Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
WATCH: Shredding On The Google Guitar!
Music site TheSixtyOne overhauls design, now even cooler!
We've covered TheSixtyOne before, and the site has long been one of my favorite ways to discover new music online. It's chock-full of musical goodness -- including lots of Creative-Commons licensed music that can be freely downloaded. It turns music discovery into a social game and lets you "heart" songs (you only get so many hearts to give out each day, depending on your level). If others then "heart" those same songs, it means you've helped them discover good music, and you get more "reputation" points (which in turn allow you to level up and "heart" even more songs, and so on).
The songs most liked float to the top, so it's a neat little ecosystem letting unknown artists become well-known on their own merit. This is where I first discovered the fantastic Ingrid Michaelson, for example.
This morning they published something in their posterous about a "re-design," touting it as a "jump to HyperSpace." Yeah, right, I thought to myself.
Expecting at least some hyperbole, I went to check it out for myself. I have to say -- no hyperbole here! Well, I didn't actually go to HyperSpace, but this is one slick redesign, folks. To compare and contrast, you can still check out the old interface.
The new SixtyOne interface is super-streamlined. Just look at that screenshot!
That's all you see. No banner ads, no clutter, nothing but the essentials.
As before, music continues completely uninterrupted, no matter where you are in the site -- there's no skipping when you search or navigate between pages. The layout is ideal for a floating player-sized browser window on your desktop -- it doesn't have to be maximized to work.
All in all, TheSixtyOne crew just took something good and made it much, much better.
[EDIT: Wow, people really seem to dislike the new design! While I personally love the new design, TheSixtyOne's Facebook page is indeed chock full of fans raging about how awful it is. Time will tell what the developers will do with all that feedback (if anything).]
Comments
37
Subscribe to commentsgafhptvaJan 21st 2010 1:54PM
hope the kool-aid tastes good. this is far from better & much farther from usuable. EPIC FAIL
woodyb3Jan 21st 2010 2:18PM
New site is not very popular:
http://www.facebook.com/thesixtyone?v=wall
scottJan 21st 2010 2:35PM
did you actually use this site before? They killed the usability for a giant picture, which isn't very valuable for a music site.
Erez ZukermanJan 21st 2010 4:38PM
You can see my level in the screenshot. That's my actual username there. I've been using it for years, consistently.
JoshJan 21st 2010 3:17PM
The new site is horrible. I can't even find a way to browse music, only clicking on a random category such as "Top" and getting random songs that I have no interest in at all. The only section that seems to be based on your tastes is the "Just for you" section, but again, you don't get to choose what you listen to.
What happened to thesixtyone? When it first launched, it was a better music finder than Last.fm or Pandora. Now... it's a slideshow with some music.
algoredrinkszimaJan 21st 2010 4:20PM
You think a giant album cover without any "information" is "essential" to a music site based on musical discovery and community collaboration? Did you mean to post this in your indie movie blog? New site = GIANT thumbs down.
Erez ZukermanJan 21st 2010 4:39PM
Did you use it? There's complete artist info available when you hover over it. It's just not constantly in your face, which is exactly what I like about the new design. When I want music, I want music -- not text.
algoredrinkszimaFeb 10th 2010 4:26PM
As a matter of fact I did. I used the old site extensively, and I dug into the new site for longer than you did, and came to my own opinion. Did you realize that, being in a web browser, you are free to hide the window in any number of ways keeping all that information "out of your face"? The new site replaces ease of use with a giant piece of splash art, and your arguments in its favor make no sense.
AJan 21st 2010 4:34PM
Why so upset about this redesign? I think it is near to perfect! Absolutely fantastic way to browse and find new music. It is something different and takes some time to get used to, but this is first time in very long time that I really wanted to explore a new site.
Fantastic work!
Erez ZukermanJan 21st 2010 4:37PM
Well, I don't know. I've spent the whole day using the site, and I have say, I do love it. It's slick and elegant. I'm not surprised at all the haters -- what else is new? I mean, Facebook can change one tiny thing and everyone is up in arms. So of course, when these guys go ahead and change the _whole_ site, you're going to get many people vocal people saying it's all bad.
Time will tell. They're listening to feedback. I, for one, am hoping they keep it slick and minimalistic.
labdiscoJan 22nd 2010 12:51PM
I can't agree... If i wanted a screen full of picture, i'd have clicked the veg button more than once to find out what it was for. Unless they re-incorporate the easy navigation and community, more for you, I guess.
