All Music Guide Still Sucks

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Seriously -- what the fuck is the problem with this thing? Like, I get that the relaunch was a disaster -- and that they've made a few tweaks. But 9 times out of 10, the thing STILL takes forever to load...or doesn't at all. What a fucking disaster.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Really one of the all time worst redesign I've ever seen. De-fucking-pressing. I hope whoever designed it got fired.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Really one of the all time worst redesigns I've ever seen. De-fucking-pressing. I hope whoever designed it got fired.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

HA HA HA

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I think he did get fired. But luckily he landed a job right away- at Perfect Sound Forever.

― Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I actually like the look of the new PSF, but fuck could you make it a little more difficult to browse the archives, guys.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I think they are trying to block us out of the archives so we are forced to read the new stuff.

That grey on grey is gonna make me go blind. Oh well, maybe I can get Lasik surgery like Weird Al.

― Henry A Blacktune, Monday, 15 November 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Beyond design, what I hate is the extra click-through after a search. I enter Bob Dylan and I get the laundry list of relevant artists. Tops is Bob Dylan, of course, then Blind Boy Grunt, Robert Delanoff, Bobby Delante, Robert Delaney, and on an on. You know I'm looking for Bob Dylan and this is what you give me> The fact that they make me jump through this hoop is annoying. It's the bloody click-through for ad rates. Also annoying is that the search bar no longer saves the names you've entered before.

― Gregory T (tubesocks), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Redesign is awesome. No more wasting bandwidth on superfluous text like discographies or reviews longer than ten words. Then for those rare times I actually want those things they're only two or three clicks away. Brilliant.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Tried it the other day (followed some link posted on here)

Still crashes.

Not going to be able to load all those ads unless you sort it out guys...

― latetotheparty (latetotheparty), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to use it every day a few times, now I might go there once a week.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 15 November 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

it crashes on me every once in a while, but no more then it used too.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

so, have you guys upgraded to Netscape 3 Gold yet?

― Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? (ex machina), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

HARSH

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

In terms of downloading speed, it's almost as fast as the old version now. Much improved. However, when you're trying to browse the site, it still requires eight clicks for every two on the old site.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

deja.com was worse

(that's the only nice thing I can say about it)

― a banana (alanbanana), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

The extra clicks might be a bit annoying, but I still the use the site as much as ever

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

T a k e s f o r e v e r t o l l l l l o o o o o a a a d d d d d

― Formerly Lee G (Formerly Lee G), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

why would i care about "bandwidth" or "downloading speed"? what does that have to do with anything? site is an absolute pain in the ass; has been ever since the redesign. takes at least five times as long to use as before. it's completely ridiculous.

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, i used to go there everyday or every other day it seemed.
now, i haven't been on there in a month or so.

― reo, Monday, 15 November 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

You care about downloading speed because the old site had a simple graphic design which is why it loaded quickly and didn't take long to use, whereas the new one has a million pictures and tabs and other bells and whistles.

But besides that, compared to the old site, it takes four times as many clicks to get the same information.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 15 November 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

More "clicks" = "ad revenue". I would imagine it was a money move for the AMG folks.

Something that has disappeared from the old site (help me out if this is still available and I can't find it) is the suggested songs for canonical artists.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it works ok. It doesn't really crash for me. The extra clicks mean they get paid more (although if everyone is as frustrated as they are here, then people will click less overall). It is slower, but I really appreciate that they took off the javascript links.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

The main thing they need to do is get rid of that retarded spinning flash thing.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Whatever — the whole thing's a disgrace. An absolute embarrassment.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"the old site had a simple graphic design which is why it loaded quickly and didn't take long to use, whereas the new one has a million pictures and tabs and other bells and whistles."

...which pictures/tabs/bells/whistles are completely fucking useless.

i have no idea what javascript links are; whatever they are, they never bothered me before. again, if it's working, why fuck with it?

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not that it crashes for me, it's just that it stands there and does nothing while i click away fruitlessly at my mouse. sometimes i have to click my mouse five times to get it to advance one page. i'm pretty sure they go no extra ad revenue for that. i can't think of a major web site that's designed worse.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

they GET no extra ad revenue, is what i'm trying to say there.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

did any follow this helpful technical advice, from an AMG thread a few months ago? (I didn't, but what the hell do I know?)

>Yeah, get the ten CD install of Free Bltfzpk 5.4x. Don't forget the Excrement 01.1 action web accelerator add-ons, people. And you'll need the CrummyFree compiler, although that usually comes with Bltfzpk. Support is excellent <

― chuck, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Something that has disappeared from the old site (help me out if this is still available and I can't find it) is the suggested songs for canonical artists.

I think what you're looking for, gygax!, is on the "Songs" tab on the artist page. This brings you to even yet still more tabs of course, with "Highlights" and "All songs" and whatnot. "Highlights" is possibly the one you're asking for.

If you can't access this tab, it may be that it is for registered users only, I can't remember whether I had it before I registered.

