# New, "improved" All-Music Guide **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953 "2004-07-13T20:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/1 "2004-07-13T20:27:28Z")
(If there’s already a thread for this, I apologize - I’m not really sure how to search for this) So, who all has seen the new AMG site? (Warning - it ONLY works for IE 5.5 and above and ONLY on a computer running Windows. What year is this again?) Comments, complaints? Praise? I wanna know what the cafe crowd thinks! ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/2 "2004-07-13T20:45:02Z")
Seems a little buggy and sluggish, but looks mighty purty. Bet it was a bitch of a coding job. Great site. I’m still amazed it’s a free resource. Thanks for the heads up. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/3 "2004-07-13T20:55:28Z")
> [@Achren](#): > > So, who all has seen the new AMG site? > > (Warning - it ONLY works for IE 5.5 and above and ONLY on a computer running Windows. What year is this again?) So that’s the problem! Mmmm … hope that gets corrected in the short term. The site is currently unusable using IE 6.0, Win XP. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/4 "2004-07-13T21:05:26Z")
I think it stinks…too slow. I got a message today after almost every page I tried to visit that tells me to click refresh. And I kept gettting prompted to register. I don’t remember having to do that before for certain info, but maybe today I was doing more detailed research than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/5 "2004-07-13T21:10:51Z")
The site also works with Apple’s Safari web browser. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/6 "2004-07-13T21:31:26Z")
Everything’s out of place in Mozilla 1.7.1. I’m disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/7 "2004-07-13T21:39:56Z")
It’s very pretty and all, but has the functionality changed? Can you right-click on a link and open it in a new window? ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/8 "2004-07-13T23:04:50Z")
I’ve heard that they disabled the right-click function There’s a decent review [here](http://www.waxy.org/archive/2004/07/12/new_all_.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/9 "2004-07-13T23:27:50Z")
It’s very pretty. It’s also less functional with less info on any single page therefore requiring more mouse clicks. It’s also much slower loading so the extra clicks are particularly painful. And though it may fuck up formatting in non-IE browsers, at least it has a completely superfluous bandwidth hogging flash navigation panel to make our browsing experience prettier (and slower). Everytime these clowns re-design their site, I like it less and less. I hope their traffic plummets (although I think that’s pretty much guaranteed since I can only access the page once every 2 or 3 attempts). Tragically, the breadth and depth of their content is unrivalled so I guess I’m just going to have to learn to live with it (and install a flash blocker extension). ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/10 "2004-07-13T23:28:46Z")
They should switch their name to [alltimedout.com](http://alltimedout.com) ---
**Author:** ![Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/11 "2004-07-14T02:54:46Z")
To say the redesign was poorly conceived and executed is an understatement. As a Mac user, the site is now all but useless to me. It’s easy to see the free registration and “premium content” as an interim step toward paid subscriptions, but they have a LOT of bugs to iron out before anyone will pay for it. I wonder if their traffic will taper off significantly now that the site is so user-unfriendly? The new version just launched and I’ve already talked to people who say they’ve deleted it from their bookmarks. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/12 "2004-07-14T04:15:28Z")
Why is it all but useless to a Mac user? 😕 > [@Live Better Electrically!](#): > > To say the redesign was poorly conceived and executed is an understatement. As a Mac user, the site is now all but useless to me. > > It’s easy to see the free registration and “premium content” as an interim step toward paid subscriptions, but they have a LOT of bugs to iron out before anyone will pay for it. I wonder if their traffic will taper off significantly now that the site is so user-unfriendly? The new version just launched and I’ve already talked to people who say they’ve deleted it from their bookmarks. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/13 "2004-07-14T04:32:24Z")
I’m using Mac OS X, v. 10.3.4, and Apple’s Safari web browser, v. 1.2.2. The All Music Guide site is working fine for me. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/14 "2004-07-14T05:15:41Z")
