We need more music and less noise.

The current evolution of the World Wide Web, popularly known as Web 2.0, is all about collaboration. There are new ways of using the new technology that weren't possible before the development of new programs such as Ajax and Active-X.

The days when authoring internet content was limited to those who knew how to write HTML code are behind us. The first stage was the development of forms: scripts that allowed a web page to actually collect responses to surveys and guestbooks and the like. The next major breakthrough was the invention of the weblog, which obviated the need to be an HTML expert in order to express yourself. And then, we had the collaborative weblog, where groups can post entries, not just comments in response to one person's blog.

Email groups have a long history. But then email is still the next biggest use of the web, right up there after spam. And there came the Open Source movement, through which amazingly useful and complex programs are written by people who do it for the love of it, and for the challenge of fixing problems in each other's code. This resulted, for example, in OpenOffice, a free Microsoft-compatible office suite, and several others of the type.

Under Web 2.0, though, office programs are migrating to the web. Microsoft may be planning to lease its next release, but the competition is free, and so is the storage space.

We hardly need to mention Google, do we? But you can look at Google Labs for insights into what is coming under Web 2.0. And let's not forget internet telephony and free calls to any internet-connected person in the world, and online video webcams.

Web 2.0 is most notable for social networking, with all its joys and perils. The internet dating services that charge for their meet market activities are not in danger yet, but through services like YouTube and the many photo sites, it is a simple matter to identify things to do, places to go and people to see. Meetups are common: people get to know each other before they attend one. The blind date is eliminated by the webcam.

Not too many years back was Napster where music was a steal. Then came MP3.com, a place where you could find any kind of music you love, for free, but also a place that got sued out of existence because of a copyright slipup. It's back, but there's not much there for The Old Guy's taste.

MySpace started out as a place for independent bands to store and serve their music, although now it has become something of a voyeur's paradise, but still, it attracts musicians and filmmakers and audiences of many kinds. Many artists get recording contracts as a result of this exposure.

Soundclick and Live365 and Last.FM and Freeplay and Shoutcast are just a few of the new sites that provide music. Pandora is unique in the way they try to discern what kind of music you like from the kind you play, thereby introducing you to new stuff that won't jar you, but that you might like to investigate (and potentially, of course, buy).

Gnod is a site that doesn't actually play what you suggest, but uses an interactive graphic approach to mapping the universe of music that begins when you enter one title you like. It plays music for your when you become part of its social network, by signing up.

Thus the web has become a place where you can expand your particular universe to include things that expand your universe.

We need more music. We need more harmony. And who but we ourselves can be the musicians? With Web 2.0 we are also the producers, distributors and customers. But that's not a new thing. It's just a different way of being present.

Yehudi Menuhin said that the purpose of music is essentially to entune us to the vibrations of the universe. Deep in us there must be an Essential Tuning Fork: the perfect pitch that keeps us centered and able to recognize that harmony in others. We speak of "overtones" as a negative, as in "there were overtones of mistrust in his remarks", but it is the overtones that create the unique timbre of a sound. You can distinguish a harp from a flute by their overtones, subtle vibrations that are created even as the universe is moved by our own moving.