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Ask HN: Still using thesixtyone?

11 points| grncdr | 16 years ago | reply

There was a lot of discussion here and elsewhere when thesixtyone released it's new design about 5 weeks ago. At the time many people applauded the redesign and many people hated it. I'm curious as to how many of those who started using it 5 weeks ago still use it, and how many of those who used it before the redesign still love/hate it. I know the founders are extremely busy but I'd love to get their input as well.

Full disclaimer: I had/have an artist page there, I don't like the redesign, but I wasn't invested enough in the page to be particularly upset. I've also been slightly annoyed that there is _still_ no way to delete my account.

18 comments

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[+] inmygarage|16 years ago|reply
I used the site both before the re-design and after.

love the re-design.

Lots of reasons:

-the core of thesixtyone is about discovery and the problem with many discovery sites is they are too bogged down with choices. the browsabilty of the new design is commendable.

-all of the stuff they are clearly doing around machine learning is more obvious in the second version

-the new design is edgy and i'm sure they knew they would alienate some users, but it's also gorgeous. about time artistic content was more aligned with artistic design.

sure, there are definitely a few usability kinks (trying to delete a song from a saved list, for example) but am i confident that they'll fix them eventually? absolutely.

[+] bjplink|16 years ago|reply
I was a semi-regular user before the redesign, didn't particularly like the new look and have pretty much stopped using the site.
[+] timmorgan|16 years ago|reply
I had never used thesixtyone until the redesign made waves here. That discussion made me finally try the site. Now I use it a lot.

Not sure if that helps answer your question, though.

[+] grncdr|16 years ago|reply
It does. When the redesign happened my perception was that the attention drove a lot of new traffic/sign-ups, and I'm curious about how many of those users have remained active.

Edit: I probably should have made more effort to clarify this in the original question: I'm curious about the success of the redesign because the interface is quite adventerous, and I want to gather more information about it's acceptance for taking into consideration when designing my own interfaces.

[+] thejash|16 years ago|reply
This is the case for me too. I've been using it continually since that story. I also really love the "leveling up" and quest systems, it's such a fun way to explore the site when I'm bored.
[+] tdmackey|16 years ago|reply
I too fall into this group. The redesign is very interesting and the javascript work is amazing.
[+] niels_olson|16 years ago|reply
I was on t61 fairly early but never used the site much. I use it much more after the redesign. Now it's on par with Pandora as my go-to music source. Pandora is more reliable; thesixtyone is experimental.

OTOH: last.fm has lost me. It's like facebook for musical tastes, except none of my frinds use it. Many of my friends and relatives use Pandora and they seem to get the new t61. I think a lot of people are looking at formats like last.fm and the old t61 and saying "I don't need a facebook for every niche of my life".

[+] pgebhard|16 years ago|reply
I used to use Pandora, and then I switched to T61 because I liked the type of music I found on T61. I enjoy the idea that I'm hearing new, independent artists that actually sound fantastic. The whole redesign debate is pretty pointless to me. It hasn't affected my usage at all, and I think it's actually really pretty and unique.
[+] yannis|16 years ago|reply
Somehow, the social element is gone now and the interface lost its appeal for me. As for the game is gone! From daily logins I am now to about once/twice a week. I only login to listen to my favorite artists. I hate the redesign, I like to look at lists and choose, scrolling is so 90's. (Karma 28000 Lvl 14). Hope for the sake of the owners and artists of the site it works for them, but certainly does not work for me anymore.

I understand your frustration.

[+] mschaecher|16 years ago|reply
I was never really a frequent user. I have some friends that didn't know of the site pre-redesign, but have since discovered it and love it.
[+] arantius|16 years ago|reply
I used to go semi-frequently. I have specific musical tastes. Now, I can't help but get it to shuffle to something like 9/10 songs that I would never want to hear.

Limiting to a genre, in the old version, it used to be 1 or 2/10 that I didn't care for. I've tried a few times, but effectively have stopped using it. I can't find the same feature. The "moods" thing is not nearly as effective. It feels like it's become a radio station, and I don't listen to it for the same reason: I have no control over what it plays, and it seems to play "pop" (don't read that literally, just "things lots of people listen to") music all the time, and never what I want to hear.

I also, generally, find the new interface very difficult to use. Lots of mystery meat navigation and hard work to find what I'm looking for.

[+] jmathai|16 years ago|reply
I used it for a few days after the redesign but have since resorted back to pandora. I've got a few stations that I've been listening to for a while and I've provided a great deal of feedback for which songs I like/dislike. A few of my stations really nail it for me at this point.
[+] maxtilford|16 years ago|reply
I used it a lot before and I use it a lot now. It took a bit of getting used to, but I rather like the new design. I've found that I'm listening to a lot more new music, where before the redesign I just kept listening to the same stuff over and over.
[+] dfwarden|16 years ago|reply
I hadn't heard about it before the redesign and started using it based on the initial "user uproar" post on HN.

That said, there are a lot of interface quirks that still need to be worked out, specifically in the area of "doing something and getting back to the stream you were listening to" - so many times I go into my profile and am not sure how to go back to the "mood" or whatever I was listening to. There are also a few times when I want to force the slideshow stuff to start again but it doesn't.

I haven't seen the previous design but the non-visual design (making an MMO out of discovering new music) is quite good.

[+] grepfruit|16 years ago|reply
I started using the site and getting back also confused me - but apparently hitting Back button helps :) But some in-page way to go back wouldn't hurt.