New player in the works! will Aug. 31

Our current "Instant Preview" was designed so you could quickly work your way through tunes you were interested in, without the hassle of clicking and waiting for the clip to load somewhere. I came up with it because when I was a vinyl addict I knew how important it is to quickly get an impression of a tune: lets face it most people are picky motherfuckers (I know I am) and over 90% of what you stumble upon you can decide if you are gonna like it or not after a few seconds of listening. Now in this respect the instant preview player was nice, you could fast as fuck go through all the latest releases. The problem is, when you do hit upon something that sounds like it might be interesting, you have to do some mouse hovering gymnastics in order to listen to the whole clip: if you move the mouse pointer away you'll have to start all over again. This is kind of a pain in the arse, and you can't jump to the middle of the tune.

So for the new player two things were top priority: it has to be fast as fuck, with the absolute minimum of waiting required (if you are on a modem still then you are screwed anyway of course...), and you should be able to skip into any part of the clip you want. With the skipping feature, I thought it would be really nice to be able to visualize the waveform you are listening to. For a lot of electronic styles in particular it's usually pretty easy to spot the "drop": where the intro ends and the main tune kicks in. So with these requirements in mind I set to work on the new player, with a browseable waveform. The current dev version looks like this:

This is a screenshot from a release page, which is pretty much finished. The list views still have to be done, which should take a week or two if I pull my finger out :D The waveforms have been added right into the page, so you can just click on any part you are interested in right away : no waiting for popups to load. Also the player will start playing the following clip automatically, so if you click to listen to the first clip you can go and write an email if you like while the thing plays. The release page has also had a bit of a make-over: the cover art is larger, and the details have been re-arranged so all the geeky metadata is all in one place. Also the Similar releases/ Similar artist / Fans boxes now fit down the right hand side if your screen resolution is 1024 x 768, which last time i looked was pretty much everyone. Haven't quite decided where to stick the banners yet, probably insert it under the breadcrumb trail (home // releases // from_sunflowers_and_papayas )

Digital Tunes facebook integration will Nov. 19

Today we rolled out an update to Digital Tunes which includes the brand new Digital Tunes facebook application and some other nice facebook integration features.

One of the coolest new features is that now customers can login straight from Facebook into Digital Tunes, so if you are a facebook user you don't have to register to buy tunes. When you purchase tunes using your facebook login then your friends will be told about your latest purchases, so you can easily keep them up to date with the latest tunes in your bag.

For artists and labels with music for sale on Digital Tunes, or for fans of the artists or labels, you can easily share your music with friends on Facebook by adding the Digital Tunes facebook app . You can create as many "selections" as you want, each one listing the latest releases from an artist/label or bestsellers list. When you create a selection all your friends will be alerted via the feed in facebook, and it will also be updated on to your profile page.

Each release on Digital Tunes also has a new "share" link, just underneath the catalogue number, letting you tell your friends on Facebook about it. This is a good way to share a find on Digital Tunes with your friends, or promote your new release.

Busy year ahead! glenn Jan. 21

Lots of big things lined up for this year! Looking forward to do some big things in the coming year with loads of interesting projects lined up. On the production side of things there is a fair few releases lined up so stay locked. I will be posting up some info as things becomes more clearer. Also the Beatniks nights in Helsinki has found a new home so we will be seeing some more action regarding that aswell, starting in march, just in time for my birthday. Also going down in the beginning of feb,2nd to be exact is the Vibez rec night that will feature myself, DJ Buzzby, Subject 13 and Resound for a night of DNB @1001, Brick Lane in London so if you`re in the area make sure to come down for a pint or two.

If you are a promoter and intrested in a night, don`t hesitate to get in touch for more info, press etc. contact me at physics@midnightsunrecordings.com

GlennPhysics