Over the last weekened, I turned on the access to the newly developed station and playlist system on ArtistServer.com, and placed it in 'beta.' It should be working fine, but I felt with such an important addition to the site, that it would best to present it as a beta release to ease the impact of any potential problems. I think that's why services are being offered as beta so often these days. Sites want the newly developed systems out there so we can learn how to improve them, but we also don't want to bruise our image and credibility, so we slap on the 'beta' tag.
Unlike Google, I do not plan to leave the new tools in beta for months on end, and should have the final touches completed in the next 2 weeks. Although, I can already see that I'm going to redo the playlist builder so it handles the process without having to refesh the whole page upon each action. This will
allow for faster playlist building and a more friendly experience.
In order to explain what these new tools can do and offer, I'll list some questions people may have and answer them:
So, how do these new tools work, and what can you create with them?
Let's start with some basic definitions to help illustrate how the main pieces fit together, which are: stations, playlists and AudioFeeds.
All Artists and Members can create a Station. If the person has an upgraded account, they can create multiple stations.
A Station is a collection of playlists which are organized on a station page on the site. Station owners give their stations a name, URL, and can add their own content to further define their station.
A playlist is a collection of songs which are organized in list for streaming. Playlists allow station owners to add their own notes or comments about each song, and can associate their playlist with up to two genres. All playlists with songs that are 'AudioFeed' compatible (which are songs by artists who have upgraded their account) will also generate an RSS AudioFeed.
An RSS AudioFeed is basically the same thing as a Podcast. We use the term "AudioFeed" because it actually describes what it is, whereas the term 'podcast' means different things to different people (sites) - it's a mess. An AudioFeed is an RSS feed with audio enclosures which you can subscribe to. You may download the enclosures to whatever you like using an RSS reader that supports enclosures (iPodder, Juice,
NetNewsWire, FeedDemon, Nimiq, etc.).
With the term Podcast, you instantly introduce questions and confusion...
- "Do I need an iPod?"
- "Is it a podcast if I'm streaming it online?"
- "What is the podcast? Is it the file? Is it the transfer mechanism?" "Is it the destinaton of the file?"
As you can see, the Podcast world is confusing. I'm not saying that the term AudioFeed has more meaning in the market, because it doesn't. What I am saying that the term Podcast is a huge misnomer. Although, due to people being aware of the term, we will still use it on the site, but in general, they aren't Podcasts - they're AudioFeeds. Anyways :) -
let's get back into the stations and playlists.
Who can listen to the playlists?
Anyone who is an artist or member of the site, and is signed in can stream the playlists. While I understand it would be great to have the playlists available to anyone who visits the site, it's not something I can afford to do at this point. Serving several 1,000 unique mp3 files to unique visitors requires a lot of bandwidth and power - which translates to money. I hope at a later date, that ArtistServer will have grown to the point that it can handle such volume, and have the costs covered.
How is a playlist built?
You can build a playlist by either browsing or searching for the songs you wish to add. In order to make this as easy as possible, I've built in a few ways to do this, including:
- browse by genre
- search by keyword
- browse favorites
- browse by listening history
- browse by your music
This turns station building into a discovery process, where you aren't just building playlists from the songs you already know. For example, let's say you are into Downtempo music, and you've build a station that focuses on Downtempo. Each week, you would use the playlist builder to preview all the new Downtempo songs on the site, add the ones you like, add a short review about each one, and publish it as a playlist. There's no need for you to go looking for the songs - the tools do the work for you, plus, you can add multiple songs at once, making the process even easier!
How many songs can be in a playlist?
The minimum is set at three, and the maximum is currently set at 50.
Do the playlists support tags?
Yes, definately. ArtistServer currently supports tags for songs, news, and blogs already.
Does it support iTunes?
Yes, I've added
support for iTunes in the RSS AudioFeed, but have not yet tested it. I just picked up a Mac Mini the other day for testing, and will get to that later this week. If you want to have your station and playlists on iTunes, you will want to add the iTunes Station Image (edit your station to access). The reason why, is that Apple will not consider your station for a feature spot if you don't have an image. I'll have additional information on how to submit and check your station on iTunes added at a later date.
What determins if a song is available for an Audiofeed or not?
Songs that are available for AudioFeeds must have the following conditions:
- the artist/owner of the song must have an upgraded account
- the song must be set for download (edit the song for this setting)
- the song must be set as a complete songs (edit the song for this setting)
- the song must be turned on (edit the song for this setting)
Are playlists being tracked and will there be stats?
Sorry, not at this time. Tracking all that data requires more resources than I can provide at this time. I do see value in tracking playlist use, but for now, I've left it out.
Do the AudioFeeds support mRSS?
Yes, I've added support for Yahoo!'s "media RSS" module which will help ensure that our feeds will be indexed by Yahoo!'s media search.
What about support for XSPF?
I've been looking at the xspf format, and am considering adding it, although the xspf playlists will be treated the same as standard playlists, and only be accessible when you are logged in. Again, I undertand that the accessiblity sounds limiting, but I have to be careful here, and scale this up at a rate I can manage, and we can all afford.
Any Feedback on what the artists think?
Yes, here's what two 'advanced' users thought about the new tools and functionality:
"i was a little lost to begin with, but that was because i was thinking of how its done on other sites. this way is much cooler" - Michael Chocholak
"the tools are very easy to use. Another great feature" - Planet Bliss
