Lots of people are complaining that the new site "looks too much like myspace, its just like facebook, looks like bla bla bla" And then they are downloading apps to change the configuration, color, etc. JUST like you do with a myspace page. I think I will leave mine alone for the time being, JUST incase the site itself has any positive changes in the works that I might miss from using a stylish or greasemonky app while continuing to bitch!

I'm waiting to see what changes the staff puts into place after getting feedback from everyone. However, I'm sure it's hard sifting through pages of threads that are 99% spam to actually find some decent constructive criticism.

Anyway, I suppose the talking point anti-new layout people have about social networking sites would be valid IF last.fm wasn't actually a social networking site in itself. I have always been under the impression that it is a social networking site for people who like music. All the elements are there and have been there since this site first existed.

gwalla said:
I have always been under the impression that it is a site for getting music recommendations. That's not working so hot anymore.

i absolutely agree.

and the thing about the myspace/facebook complaints is both of those sites allow you to move/remove/scale things you like and don't like. lastfm updates and makes itself crap. i also get annoyed at the comments that those of us that don't feel the changes have been practical in terms of usability should just cope it or piss off...grrr...

i just hate the home page so much, why is the 'recently added to your library' on the frickin' home page? why is it so big? why can't i move it to the bottom of the page...you know where i have scroll to find my friends?

why do i now have to scroll down the page to see what my friends are listening to?

gwalla said:
I have always been under the impression that it is a site for getting music recommendations. That's not working so hot anymore.

Really? Have you tried our new music recs page?

gwalla pisze:
I have always been under the impression that it is a site for getting music recommendations. That's not working so hot anymore.
I should feel lucky cause for me it works better than ever

flaneur said:
gwalla said:
I have always been under the impression that it is a site for getting music recommendations. That's not working so hot anymore.

Really? Have you tried our new music recs page?

ah, no see the corporate algorithms are not what we the user find the most interesting...it's what our friends and neighbors have been tuning into...you know that thing that used to sit conveniently in the middle of the page...easy to read...FUN to look at.

then there were these neighbors that we didn't know...hey look wow they used to be a little to the right below the tastefully sized shoutbox.

you're giving primacy to what is either a long term corporate strategy, a bunch of designers said looked great or what you all think is why people use lastfm...well that's not why i and others i know use it.

I have never really used the artist recommendations much, often i find that i already do know many of the artists i just haven't listened to them in several years or haven't had enough plays to scrobble, I do think the library may solve this though as Last.fm will now know every artist played. I use to utilize the similar artists very often, I liked the pictureless text layout that used to be here. I find this new layout only slows me down in my musical pursuits. Not to mention i have been having trouble finding somethings all together as many of the searches are broken :\

The new artist rec page is pretty, It seems an improvement from the old one but I don't think I am alone in enjoying digging up artists myself.

Citizen1 said:
flaneur said:
gwalla said:
I have always been under the impression that it is a site for getting music recommendations. That's not working so hot anymore.

Really? Have you tried our new music recs page?
Yeah, that's awesome....

... basically It's just done a little extra work for you in that it's taken some of your artists put em on a page and then shown similar artists. All that data was available on the old site with "Similar Artists". This isn't any new or ground breaking feature.

What it does is not new and ground breaking, but for me what it outputs is better than it ever was.

I can see and agree that decreased access to viewing of neighbors, loss of weekly neighbors, and a less pretty your friends listening on the home page have decreased the "social" ways that we discover new music/recs. But the automated recs are now 10 times better than they were in my opinion. Doesn't mean we can't focus on the other problems, but it's a good thing.

Facebook and Myspace don't scrobble our plays, they don't automatically give me recommendations, they don't easily connect me to that insane crazy dude who listens to 1,000 tracks of Barenaked Ladies every week. I can't use them to tag music I listen to with categories like song summoner, karaoke radio or shower music or get a little naughty with the songs to fuck to

I can't write a review about the latest Kory & The Fireflies album and post it to like minded groups and my profile for people to read. Those two places don't let me make friends based on my taste in music. Without Last.fm I would never of met an "internet twin" who found me based on my music, who is as much against dog breed specific legislation as I am.

If they did, maybe I wouldn't need last.fm.

As the game song summoner suggests. There is power in music. Through music so many things are possible. What is music without friends and a little sociability? It's a person in a dark room shuttered up from the world. No fun at all. Last.fm is more than the glass we see it through. Sure the current glass needs a little work, but it's soul is still there, waiting for us to coax the staff into bringing it out again.

But hey, that's just my opinion. Love it or hate it, I'll still scrobble on. If you think last.fm isn't about music, in my humble opinion you are missing the forest for the trees. Look pass the glass and find the soul again. It's there waiting.

(did you hear 500 overall charts are back?)

Babs_05 said:
btw - what does 'glass' mean? I keep seeing people use the term.


may be a poor analogy. I'm suggesting that the layout design is like a piece of glass overlaying the content of the site that we want to interact with. If you look past it, you can find that what we love is still there, so let's try to buck up and see what we can get out of the staff to bring more of the soul back up through the glass.

Hmm. yeah. Might just be a poor analogy. Also, lets not miss the forest for the trees? Maybe not much better. Activity feed -> tree About me -> tree, Shout box -> Tree paint roller bar -> The Music charts = forest

Maybe, maybe not...

Studogvetmed, it's like totally how I look at it. Maybe my examples would be different as everyone has different environment but still the main idea is the same :)

mrtofu said:ah, no see the corporate algorithms are not what we the user find the most interesting...it's what our friends and neighbors have been tuning into...you know that thing that used to sit conveniently in the middle of the page...easy to read...FUN to look at.
The Recommended Artists page reminds me of the 'Recommended for You' feature in Amazon. It's fine and certainly an improvement on the old one, but as you say, it's so much more dynamic and interesting to explore other people's musical tastes. As opposed to being presented with the results of a cold corporate algorithm.

Apps=/=CSS script