The Hippodrome

Humble Voice, honest to goodness, focuses on music and art. When I logged on, the featured band was an excellent group called Afrofreque that couldn’t be catchier, some bad ass afro-electro. I had never heard of Afroreque until I visited Humble Voice, so that was already one major point in their favor. In fact, through further listening, I can honestly say that Humble Voice has phenomenal taste in music and art. Everything I heard was varied and just downright fantastic.

The site has excellent design and programming. The design is quick, classy, and stylish, and actually a design critic’s nightmare because there’s little to criticize. It’s so incredibly easy to use, and unlike MySpace and Facebook, Humble Voice actually has some personality. You can customize your profile easily without sacrificing all the bells and whistles of a normal social network. So what makes it so special? The ridiculous emphasis on independent culture! Humble Voice features lesser known bands and artists instead of the big names, making it my new little sanctuary from all that mp3 blog hype, and a chance to get to know some small but insanely talented artists. I had almost given up on social networking sites, but Humble Voice has convinced me not to.

To top it all off, the site is still in beta which has me über-stoked for the final version. The community seems to be really great as well, not withstanding the typical pretentious network socialites that are now unfortunately ubiquitous. Besides that, this is an excellent place to find new music and art and to show off some of your own. If you’re looking to cure the social networking blues and actually focus on art instead of relationship status, then check out Humble Voice.

Some social networks, such as MySpace, do too much, and other social networks don’t do enough, such as LiveJournal. Regardless of your poison, you’re probably signed up for some something. New ideas and new websites are popping up all the time but have any of them significantly changed the formula that MySpace originally started with? Most will say that Facebook is an excellent alternative to MySpace, but it’s a pretty boring place and usually only focuses on tagging pictures of you and your drunk friends and digitally stalking your ex-girlfriend. Regardless, social networks are obviously big news in our digital age. Especially in college, you’re either in or you’re out or in with the out crowd.

Let’s talk about another MySpace clone. Now I mean MySpace clone because this social networking site focuses on pop culture and music. The site is called Buzznet; the name is terrible but their logo is pretty cute. Yeah, whatever.

Let me get straight the point. Buzznet is the trashiest social networking site I’ve ever seen next to MySpace. It has no redeemable qualities to make it worth signing up for your 42nd social networking account. The front page of the site has stories such like “My Chemical Romance is defenseless towards haters” and a stories about celebrity TV couples. Disgusting. The user interface isn’t much to vouch for since people can mess up their pages pretty easily with horrible HTML templates.

Need more evidence to show how much this site sucks? You won’t be able to get away from dumb ass comments either. Check out this comment on some seventeen year old girl’s slightly happy emo pic:

xoxobrendonlovexoxo: 02/04/2008 4:22 PM
dayum u pretty

Balls on that’s it, this review is finished. I’m not saying all social networks suck and we shouldn’t use them but if I’m going to stick to one, It’ll probably be Facebook — at least it “appears” slightly more professional and mature. Do not sign up for Buzznet. You don’t need it, go tag yourself on someone’s Facebook instead. Much more fulfilling.

(This post was contributed by Kyle Wallace)

Lala.com is a store, a Last.FM clone and a CD trading service rolled into one tight package. I’ve used the service before but I eventually realized how pointless it was after a few weeks, but we’ll get to my experience with the site later. Bill Nyugen officially launched the site on June 8th, 2006 and it’s focus has been on trading CDs instead of illegally downloading mp3s. As of last year the site now also allows you to upload your own mp3s to listen to them online in case you’re not near your computer. Due to obvious legal issues, you can’t however trade mp3s with other people since Lala opted to leave the P2P aspect out.

So how does the site work? You essentially create an account and then list the CDs you want and the CDs you have. Lala then will send you a shipment of five envelopes and clamshells for shipping five CDs. Eventually you’ll receive an email about how GenericUser36 wants your old Death Cab for Cutie album. If you decide you want to trade then Lala will give you GenericUser36’s address so you can send it to him. Once he gets it, he’ll confirm that he’s received it and then you’ll get a trade credit which will allow you to receive a CD on your want list. So let’s say you wanted an old My Bloody Valentine album. You’ll get a message from Lala telling you that OtherGenericUser63 has sent you a CD and once you confirm that you’ve received it, you’ll be billed $1.75 and OtherGenericUser63 will receive a trade credit.

Lala also has a built in store where you can purchase CDs and mp3s. All of the mp3s are DRM-free which is a definite plus. Now let’s talk about my problems with Lala.

Although I was initially into the whole idea of trading CDs as a way to feel less guilty about illegally sharing and downloading music, I realize that in the end I was only giving money to Lala and not the artists. I admire Lala for an attempt at trying to change the way music is distributed and shared, but it really is just a money maker for Lala and not really the artists. For now, I think I’ll keep to downloading music and buying vinyl copies of the albums I really love.

(This post was contributed by Kyle Wallace)

Back in 2005, while in college, Anthony Volodkin created The Hype Machine. The biggest appeal for this website (even in its new version) is the fact that it is one of the largest mp3 blog aggregators on the web. An mp3 blog aggregator basically takes a large lists of blogs and scans them for mp3s, then compiles them on a page for users to see. The Hype Machine does an excellent job at scouring the blogosphere for music — all you have to do is visit the site. It’s a completely free service for users and its biggest draw is giving people a chance to quickly listen to music and find out if they like it our not.

Some people may argue that the experience of mp3s blogs are hindered because of The Hype Machine and others may argue that some blogs wouldn’t be popular without The Hype Machine. If you find a song you like from The Hype Machine you can stream it but you can’t download until you actually go to the blog that it was posted at. Of course some users may skip the editorial content, download the mp3 and exit the site, and believe me, I’m guilty of doing just that.

The really awesome feature of The Hype Machine is that you can sign up for a free account and favorite any songs, blogs, or other users you like by clicking on a heart. Of course the ability to favorite things isn’t that impressive but it gets really cool when you eventually see what The Hype Machine is using this favorites system for.

Essentially, the Hype Machine takes your favorites, uses that information and builds a customized RSS feed (a “Love Feed”) of your favorite tracks, blogs, artists, and users. It’s all extremely impressive. The Hype Machine can really be used to find your favorite new artist and is a wonderful place to visit and to click through when you feel that your music collection is running dry or you’ve played that Peter Bjorn and John track just a little too much.

In the end, The Hype Machine is the definitive mp3 blog aggregator for me. I really dislike using Elbo.ws and I think The Hype Machine is cleaner, easier to use and has less annoying ads. I really recommend The Hype Machine to anyone who really hasn’t gotten a chance to fall in love with an mp3 blog aggregator and if you’re looking for one to bookmark and visit often, The Hype Machine is definitely for you.

(This post was contributed by Kyle Wallace)