

 What can I do better? No one is using the site. - EGreg
http://youmixer.com/mix/26

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omrani
1\. How do they share with each other without going off to Facebook? 2\. It
might help if you bring the search to the landing page and have it on ever
page 3\. Is there a way for me (personally) to get in contact with you?

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clayturk
To start make the initial call to action simpler. Just let them enter a song
or band name and let that action carry the user into creating a playlist. They
will figure it out from there. Cool Idea.

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cletus
Let me give you my feedback with one disclaimer: like most HN readers, I doubt
I'm a typical user. Sometimes it's hard for us tech types and early adopters
to appreciate "normal" usage of pretty much anything.

I go to the site and my initial thought is: too dark. In fact I saw an article
on colour theory recently that explained why you should never use black. I
can't find it at the moment. I'll add it if I do.

Another thought: some of the things loading on the site seemed to be a bit
slow.

The home page says "Make a party mix with your friends!". Ok, that gives some
idea of what the site is for but what problem is this solving?

I click on some of the mixes there but nothing seems to come up. What is it
meant to be? Collections of Youtube videos? If you're having a party, how do
you use such a mix? Most people will want to play such things through a
stereo, probably through an iPod. Youtube videos require a computer (or an
iPad or iPod Touch). Sound quality is typically worse. Bandwidth is an issue.

I can see why you chose Youtube as it's one of the very few ways of getting
music on the internet but really for mass adoption something like this needs
to integrate with iTunes or something else you can just play. Distribution of
such content is going to be a huge problem. There was a post on HN in the last
couple of weeks saying that music startups were basically dead. Legal barriers
too high. Content owners stuck in the past that will simply bleed you dry.

The site suggests Facebook login. I guess to connect with your friends. But
the mixes on the front page were public. So, as a user, I'm confused. Is this
public or something I do with my friends or both? There's no clear message
here.

What I think would need to drive this is high ranking on Google. This might
take some research and possibly some AdWords. Things like "80s party mix".
Themes like that.

Another big problem: Youtube allows you to create playlists on the site. What
incentive and advantage is there to going somewhere else to compile this?

Music is a hard problem. Medieval content owners, iTunes being a closed
ecosystem. It's tough.

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EGreg
Hey thanks for the feedback so far. I hope I get some more perspectives, also.
I just wanted to address some of your questions...

First of all, my primary goal was -- I just wanted to make a site where there
would be a continuous party mix for my parties, that people could add to
during the party, or even add songs before they come to the party, so everyone
can hear the songs they love.

what does it have that YouTube playlists don't?

1) continuous playing ... songs fade into each other if you just let it run

2) cut out non-music ... people who add a video can choose where it fades in
and out

3) social contributions ... anyone can add their favorite songs to a mix

4) I kind of hoped that social contributions + people using the site would
make it ALWAYS up to date, without constantly curating new and popular songs
... in 2011 it would be the best party mixes automatically, etc.

the dark color scheme - mainly because videos usually require a dark
background in order to look good when playing. Especially if you are going to
put it on your big screen TV, which I do at my parties (my primary use case).

why I picked youtube -- yeah, unlimited songs for free, and makes copyright
not my problem since I am using YouTube's API along with thousands of other
people. Muziik already made VEVO pull their videos, whatever's left is fair
game

~~~
darkxanthos
Ahh! I looked at it for a few seconds and didn't "get it". That sounds awesome
though! Don't try to sell to every possible use of your site just sell to that
one.

Also youmixer doesn't really tell me anything about this. partymix or crowdmix
or... Something else. Target it to that and give it a VERY simple UI that gets
the party started asap. I want an easy quick way to direct my friends and
guests to it so they can add songs. A) I want to have it up and running on a
computer at all times like a kiosk. B) it'd be awesome if i could just have
all of my friends register their email addresses with and send requests via
email.

Get your interface out of the way of the fun and I bet you've got solid gold.

~~~
EGreg
Thanks man! It addressed my real-world problem at my parties so I figured it
would help anyone who has a party. People kept wanting to add songs during the
party. Now they can :) Now anyone can use it for their party.

I think you're right, about partymix or crowdmix etc. Unfortunately they are
all taken.

Would you like to help me with this? I could use another pair of eyes on it.
I've already built all the tech, now it's a matter of making it dead simple
and social.

BY THE WAY:

If someone from HN thinks this site has potential and would like to come in
and help me refactor it to the point where it's simple, popular and viral --
I'd be glad to make you a 50% owner of the project. Right now youmixer is
pretty much just for me and my friends who "get it". I think the site is
pretty close to being something everyone can "get", and I'd like to see this
experiment through to the end.

Let me know if you're interested -- <http://magarshak.com/contact>

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EGreg
I don't want to say any more so as not to influence you ... just evaluate the
site on its own merits.

I mainly made this site for my own parties, but what if I wanted to make it
popular?

1\. What do you guys think is keeping people from actually creating music
mixes and inviting their friends, like I do and a couple of my friends do?

2\. What would you recommend I do to change that and actually make people use
it?

I'm just looking to learn and get feedback :)

