Mar 17 2008
Stop The Music!
Imagine this - you are quietly surfing the web on the computer in your bedroom in the early morning while your spouse slumbers peacefully in bed nearby. Suddenly and unexpectedly music starts blaring from the speakers! Ahhh! You try to find the volume control as quickly as possible, but it is too late. “What are you doing?” comes the grumble from the bed. Yup, you have been nailed by a website with auto-play music.
Or you are happily surfing away on your lunch hour at work, because you certainly wouldn’t do it during normal work hours, when all of a sudden your computer springs to life and starts screaming, screeching, and maybe even rapping. All eyes turn towards you. There is no happiness in cubicle land today, for you have broken the silence as surely as if you had let one fly after dining at Taco Bell. But no, all you did was visit a blog where someone has a music video with auto-play enabled.
Now trust me, I love music as much or more than the next person. And I love watching funny videos on-line or even stupid ones. Hey, I even watch music videos on-line. But the nice thing about the web is that it I can use it, surf it, or ignore it on my schedule. Please let the sounds be the same way. If I want to hear the music you have on your site or watch the video demonstration you created to pump up your “I want to make a million on the Internet” business site, then I will click Play. Otherwise, please leave it off. What is the end result if you don’t? The result is that I, and lots of others like me, will just stop visiting your site. Rough yes, but it is the truth. The best you can hope for is that we will turn of the volume before we get to your site, so what is the point anyway?
Additionally, auto-play just chews up bandwidth. And that is really annoying when you are trying to multiple things at once. Just sucks away the traffic flow.
Maybe it is just me, but I find this really annoying. Am I wrong? Am I missing something here?
It’s not just you. I’ve got a list of “Do Not Visit” blogs. They either blast music at me, play their videos for me, or try to load so many things that they make my browser crash. It’s very sad, really, because some of them have interesting sites. I love reciprocating drops, but for those folks… I can’t. Much sadness.
I wholeheartedly agree. Please, please, please don’t autoplay anything!
haleyhughes’s last blog post..Life: Big Trouble with The Friday Five
@Keylly - Wish I could somehow set up a warning on my browser that would pop up a message of “do you really want to visit this site? They have auto-play enabled.”
@HaleyHughes - nice to know I am not the only one
I can’t stand autoplay. It scares the crap out of me when I am alone. Sometimes the music doesn’t bother me, but those ads stink!
beeker’s last blog post..My TiVo thinks I am deceased.
I am 100% anti-autoplay! It was big just after MySpace got huge. i say it is needless and annoying now.
Damien Riley’s last blog post..Kicking Up the Cobblestones
Everyone complains about it, nobody seems to like it, yet bloggers KEEP DOING IT. Why? Very little makes me want to tune out quicker than autoplay.
@Michael… a warning like that would be most excellent! It would make a nice FireFox plugin.
@Damien… it seems to still be very popular over in MySpace, which is one of the reasons I don’t venture into that wild realm very often. My nephew — MY OWN BLOOD KIN! — had autoplay happening the last time I visited his page. I did send him a note about it, but he’s 18. He’s not likely to listen to his old auntie.
@Kelly - I may have to look up how to program FireFox plugins. I have been looking for a small programming project to work on.
@Feefifoto - I hit another one this morning. Thought about leaving a comment or sending an email about it. But then I figured they probably wouldn’t care.
@Beeker - I wasn’t even touching the subject of the ads. I know that one site has a Taco Bell one that starts playing as soon as you land on it.
@Damien - I have never used MySpace much, and that was one of the things I always disliked about it. Would just suck the life out of your browser and machine.
I do these Music Monday posts (like my latest entry) but the clips are NEVER on auto play. I’ve experienced what you stated above and 1) it’s embarrassing 2) it’s annoying 3) i’m probably never visiting that site again
[...] Fuzzy Crew wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptNow trust me, I love music as much or more than the next person. And I love watching funny videos on-line or even stupid ones. Hey, I even watch music videos on-line. But the nice thing about the web is that it I can use it, surf it, … [...]
I hate, hate, hate websites with music!
Cyn’s last blog post..Thinking of Closing Collie Rescue
[...] demogirl wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptNow trust me, I love music as much or more than the next person. And I love watching funny videos on-line or even stupid ones. Hey, I even watch music videos on-line. But the nice thing about the web is that it I can use it, surf it, … [...]
@Crystal - I hit another one today, one of the Entrecard people.
@Cyn - Agreed. Also found out today that I have good friend who’s business site has autoplay of their radio ad. Arg! I have to work her to get that changed.
Michael’s last blog post..Stop The Music!
Sadly I use to visit lost of music blogs, and many of them have auto play music, I hate that, so I have to rapidly find the source and stop the music, or turn it off before it plays.
In entrecarder blogs is the same, I drop back every drop, and sometime the other blog have autoplay-anything, I try to read every blog I visit, but when it is so annoying it’s even hard to find the entrecard widget at least
@Xacur - yup, and now we have the people putting up the fake Entrecard widgets. You know, the ones that look like the Entrecard ones, even have a yellow / gold bar across the bottom, but go to some other site or a pay-per-click site instead of Entrecard?
You are spot on. Usually it’s the crappiest cheesiest music anyway, so I keep the speakers off. sheesh, I equate it with yelling.
Carla’s last blog post..Happy Friday!
Autoplay is just wrong.
Ben Barden’s last blog post..Incentives for subscribing to a site
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