― OleM (OleM), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

chuck that was sub-custosian at best

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i hated the javascript links sooo much

― Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? (ex machina), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

If you can't access this tab, it may be that it is for registered users only, I can't remember whether I had it before I registered.

thanks OleM.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

the javascript links were annoying.

didn't they explain the tabs? That its to increase the efficiency of the database, so each page isn't too long? That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the "read more" for the bio, when the bio is only like 3 sentences longer.

for the record, I use safari and OSX and although it was shaky in the beginning, hasn't been slow or crashed ever in the last few months.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Safari is crap.

― Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? (ex machina), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Sure but if you search for an artist, you should ALWAYS get the complete biography and discography on the first page. Who searches for Can and then clicks on the Can link in order to read this:

Can
Biography
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Always at least three steps ahead of contemporary popular music, Can were the leading avant-garde rock group of the '70s. From their very beginning, their music didn't conform to any commonly held notions about rock & roll -- not even those of the countercultures. Inspired more by 20th century classical music than Chuck Berry, their closest contemporaries were Frank Zappa or possibly the Velvet Underground. Yet their music was more serious and inaccessible than either of those artists. ...
[Read More...]

Is this doing anybody any good?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha, ha, ha.

So, wait — what's the current status on this? Now that it's been several months, are they going to try to rectify this? Or have all the "improvements" been made?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

sometimes i have to click my mouse five times to get it to advance one page. i'm pretty sure they go no extra ad revenue for that.

They get more revenue, not from clicks, but from "impressions". In other words, the more pages you have to click through, the more ads you'll see. I'm on high speed at home and higher speed at work and the site really does work fine for me. I'm basically used to it at this point. Also, there seems to be less "too busy right now, come back later".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to agree with Spencer here. And I'm using Safari, which does not suck, no matter what Mr. Williams thinks. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 November 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

okay, so again:

what are "javascript links"? and why were they bad? and how come the only people who even noticed them are people who were annoyed by them?

and how exactly was the length of the page a problem? you just scrolled down! it was easy; way easier than what's there now. way less ugly, too.

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the part where I have to keep my mouse perfectly still after clicking or risk loosing the page I was loading if it rolls of the link.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

safari does everything I can ever ask it to and it does it well! I was using mozilla previously. And before that, lynx on a DEC Vax terminal.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Nevermind 3, it chocks on 4.3 which isn't that old.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The javascript links prevented you from opening pages in a new window, thereby preventing my allmusic flanuering.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

what are "javascript links"? and why were they bad? and how come the only people who even noticed them are people who were annoyed by them?

If you use tabbed browsing, opening a link in a new page/window/tab produces - absolutely fuck all. A new blank page. Utterly maddening.

HTML links like those used by 99% of the rest of the web, don't care how you open them, they just work.

ditto Spencer

― latetotheparty (latetotheparty), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

They get more revenue, not from clicks, but from "impressions". In other words, the more pages you have to click through, the more ads you'll see.

oh i understand that part (and think that they and all other websites who design with this in mind should be imprisoned). but that's not the kind of clicks i was talking about. i click my mouse and a good deal of the time nothing happens. i click again, still nothing. sometimes i have to click five or six times to get one page to load. five or six clicks for them to get one impression. i have this problem with no other websites.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 15 November 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

wait, so you couldn't look up more than one artist at once, you mean? if that's what you're saying (hard to tell, i really wish somebody would translate), i sort of understand now. (i never got these blank pages you're talking about, though, and i used amg constantly.) i do understand "the site was always too busy" stuff - good deal if that's gone now, but the site sucks such monstrous ass now that i guess i never noticed. but basically what this thread sez is that people who have really really expensive machines that they update lotsa crap on every week can use amg fine, and to hell with the rest of us. and if that's the case, as it seems to be, amg can just go fuck themselves.

x posts

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

DAMMIT, I HATE IT WHEN FREE STUFF ISN'T THE WAY I WANT IT TO BE. FUCK AMG!

― Count Elvin Framingham, Monday, 15 November 2004 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

oh fuck off. people complain about tv shows and radio stations and the weather all the time. there's no difference.

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

And public toilets. And people who post on ILM. etc.

― thermos lunchbox, Monday, 15 November 2004 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to go to amg multiple times a day. since the redesign i've probably been there about five times total. easily the greatest disapointment i've ever had with a website. a lot of people were bummed when webvan went under or when kozmo went kaput. well i will always rue the day when amg redesigned and gave us crap.

― metfigga (metfigga), Monday, 15 November 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I know I'm probably the only one left in the world on dial-up at home, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but I'm talking MAKING CUPS OF FUCKING TEA loading times just to get to the useless front band page, then I drink the tea while waiting to read the rest of the bio or go to the discography.

There are AMG writers on here, can't a swift in bollocks by proxy from me be arranged to whoever's responsible.

I believe that was the terms of the bet when I beat Ned at pool...

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I hold myself innocent in this matter. (Just a content provider here, folks.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

The "name search results" page is horseshit too, by the way.

― big ed delahanty, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Sasha go to download.com, search/dload/run "adaware", yr comp'll speed up loads

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I have adaware. It's not the PC, it's the fact that I'm on dial-up and the horrible design of the AMG pages.

