Songspin.fm – Discover New Music One Spin at a Time

2 thoughts on “Songspin.fm – Discover New Music One Spin at a Time”

1. Using Safari and FireFox on Mac OS 10.6.8

   Visit https://songspin.fm Spend no more than 5-10 seconds on the home page. What do you think the site is about?

   Homepage looks a bit blank. While the left side text box gives a quick overview of what the site is about, the first few seconds are spent looking at a white page with a Pick a Channel text  line and a pulldown menu. Given this, the first five seconds really don’t allow the visiter to know what the site is about on their first visit. The title suggests that it is about music.

   Now go back to the site and comment on various elements of the site.

   As said, the homepage is overly blank and needs more. It is kind of a let-down. Of course, a curious person would examine the pulldown menu to see what there is.

   It looks like there is a good selection of music genre available to sample.

   What do you find bothersome? What do you like?

   Dislike: No pause or stop option on the music player (clicking the player pauses it, but some people are not that smart and need to see the word ‘Pause’ on the player).  Load-up times for some songs took too long.
   No ‘recently played’ list to allow me to review what I listened to. This would be nice, as I may want to listen to a few songs before buying, and may hear a song I like, but forget what song it was and not be able to go back to find it to listen to it. You have to log in using Facebook to keep the playlist. However, not everyone wants to use Facebook to log into everything or has Facebook–a direct email log-in option is needed.
   Several occasions the same song appeared two or three times in a row.  

   Like: I like the concept. The randomness of it allows connecting with new music.

   What do you think of the sign up process?

   Sign up was easy using Facebook. However, as said, another means of signing in is needed because not everyone wants to use Facebook to sign into things.

   Would you sign up for a free trial/free account? If not, why?

   Well, I did. Would I buy music off of it, no– I have iTunes. It does allow listening to new stuff I may not otherwise come across.

   How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like console.fm and hypem.com?

   Hypem.com has a nicer homepage–there is more substance, though it does look overwhelming with the blog. I think at the moment it offers a lot more, though demands more from the user in terms of navigating the site

   Console.fm was simplare in its simplicity, though it offered more genre of music and has a top play list. It doesn’t offer random play (by what I see) but allows you to select and listen.

   Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   As the site is aimed at discovering new music, adding more less-well known groups may be good. I came across too many well known bands to find much that was new or exciting (come on, everyone has heard of Lady Gaga! She ain’t new music!)

   A few features:
   A ‘More By This Band’ link. Sometimes listening to one song isn’t enough… I may want to listen to more music by a band I hear, but not being able to access that on your site would make me turn to iTunes to listen to and purchase there (or download illegally).
   The Recently Played list would be nice to have it visible in the big empty space under your ‘Pick Channel and Spin’–this way you can see your recently played while listening to new music.

2. Visit https://songspin.fm Spend no more than 5-10 seconds on the home page. What do you think the site is about?
   Nothing.

   The first initial glimpse of the site reveals largely a blank page. I actually spent the first few seconds expecting additional content to load — such as a Flash animation. Visual communication is an important factor in any website, especially first impressions. While there is a written description of the site and instructions in the box to the left, there is little motivation for most viewers to peruse.
   Now go back to the site and comment on various elements of the site.
   Minimalism is, when used properly, can be a valuable aesthetic. Indeed many sites are too cluttered. This site appears to have gone too far to the other extreme, however? Or perhaps it is in a lack of overall design or visual theme. It appears as if it is not yet complete, or perhaps improperly loaded.
   The logo in itself is tasteful, if rather generic.  The font is a generic sans-serif, and I would guess the designer has not spent any care in the font choice (I suspect it is defaulting to the sans-serif font provided by my browser). However, a nice color has been chosen against the white background. Generally it appears a first attempt at developing an HTML layout, with little real attention to page design or graphical impact.
   
   What do you find bothersome? What do you like?
   I tend to be one to poke and experiment with sites, so the lack of clear instruction as to what to do leads me to mouse hover around and click to see what happens. However, this is not something most viewers may do. Invited to choose a channel and “Spin,” I do try that out. I was disappointed to not find “world music” in the options, as that is my usual interest. Once a selection has been made a box containing a song appears, and the song begins. Most of the space of the site remains however empty. There is no ability to alter the volume, or mute. There are also no visible to stop/pause or start, rewind or fast-forward buttons.
   I noticed at least one incident where a song was playing, I tried to select a different channel and clicked on the Spin button, only to have it to be ‘loading’ indefinitely.
   The instructions to the left seemed to be poorly written. They are not all that explanatory, leaving me unclear as to how the site works. Such as, where are my favorites stored, such as I can return to them? How and where do I sign up? It says that my favorites will be shared with my friends, but how? What are ‘Karma points’ and where are they displayed?

   On a whole the site is poorly thought out, if at all.
   What do you think of the sign up process?
   There is a sign up process? Is it by logging on to Facebook? I clicked there, but I generally hesitate to proceed when asked to grant access to my Facebook profile and all my friends.

   Would you sign up for a free trial/free account? If not, why?
   For the reason above, assuming that is through a Facebook application, I will not take the chance to expose my friends to unwanted spam. There is nothing really to assume this will not occur.

   How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like console.fm and hypem.com?
   As new tho these sorts of sites, I found console.fm better in layout (at least there was a layout) and more intuitive. Hypem.com looks like a far more complete application of the other two… explanatory, well designed, a vast difference. 

   Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   This is a new genre of sites to me, admittedly. By the comparison of this site with console.fm, I wonder if these sites aren’t rather elliptical, as in they may be understandable to users already familiar with the concept. This site is certainly not explicable to those not familiar with these types of sites to begin with. I also find little real interest in returning to the site, let alone becoming a subscriber or signing up.
    
    

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