Miscellany

My New Addiction: Turntable.fm

June 24, 2011

turntable-2

That’s me on the DJ table spinning Don Henley’s “The Boys Of Summer” to a room full of happy music lovers. I’m in a room dedicated to 80s songs on Turntable.fm, and I’m completely addicted to this site.

If you love music and social networking, you’ll probably love Turntable.fm. The DJs take turns playing one song. The crowd votes each song as either “lame” or “awesome” and the DJ gains a point for each “awesome” vote. As you gain points, the DJ gets to change his/her avatar and gains status/reputation amongst other users. (It’s still a very early/limited beta, and additional point-related rewards are sure to be added later.)

In that photo, I have 577 points and an “evil green cat” avatar; as I type this, I’m closing in on 1,000 points and will upgrade to a gorilla avatar, or maybe the Deadmau5-inspired mouse.

There’s a big database of songs to choose from and add to your playlist, and you can also upload your own songs if your favorites are missing. (Like, oddly, Def Leppard is missing from the database.) I’ve heard songs on Turntable.fm that I loved 25 years ago and haven’t heard since. (Anyone remember “The Promise” by When In Rome?)

While the songs are playing, there’s also a chat window where you can have fun and talk with anyone else in the room. I’ve actually made friends via this thing — a group of folks that likes to hang out in one of the various 80s rooms that’s open at any given time.

Crazy, this Internet thing.

3 Comments

  • Reply Chris July 2, 2011 at 12:41 am

    Addiction is right. That’s me in the monkey suit in the audience šŸ˜‰ It is a fun community building up though.

  • Reply Matt July 2, 2011 at 12:48 am

    Chris! How in the name of all that’s holy did you find this blog post?? Too funny — thx for dropping by.

  • Reply Chris July 3, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    Just a random googling. I was curious if there were any discussion bits cropping up about TT. Nice post too btw.

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