And the adverts! What the fuck!? I'd understand if it was music products or something, but who wants the most retarded fucking smilies ever created!?

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Sasha is getting further along the path to usability than I am by the way.

Plenty of people still use dial-up all over the world (not that web designers often care to acknowledge this fact).

― latetotheparty (latetotheparty), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Most of the site doesn't even seem remotely interested in talking with my iMac and so I'm returing the favor by not visiting.

I mean, WTF was up with this?

― ian g, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the total number of clicks per week I make on AMG pages has decreased 10x. Did their numbers not fall through the floor the first day??

― Maxwell von Bismarck (maxwell von bismarck), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone know what AMG's hits are compared to before? More? Less? About the same?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

In fairness, the Spotlight Hot Artist thing is not too bad. Right now they are featuring Joanna Newsom. Are was feature already there in the good old days?

― Henry A Blacktune, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, AMG is still free, but when you take something good and expend effort to make it bad people have a right to complain. This was the worst redesign of all time and I rarely visit the site now – they really need to address this problem.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be really nice if some organization would buy AllMusic and fix this fucker.

Like, for example, add Wikipedia-types of aspects to it. The editorial content i.e. the actual reviews are average, but what I like most about the site is the discography info, the connections to other bands, the interesting lineages that a Wiki feature would, could, and should add.

― don weiner, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The editorial content i.e. the actual reviews are average

:-(

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

So, Ned, are you going to tell us that they're planning to overhaul this thing again or anything? Or is "traffic out of this world!"?

If it helps, I like your writing very much...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw. (I honestly have no idea about or control over or way into dealing with the database. It's just, y'know, there.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Apologies if you've said this on one of the 42 other threads about the new AMG, but have you discussed this, er, issue with the powers-that-were at AMG?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Mentioned a comment here and there. I should say that they are well aware of criticisms and feedback.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Any plans on acting on them that you're aware of?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I know for a fact that Ned has a red phone straight to the VP of development.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 04:38 (twenty-one years ago)

And the AMG softball team could kick all your asses.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 04:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Beyond design, what I hate is the extra click-through after a search. I enter Bob Dylan and I get the laundry list of relevant artists.

It doesn't always do this. (Try Nick Drake.) I think it only does it if there's at least one other result that's very close. Like in the case of Dylan there's a "Bob Dolan".

― wetmink (wetmink), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 04:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I know for a fact that Ned has a red phone straight to the VP of development.

Hmmm.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude, what is AMG this multinational corporation? Does it have subsidiaries in Bermuda and Singapore that allow it to write off billions? I mean, it's not as if Ned is training his Indian replacement -- I just figure the guy cares about whether people will wade through this shit to read him these days...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

The most annoying thing on a dial-up modem is when you click to load a review, then click again to load the full review, then click back once because you mistakenly assume this will take you to the discography page, only to get to the half-review page again, which for some reason still takes forever to load so you have to wait four minutes or something before you realise that you have to click back again (only to wait for another four etc. etc.). This is detracting from enjoyment of fine reviews from the likes of Ned and Andy.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Why does allmovie.com still have the old design?

― supercub, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Because no one cares about allmovie.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

The most annoying thing on a dial-up modem is when you click to load a review, then click again to load the full review, then click back once because you mistakenly assume this will take you to the discography page, only to get to the half-review page again, [...]

I seem to have unconsciously learnt not to use the simple back button when I'm on AMG, using the "back menu"(*) to go two steps back instead. Of course I then sometimes go too far back, but usually not.

(*) Do all major browsers have this, btw? On IE it's the small down-pointing triangle right next to the Back button.

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)

(Agree that it's a pest though, as is the slowity.)

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)

The site is, as always, a work in progress. I can assure all of you that your comments have been taken into consideration.

― Andy K (Andy K), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

That's such a great idea about an AMG which incorporates Wikipedia-like elements, a Wiki-music-pedia without all the tabs and clicks would be unbeatable. I've used Allmusic about 5 times since the relaunch, these days I rely on badly written reviews from Amazon or no reviews at all on Discogs.com.

― Affectian (Affectian), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

(no offense about the overall quality of the reviews Ned--I've got a few there, too. But there are some that are obviously lacking, and for what AllMusic is, I'd say the reviews are perfectly acceptable. Average doesn't mean bad, just average.)

Ned, pick up the red phone and get them to allow open-source updating/fact checking by readers.

― don weiner, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The 'red phone' person in this case, I should note, just posted a couple of posts back and might have the name Andy K.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

don't use it any more because of the dismemberment of the info. it must have been the plan! greatest nuisance: i can't find the full discographies of the artists anymore. only selected discs. justs bits and pieces. totally useless. sorry, ned, andy and all other contributors. i prefer to look into the old 1997 rock book edition. though it is pretty inexhaustive concerning the covered artists. my best resource altogether now is mc strong's great indie discography. quite complete but unfortunately without reviews.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I appreciate Andy K for coming on to say his piece — takes a bit of courage, me thinks. I just wish he had some HARD INFORMATION for us.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I think a lot of these problem would be solved if you had two options when you clicked on an album eg "go to overview" and "go to full review".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.