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I read once that over 30% of visitors will instantly leave a website if it has a music intro. Here is a good read on 10 reasons websites shouldn't play music
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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The ones that talk are the ones I hate. Especially when I have my speakers turned up because the last thing I listened to had low volume output... that woman's computer voice blasting out at you is enough to cause a stroke.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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agreed...I design sites and don't recommend music for the most part...there are sites were it works well, but for the majority, it's just a waste of bandwidth and doesn't add to the sites functionality. my cheap .02.
-------------------- Scott Eckland Chelsea Signs web: chelseasigns.com email: scott@chelseasigns.com 734.475.9704 Posts: 198 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2002
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Thanks for the link, Kelly. I've been trying to convince my client to leave out the music he wants to include in the site I'm developing for him. This might help.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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I have never ever used any service from a website that talks or plays music...
I know not a single person who likes the music or talky sites.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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That talking smiley that bellows out Heeellllooow... scares the crap out of me on a regular basis. I'd like to catch the nerd who designed him and give him helllloooow!
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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posted
good points BUT what if the music was smooth jazz and very pleasing as oppposed to a persona talking about a product OR annoying music from the 80s?
-------------------- You ever notice how easily accessible people are when they are requiring your services but once they get invoice you can't reach them anymore
posted
BUT, what if I am already listening to something, or I am a location where I don't want sound coming out of my computer? And, what if I hate jazz? It's always possible to put music on a site that visitors can choose to play if they want to. To force it on them is rude in my opinion. As soon as I hear the music, the page is closed.
I just don't get it. If the people who make those sites love that music so much, they can play it to their heart's content. Why do they feel the need to force everyone else to listen?
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I bet a lot of the people who instantly leave the sites with music are in a work environment where they don't want their co-workers to know that they are web surfing, shopping online, posting on Letterville, etc.
When somebody visits your website, should you greet them with music? And if so, what kind of music? The NextStage Founder tells you when and which tunes to use.
Several regular readers of both this column and my blog wrote me with questions about using music on websites. So I'm going to flesh out some concepts here.
It's not one thing: it's all things An important aspect of web design and development -- one increasingly important as rich media applications become more prevalent -- is the understanding that no one thing is going to make or break success unless that one thing is so glaringly catastrophic as to invite calamity. Let me give you some examples from a research paper NextStage is currently working on:
* Placing high quality, expensive, prestigious items on a bright background will decrease online sales of those items by as much as 50 percent * Using contemporary music on a site merchandising upscale items decreases sales by as much as 75 percent
Those are big numbers for what are simple oofs, yet they are examples of....
*snip*
The simplest breakdown is age group and gender I'll offer a large generality here and strongly suggest you do your own market research before going with this:
1. For people under 35 years old, with a western cultural orientation, who are going to a site recognized for sound events (again, an iTunes-ish kind of site), autoloading popular music or having sound events is a good thing. (See this post for more.)
2. For people over 35 years old, with the other factors the same as those under 36, autoloading popular, generational music and sound events is good-- provided the volume is low, as in "background" music.
3. For people under 35 years old, with an Asian cultural orientation, and with the other factors the same as #1, above, it's a toss up. Sorry, folks. Data supports quiet music and sound events on autoload for people with a definite Asian cultural orientation, not so for youthful native-Asians with an adoptive Western cultural paradigm in place.
4. For people over 35 years old, with Asian cultural orientation, going to a recognized sound event site, music or sound events should always be soft and of cultural origin even if they're going to a western-oriented site. (There's just enough data to suggest this at present. We're still researching it.)
5. For a site targeting males, use guitars, bass and brass because they lean towards band instruments and sounds.
6. For a site targeting females, use strings, woodwinds and piano because they lean towards orchestra instruments and sounds.
posted
Yeah....... I removed the music I had installed on our website. My daughter said that "boinkety boink, sssssstPHAH de donkety saaahh" was not going to get it. Oh well....
P
-------------------- Pierre St.Marie Stmariegraphics Kalispell,Mt www.stmariegraphics.com ------------------ Plan on knowing everything before I die and time's running out! Posts: 4223 | From: Kalispell,Mt 59903 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Brent, it's more often than not that I'm listening to my own music. Someone on Letterville might post a site that they like, or one of my friends will, and I go there, and BOOM, BOOM, BOOM I'm all of a sudden looking for a way to shut off the noise that has taken over my machine. I'm not doing anything illegal, immoral, or otherwise improper. I just don't want their music in my headphones. I consider it the height of rudeness. Spam might be effective advertising for those who choose to use it, but I consider it offensive. The same is true for music that automatically starts playing when I visit a site. Some people might like it, but I hate it with a passion.
Edited to add: I also turn off sounds on any instant messenger I use, and I turn off the sound theme that windows gives. I don't like my computer making noise unless I ask it to.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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I absolutely hate websites that play music. Then again, every store I go into these days seems to be bombarding their customers with loud music. I was in Macy's the other night trying to help Samantha find a dress for the holidays and I couldn't even hear myself think.
I've emailed many companies and told them the music was keeping me out of their stores.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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