thesixtyone

November 30, 2007 12:55 AM

thesixtyone. "If Guitar Hero is about shredding, thesixtyone is about scouting. Musicians upload music and listeners decide which songs go on the homepage." Social networking crossed with musical trend spotting.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth (19 comments total)

This is so Web 2.0 Service Pack 3.
posted by mullingitover at 1:08 AM on November 30, 2007

I like pablum, but I didn't like this.
posted by Citizen Premier at 1:30 AM on November 30, 2007

Your description makes this sound like a pretty good idea, but that is only because you neglected to mention that this site is entirely flash-based: Gah! FAIL! This is more Web 2000 than 2.0. Software monoculture, screw interoperability, accessibility, etc...
posted by finite at 1:32 AM on November 30, 2007

Actually, upon reload, I see that most of the page could work just fine, until some javascript realizes flash isn't loading and blanks the page and says I need to "upgrade". But it isn't really entirely flash-based like I said before; it looks like they're just using it to play mp3s in the browser and for some reason not letting anyone in without it. Which is almost even more lame, though it is easier to remedy.
posted by finite at 1:44 AM on November 30, 2007

Click "bump" to move a song up.

It'll cost you points, but if songs you bump get bumped by others, you can earn more points! Collecting points increases your level and reflects your skill in picking top songs in your favorite genre!

So you earn "points" be boosting the popularity of something that is... already popular. If you try to call attention to something that might be different or interesting, you lose and then you are pointless, right?
posted by louche mustachio at 2:09 AM on November 30, 2007

Huh...I fail to see what this has to do with Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero is a (very fun) video game where you get to pretend to play guitar. This site, however, involves actual artists trying to get noticed. No video games involved...right?
posted by timelord at 2:29 AM on November 30, 2007

If you bump up an entire series of artists correctly, then the artists can activate Star Power to double their bumps and climb the rankings -- but will also cause them all to be screwed over by the record companies in the end.
posted by DaShiv at 2:58 AM on November 30, 2007

Click "bump" to move a song up. It'll cost you points, but if songs you bump get bumped by others, you can earn more points!

Sounds like a Ponzi scheme.
posted by Poolio at 3:22 AM on November 30, 2007

louche: there is a benefit to bumping early though:

Do I earn more points for bumping songs earlier? You stand to earn substantially more points bumping a song before it reaches 20 bumps. However, this carries a high upfront cost, so bump wisely.
posted by patricio at 6:00 AM on November 30, 2007

Something very cool about it is that if you start playing a song and then go to the next page, the song continues playing uninterrupted. This is something that Metafilter Music could use that people would find very useful, as most people complains of playback problems there. I'll see if it can be used.
posted by micayetoca at 6:16 AM on November 30, 2007

Something very cool about it is that if you start playing a song and then go to the next page, the song continues playing uninterrupted. This is something that Metafilter Music could use that people would find very useful, as most people complains of playback problems there. I'll see if it can be used.
posted by micayetoca at 6:16 AM on November 30, 2007

Here's the problem with sites like this - people enjoy listening to music, not "bumping" it.
posted by davebush at 7:09 AM on November 30, 2007

it looks like they're just using it to play mp3s in the browser and for some reason not letting anyone in without it.

And why exactly would you want to get in if you're not going to be able to listen to the music?

Hi, this is multimedia! You're gonna need some plug-ins!
posted by chrismear at 7:27 AM on November 30, 2007

davebush writes "Here's the problem with sites like this - people enjoy listening to music, not 'bumping' it."

People love to vote for their favorite band/singer/musician, however, and people love top x lists so as to compare.
posted by krinklyfig at 7:41 AM on November 30, 2007

Anytime I see the little Fallout guy my day is made brighter.
posted by the dief at 7:45 AM on November 30, 2007

And why exactly would you want to get in if you're not going to be able to listen to the music? Hi, this is multimedia! You're gonna need some plug-ins!

Playing mp3s does not require the use of that one specific bug-ridden single-vendor plugin. I listen to metafilter music in my browser without flash all the time: all that a site needs to do is have direct links to the mp3s next to their embedded flash and everyone is happy. Some of my computers cannot run flash because Adobe doesn't support them, and even on my computers that can run flash I leave it disabled until I really need it. Pages load faster, I hear much less auto-playing sound on the web, and I see fewer ads. And, mplayer can play youtube and many other flash-based video sites without needing flash, so Adobe's plugin does stay disabled 99% of the time.

Something very cool about it is that if you start playing a song and then go to the next page, the song continues playing uninterrupted. This is something that Metafilter Music could use that people would find very useful, as most people complains of playback problems there.

Thats funny. When I play metafilter music I generally open the "download mp3" link in a new tab and then keep on browsing. Since I don't use flash, I haven't encountered this usability problem you're describing.
posted by finite at 1:07 PM on November 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

People enjoy listening to music, yes, but people also enjoy being recognized as "authorities" on music. Which is part of their sell. I could see this working.
posted by diastematic at 1:51 PM on November 30, 2007

Good points all, finite. Sorry for being a dick.
posted by chrismear at 6:52 AM on December 1, 2007

Much to my surprise, the site actually remedied the problem that I was complaining about! Now, when I go there without flash, it seems to work fine and there is a message across the top of the page (but not covering the page!) that says "Flash 8 is required to play music. Upgrade to the latest version of Flash here." And, there are mp3 download links! I wonder if they saw this thread, or if their fixing this now was just a coincidence. In case it's the former, let me just add that I still take issue with the use of the word "upgrade" and the phrase "required to play"; seeing as how installing or enabling flash is not really an upgrade per se, and it is easy to play the songs without flash, a better message would be "You need to install Adobe Flash Player version 8 or higher if you want to use our music player. Without flash, you can still get the music: just use the download link next to each song." Regardless of quibbling over the language of that message (which, admittedly only a minority of your users are likely to ever see), the site does now appear to be usable by most people with web browsers instead of just people with flash players, so thanks!
posted by finite at 2:06 PM on December 1, 2007