> [@Live Better Electrically!](#): > > It’s easy to see the free registration and “premium content” as an interim step toward paid subscriptions, but they have a LOT of bugs to iron out before anyone will pay for it. I wonder if their traffic will taper off significantly now that the site is so user-unfriendly? The new version just launched and I’ve already talked to people who say they’ve deleted it from their bookmarks. I had a friend who practically lived on AMG, but can’t fathom what they could possibly charge for (the fact that I can’t see the site doesn’t help). I just hope they fixed the freakin’ “mood” thing that would recommend Dizzy Gillespie when I was looking at Ministry… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/15 "2004-07-14T06:16:39Z")
I LOVE allmusic. It’s one of my favorite web sites. So now I go to the new version, and the first thing I thought was, “Hmmn, it’s a little slow. Looks nice, though”. Then I tried using it. This site is an absolute usability disaster. What in hell were they thinking? Everything from the incredibly annoying rollover effects (i.e. when you roll over an album, it expands a hidden DIV, which moves the link away from your mouse pointer. Obnoxious.), to their multi-page viewing of content, it’s just awful. Here’s a hint, AMG: If I click on an album to read the review, I might want to READ THE REVIEW. But instead, they throw you to an intermediate page that lets you read the first paragraph, then you have to click ‘more’ to read the rest. And of course, now you’ve got to click back twice to get back to where you were. Whoever designed this site either A) has never used his own web site before, and doesn’t understand what people do there, or B) is a usability moron. Plus, when you have servers that are already stressed, you might want to think twice before re-authoring your system using large pages bloated with junk. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/16 "2004-07-14T12:02:16Z")
I used AMG for awhile last night after posting my first impressions and I found my initial dislike rapidly turn to active loathing. As **Sam** states, they violiate every principal of usability in the book. It’s so anti-user friendly that I find it hard to believe that this wasn’t intentional. However, I fail to see how they could possibly benefit from driving users away. I understand that they are licencing their content to the new [MP3.com](http://MP3.com) and other web sites. Perhaps they don’t want to compete with their customers? Whatever the reason, I doubt I’ll be going back until they clean up their mess. For others who feel the same way, here are some possible alternatives: [MP3.com](http://www.mp3.com) [MusicBrainz](http://www.musicbrainz.org/) [Ultimate Band List](http://ubl.artistdirect.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/17 "2004-07-14T12:25:35Z")
Yeah I would agree with **Sam** and **Hodge** (and others, I see). New design’s just way too busy- the previous layout was very inviting and I dunno, more spacious. Now it just lends a feeling of clutter; your eye’s never sure where to go. And yeah, those rollovers are truly annoying. That being said 1. It’s breadth of its content still puts it heads and shoulders above other sites (think **Hodge** pointed that out). 2. The audio samples _are_ a nice addition- now I don’t have to flip back and forth between AMG and Amazon or RealPlayer when I’m intrigued by a review and want to hear how Band X sounds. Thanks for the links to some alternatives, though! ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/18 "2004-07-14T12:33:06Z")
Seems fine on mine too: Safari, OSX.3, on a G5. I liked the Bio’s better before though, where you could scroll down rather than click on ‘read more…’ it’ll get its act together. How big is it? these things take time I would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/19 "2004-07-14T12:55:54Z")
> [@Hey you!](#): > > Why is it all but useless to a Mac user? 😕 The site is designed for IE for Windows, and, at first, anyone else who logged on would get the message “Notice: You are accessing [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com) with a browser that is not currently supported. The appearance and functionality of the site could be impacted. [Allmusic.com](http://Allmusic.com) is optimized for Internet Explorer 5.5 and above for Windows.” They have since removed the warning to hide the problem. That said, some of the problems I experienced yesterday may have been the result of high traffic. Links didn’t work, pages wouldn’t load, etc. Today some of those pages/links are loading, but the registration feature doesn’t work for me and the pages display oddly, so that it isn’t clear where the hyperlinks are. Woe to anyone without broadband who tries to use it, since you have to click through several pages for content that used to be contained on one or two. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-improved-all-music-guide/254953/20 "2004-07-14T13:41:39Z")
I don’t like that the Summary pages are clearly geared toward “big” artists with bunches of albums. If you click on someone new, their summary will be almost the same as their bio, but with the actual bio cut off. Pointless.