In the mood for some music? A clever mobile app known as Moodagent arranges music playlists on your Nokia touchscreen device to suit the mood you are in – or the mood you would like to be in.

Moodagent first synchronizes itself with the music player on your Nokia device. So whichever songs you have loaded onto your phone, Moodagent will include in its playlists.

Once that is done, you indicate your mood — either actual or desired — by adjusting Moodagent’s five slider controls. This Qt-based application, formerly known as Playlist DJ, then analyzes your songs and creates playlists that fit the mood you’ve specified.

The sliders allow you to set five basic moods: sensual, tender, happy, angry, or tempo (not exactly a mood, but …). You can either select just one slider, such as here, where I am feeling very sensual …

… or you can combine all five sliders to create a subtly gradated mood profile:

More or less instantly, Moodagent creates a playlist from songs stored in your device, based on your mood. You then play the songs in the list, either in the order Moodagent has specified, or in any order you would prefer.

How does it work? According to the app’s publisher, Syntonetic, Moodagent draws on a database of 25 million songs from some 500 million users in 200 countries. Moodagent creates a profile for each of those songs by taking a digital sample and running it through 34 artificial intelligence filters, the publisher says. The resulting profile examines factors that include genre, tempo, vocals and production features. Somehow, all this gets combined into a prediction about how a particular song is perceived emotionally.

In my test, Moodagent worked quickly, and the playlists often fit the specified mood. That said, there were some head-scratchers. For example, when I set the mood for happy, Moodagent topped my list with “London Calling” by the Clash. Now, that song is a lot of things, but happy isn’t one of them! Similarly, when I told Moodagent I was feeling tender, it suggested “You Must Be Out of Your Mind,” by the Magnetic Fields — perhaps one of the least tender songs ever recorded.

But even here, Moodagent has a solution. If you don’t like a suggested list, simply pick ‘Refresh playlist’ from the options menu, and Moodagent will try again, creating a new list. You can repeat this option until Moodagent produces a list you like.  (In the next screenshot, ‘Refresh playlist’ is the fifth option.)

That is the app’s basic operation. But Moodagent also offers a multitude of options. For starters, you can create custom playlists, based on either a mood you identify or the emotional profile of any song in your collection. The latter creates a kind of ‘give me songs like X’ list, with X being a song of your choice. To do this, tap the Search icon, then ‘All songs’, and then an individual song track from the list.

Also, if there are songs you don’t want included, Moodagent understands. Simply touch and hold your finger on any track, then select ‘Exclude a performer or song’, and Moodagent will not include them in any lists. You can also ‘lock’ a song so that its position in a list (first, second, third, etc.) is always the same. You can delete tracks, too. In the screenshot below, you can see the option icons arranged horizontally just below the slider controls:

Change your mind about an optional setting? The Options menu lets you unlock locked tracks. And the Search menu lets you restore excluded artists and songs.

Another option lets you select a playlist length – that is, the number of songs in a list. Moodagent’s default setting is 25 songs per playlist. But if you want, you can shorten the list to just 10 songs. Alternatively, you can double it to 50 songs. To do so, select Options > Set playlist length.

Moodagent also lets you share your playlists and songs on popular social networking sites. The Share icon on the upper right corner lets you easily post to both Twitter and Facebook.

How about privacy? Well, Moodagent does combine your playlists and other preferences into its database, as a way to update and continually improve its performance. But the app’s publisher does not collect any personal information about you. In other words, Moodagent respects your privacy.

Connection costs are kept to a minimum, too. You will need an open Internet connection in only two situations: First, when you sync your songs at startup, and second, whenever you add a new song. Otherwise, Moodagent does not need an Internet connection to operate.

Finally, there are three kinds of songs that Moodagent cannot add to playlists: Those less than 30 seconds long; songs Moodagent doesn’t know; and songs that are protected by DRM (digital rights management). However, if you’re feeling ambitious, Syntonetic offers Moodagent Profiler software that you can download to your PC or Mac; you can then use the software to ‘teach’ Moodagent a new song or check for a recently updated non-DRM version of a track.

Moodagent Premium is available on Ovi Store, and it costs $0.99 (USD). Moodagent also offers a free trial version. The app runs on Nokia touchscreen devices.

More information is available on the Moodagent website.