm, just received a $1.25 million investment in its first round of investment financing.

MusicStrands's technology recommends music based on listening behavior of individuals and social networks. "People listen to music by grouping and playing songs in ways that make sense to them," explains the company at its website, "without necessarily being able to explain the rationale behind the grouping." They break it down into playlists that are cognitive (selected ahead of time) and spontaneous (chosen in real time).

If this technology is good it will have a crate digger's mentality. By that I mean it will suggest songs not based on popularity (small music collections lead to songs being grouped more out of necessity than with larger collections). That's the human element. Somebody has to be able to resurrent forgotten or lost tracks, and somebody will need to push out a new song nobody has heard yet.