I much prefer the idea of having discussion boards such as this one.
The problem with having "friends" with playlists and listening to the playlists of other people whose tastes seem similar to your own is that you can end up in a bubble. You mostly discover discover music that is similar to stuff that you already know you like.
Some people are quite happy to experience music like this, but I find it unsatisfying. I love early Genesis, but I feel no need to get recommendations of other music that sounds like early Genesis. I probably know it already, and in any case what's the point, I want to be surprised, even shocked, at hearing that piece of music that I did not know I needed to hear.
I have discovered several artists in the last few years whose music I have totally fallen in love with, who I would never have discovered via "recommended for you" playlists or the like, because the music does not resemble the kind of music I would have been listening to before that. I heard them via free-to-air radio, a medium that has got a lot of flak lately, but if you find a good community radio station, with playlists compiled by actual people, who will talk on air about what they are playing, you learn a great deal. I do not have to like everything they play; I consider one song in three a good average. I get to hear a lot of crap, but I consider it worth it for that occasional track that makes me go "Wow!".
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