I also came across this on one of the many new "bring back the old t61", and verified.
http://old.thesixtyone.com/#/ezuk/
Lvl 13, 8 quests done until now and only 1 RB, and I haven't found any comment from him on songs he had hearted...
I understand his love for the new crap.
the author of that excerpt is wrong on one point though. You're level 14, not 13.
Erez ZukermanJan 21st 2010 5:37PM
So wait, are you saying I'm using the site wrong?
For a very long time now (about a couple of years) I have been regularly logging in, listening to music, and hearting what I like. I think I'm allowed to do that. :) Does that make my opinion on the redesign less legitimate in some way?
koozmanJan 22nd 2010 2:24PM
Erez, I'm also level 14 and didn't make too many comments like you. But, what he's saying is that you didn't participate fully in the community. The people who are up in arms are the folks who built relationships with other listeners and artists. I never did this either, and I'm partly regretting it. But, if I did have some connections, I'd feel lost as if someone had been abruptly cut off from society.
I like the design, too, but there's no easy way to select genre and good luck finding Creative Commons music.
SlimJan 27th 2010 5:53PM
EPIC FAIL! New site sucks!
SteveJan 21st 2010 6:25PM
The new design has basically destroyed a lot of what thesixtyone.com was great at - community. They've dumbed it down and made it a WIN for style over substance. I've been part of the site for a few years now and there's been minor tweaks - some bad, most of them good. This is a major tweak which has upset a lot of the old userbase like myself.
I can understand the fresh wave of newcomers citing the praises of the site, but not realising it was so much better. Artist interaction was flawless and it helped the community grow. Now? I'm not sure at all.
I think this is going to be a victory of sorts for them - they get more of a userbase, but they've decided to sweep the carpet clean of the very people which helped the site become what it is today.
A sad day.
SatchJan 21st 2010 6:33PM
What's gone is the means for users to interact with artists - like to ask an artist where you might buy their CD or to invite them to play a concert somewhere - and there is no longer any way for artists to interact directly with the people who enjoy their music. A lot of users feel that the community aspect of the site has been destroyed... maybe so... I don't know yet.
MusicMissionaryJan 21st 2010 7:06PM
Joined this site just so I could talk about this. The reason people are freaking out is because they had made a bunch of friends on the site, many of them artists, and those friends have all been torn away from them.
bcerdmannJan 21st 2010 10:12PM
Everything that was amazing about T61 was lost in the redesign. It is particularly disheartening for the people who've been dedicated to the site since its early days and those who have just begun to fall in love - like myself.
Below is what T61 used to be like. What a shame it's become just another music website held captive in a stuffy board room by some contrived marketing budget.
"thesixtyone makes music culture more democratic: artists upload their work for review, but, rather than allow a stuffy suit in a boardroom to decide what's good, thousands of listeners do. The best music automagically bubbles up on our homepage where you can listen to the most popular songs for any genre. It's a quick way to find new music for your iPod powered by pure excitement as opposed to some contrived marketing budget."
QuixoticNeuroticJan 22nd 2010 12:01AM
I think the reason you're so fond of this is that you don't seem to have been too terribly involved in the community aspect of the place. You say you've been on for years, yet you're only level 14 (not trying to be elitist here, it just shows you probably haven't been super active on the site, I got to level 15 in just a few months). The new design removes most of the community features, I was excited when they said they were working on private messaging, but I wouldn't have been if I had known that user walls were going to disappear. The group discussion pages have become hard to find and hard to read, just generally hard to use.
If you only want music then I can understand liking the redesign, but if you were involved in the community, you're going to be pissed. They're killing it.
As a daily user of this place since I joined (I have only missed maybe 5 days of use since joining, simply because I didn't have internet access), I do not want to subject myself to the new design on even a limited basis (I did spend about 30 minutes trying to familiarize myself with it, it's not very fun). This is the first time I'm seriously contemplating leaving. I'll miss the friends I had there, but I can use sound cloud or something instead, still get good music and good community.
geniuswaitressJan 22nd 2010 8:57AM
I just discovered the site about a month ago, but became hooked fast. I'm so bummed that I can't just listen to the music I like anymore.
I hate that music I haven't chosen just starts playing automatically. I hate not being able to cruise through different genres.
I hate that I can't listen to my own radio.
I hate that in order to not lose my precious saved songs, I have to log in to the old version and add a retarded tag to every single one.
Does anyone know another site similar to what thesixtyone USED to be?