Hey everybody, happy Christmas, and thanks for downloading the Freakonomics Radio Podcast.

Our last episode was about weird recycling, that is reusing stuff that most people didn't

think was reusable.

Well today we're taking our own advice.

This episode is an encore of a show we did a while back, which we thought was worth updating.

Hope you agree.

Good God.

You want anything but this song.

Alright, here we go.

Hey give it, give it, give it, all it's all blue.

Oh you've been there.

It's impossible to find a decent song on the radio, and when you do, and it ends, the

next song stinks.

Wouldn't it be nice if the radio only played the songs you want to hear?

I mean the rest of the world has figured it out.

Amazon does it, Netflix does it, your airline does it, even your credit card company.

Just go buy some baby diapers and see how long it takes before someone mails you a

prospectus for a college savings plan. If your personal data is like a fingerprint, then

you have left big greasy smudges all over the universe.

The key is an algorithm, a formula to harness that data and customize the world for you,

to give you the things you need to make you smarter, richer, happier, to give you only

the songs you want to sing.

...