The Hype Machine to unveil interactive website
The Hype Machine will be beta testing a new layout and design soon. Anthony Volodkin, creator of The Hype Machine, shared with Puddlegum that “the way the player works will be different.” He explained that the new website will be more interactive, allowing users to create playlists, comment on songs, and mark them as a favorite.
On September 13, The Hype Machine announced they were looking for beta testers and 1,111 people signed up in just 28 hours. Beta testing for the new site will begin soon.
Update: The Hype Machine began beta testing the new website on Friday, October 5. New features include:
* Complete new colorful layout.
* Up to the minute updates from blogs.
* Each track includes an image and teaser from the originating blog post.
* The ability to play, stop, and love each track.
* The ability to love blogs, artists, and search queries.
* You can now sign in with a user name.
* Each user name has their own page with recently loved tracks, blogs, or search queries.
* Blogs, artists, and search queries you love are added to a “love feed”, with recent posts.
* Integration with Twitter, which automatically updates your Twitter with your most recent Hype Machine love.
Twitter updates appear as:
“puddlegum just loved The 1900s – The Medium Way http://hypem.com/track/390894″
“puddlegum now following the Puddlegum music blog: http://hypem.com/list/453″
“puddlegum now watching search luke temple on the hype machine: http://hypem.com/search/luke temple/”
What does The Hype Machine (currently) do?
The Hype Machine aggregates Mp3 blogs, such as Puddlegum, by checking the RSS feed for new blog posts. It then adds new blog posts to the database and searches the post for Mp3s. If any are found, the Mp3’s id3 tag is searched for song title and artist information. If the song has not been posted recently by another blog then The Hype Machine caches the song and adds it to the database.
The songs can then be streamed by visitors on a Flash Player, but they must visit the originating post to download the song or read the blog post. Listeners are encouraged to purchase songs they enjoy by providing a link to the song on iTunes. Search results on The Hype Machine also provide an RSS feed that users can subscribe to in iTunes… to download songs as they are posted on blogs.
The Hype Machine provides a flood of traffic to over 1,400 music blogs. For this reason, many Mp3 blogs post lists of Mp3s through out the day, and landing numerous songs on The Hype Machine’s front page or recently added songs.
According to Compete, The Hype Machine’s traffic is enjoying a steady increase of traffic. The Hype Machine attracted over 82,000 unique visitors in August, many of them returning on a daily basis. The coming changes at The Hype Machine will only attract more traffic, especially since it will be highly interactive.
Subscribe to Puddlegum via The Hype Machine
Office – If You Don’t Know By Now