Stereogum's New MP3 Page
PSA time, friends. We look under the hood and kick the tires and other car inspection metaphors around here constantly, trying to figure tweaks and upgrades that'll make you a more efficient procrastinator. Usually we'll just slip those changes in, but today we've launched a fun addition and we wanna give you the quick and dirty.
You've probably noticed the horizontal category menu in the strip of blue at the top of this column; clicking any of those buttons will take you to the chosen category's post archives. Cool. But if you click the MP3 button (or just head to stereogum.com/mp3), you'll find something even better than a list of posts containing MP3s: A list of links to the MP3s themselves! Hooray for not reading! No editorial to have to pass over with your mouse on the way to the download link, just the sweet, instant gratification of the tracks alone, stripped of context, free and legal as always.
On the MP3 page you'll find a light blue dropdown menu -- use that to select any month and grab songs in a chronological manner. Only goes back to December '06, sorry -- but still, all told there's 2GB of music for ya to download and load-up onto your new Feisty nano. Best of all, zip files and bittorrent links for said zip files are available on the pages for each month. So just click, save, listen. We'll do it like this for every month moving forward. Like we said, it's all about efficiency in procrastination.
Enjoy. And while you're poking around: What else can we do to improve your user experience, beloved 'Gum readers?
Posted at 5:23 PM in MP3
ever-trying-to-be-quirky comments like: "We look under the hood and kick the tires and other car inspection metaphors around here constantly, trying to figure tweaks and upgrades...." are really getting on my nerves lately... am i the only one? i say tone down the "indie" talk/writing and speak/write in english. that would definitely improve my user experience.
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@ skeeter
I thought that car metaphor was funny actually. keep up the good work gumbys!
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I prefer to download mp3s legally. You can read more about it and find online mp3 store reviews at my page - Online Mp3 Downloads
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that's pretty awesome! here are my suggestions for a better 'gum:
1) delete shitty spam comments like the one above or hire a moderator to do it
2) say you have punch and pie -- more people will come if they think you have punch and pie
3) more joanna newsom photos/video - she's fun to look at
thankyou!
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or more joanna newsom n00dz. much more fun to look at.
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musmon, every single one of the mp3s we offer for download is completely legal. just because you can use bittorrent to download a ton of them doesn't make them any less legal.
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more lily allen!i love me some lily!
seriously.it's been like two weeks since the last lily post.what's up with that?
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quit forcing users to jump to the full page to get to content. i get it from the ads/serving persepctive, but i started reading this site for indie and related rare mp3s, and now i rarely download anything from it. and half the stories aren't even indie.
content. content. content. skeeter is right. smarmy ironic posts are a dime a dozen on blogs, just get to the point and have a good one.don't blame you for trying to build a site here, but the focus is suffering.
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I agree with skeetr and oh, i rarely read stereogum posts now due to the cringe-worthy drivel that has become the standard for each one.
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If you run out of ideas, you can always buy me a car.
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Install a douchebag filter, 'Gum. I implore you. I'm so sick of these holier-than-thou hipsters.
The post asked what features Stereogum could add to make your use of the site more efficient. My English, it is not so good, but I'm pretty sure they didn't ask how they could improve their writing style. Seeing as Stereogum is constantly voted one of the best music blogs on the net, I think they may be doing something right.
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Eugene, we are not the "holier-than-thou hipsters" here. That's exactly what I'm sick of. And it is true, the writers of this blog try too hard to write "hip" posts and say "witty" things. If that's not true, then they do a horrible job of proving otherwise. The majority of posts that I read seem like they're really trying too hard to be "indie" and "hip." It's nonsense.
And don't think about telling me to go elsewhere. I dislike a lot of what I read here, but this is the most active indie music blog that I can find. I'd leave if I had better options. Sadly, the better-written ones only update around once per day. This site doesn't need more features and gimmicks - it needs higher-quality content. That's what makes or breaks a blog. An MP3 page is a nice gesture, but it's not what I, personally, am interested in. Just because you happen to like their posts, it doesn't invalidate our opinions. There's a lot of us who feel the same way.
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I agree that a douchebag filter is very much needed. Either that, or some of these people need to go start blogs of their own and show us all how it should REALLY be done. Why someone saying "check under the hood" would bother someone so much is beyond me.
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I agree with the complaints that the standard of writing has gone down. It definitely has in my opinion. I don't think I'm a hipster.
If you want to improve Stereogum, please concentrate on the quality of what's already here rather than expanding/diluting the scope of the site even further.
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I like the new mp3 page. Thanks.
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If I wanted to watch the newest 50 cent video, or hear the latest gossip about Britney I would go to MTV or PerezHilton. I read Stereogum, because I (usually) enjoy the witty posts, and the good indie coverage. The Gums been lacking lately, and I don't find myself visiting as often as I used to.
Lose the Video Hangover too. Or at least show good old videos. I didn't feel like watching the Nookie video back then, why would I want to watch it now?
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Thanks, Stereogum!
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The quality of writing has gone way up IMHO and I, for one, and thankful for the lack of Britney posts which used to be every day back in 2004ish (long time reader first time caller). Keep on keeping on. More Interpol and Grizzy Blear please though.
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@ the other matthew:
you may not be a holier-than-thou hipster but you do have things a bit twisted. claiming that the writers "try too hard" to be witty or hip or indie (which doesn't even make sense) is elitist and ridiculous in itself.
the writers aren't trying to be anything, they simply are what they are. just because their writing happens to that clever, witty style employed by everyone from jon stewart to your best friend, it doesn't mean that they are sitting there making a concerted effort to mold their output to meet some preconceived definition of cool.
the very idea of someone "trying too hard" is based in snobbery and putting down others for no real reason. on a somewhat related note, i'd love to meet the guy who declared it uncool to wear a band's t-shirt to one of their concerts, and why he wasn't at the other meeting where it was decided that it is perfectly acceptable for grown men to wear jerseys, hats and colored face paint at sporting events to show support for their team (actually, the answer may be that hipsters don't like sports). who is worse, the loser who came up with the "rule" or the legions that blindly follow it and look down derisively on others (in fear of being guilty of trying too hard)?
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having a page with just mp3s is convenient, good idea.
but i agree with skeeter and the others, don't talk about fixing cars, only huge hipsters do that :(
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Fair enough -- I don't even own a car, so will keep the automometaphors to a minimum for y'all.
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the gum = good.
the gum + mp3 page = better
the gum sans funny comments or making fun of stuff = not as good.
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no filter, please! those ridiculous arguments in the comments section is part of the fun. oh, and free speech, man.
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Improve the experience? Put this stuff into an MP3 podcast! All the new music, none of the downloading effort...
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xenex, we've got you covered: http://feeds.feedburner.com/StereogumMP3Feed
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Not sure if this has been requested before, but a CD quality version of OKx (+bonus tracks) would be nice. Maybe a torrent for a FLAC version of the album? I guess this is assuming you are in possession of the original WAV files, but if you are it would be nice for us audiophiles. Thanks for being awesome.
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Dave, try searching for okx.zip or ok_x.zip- they can't host it any more for legal reasons.
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