Last.fm has dropped their new layout on the masses and its reception has been less than enthusiastic.
In the interest of fairness, I'll first list the things that I like about the new layout.
1.) The Library. I love the amount of new information this offers. I have really enjoyed browsing my own library and those of people I know. This is an outstanding addition.
2.) That's about it.
Things I do not like:
1.) The Library. At least on my profile page. I keep seeing the same 8 pictures from the same 8 artists every time I look at that page. It has become boring very quickly.
2.) Overall site navigation. What once took a few clicks and was easy to find even for someone unfamiliar with the site has become an Easter Egg Hunt.
3.) Layout. It doesn't stretch to accommodate wide-screen resolutions (This is for future ad space. Mark my words right now. You heard it here first.) There is a reason so many users have compared it to Facebook - because that's what it looks like. If you're going after tweens, this is perfect, I suppose. If they were trying to attract a more sophisticated user (users with more money) then they blew it.
4.) Discovering New Music. The tools I used to discover new music are now mostly gone. Weekly neighbors, group recommendations, tag playlists, free downloads, etc... all gone. Or, in the case of the free music, so hidden and curtailed that is basically useless.
I've been wandering around the Internet for quite some time and I have seen site redesigns succeed and fail. Every time a site with a dedicated user-base makes a drastic change the response is typically one of outrage. The reactions over at the Last.fm forums, however, are a little different. There is, of course, the initial shock and cries of 'Change it back!', etc, but what makes this little insurrection different is that many of the beta testers themselves are making just as much noise as the rabble that only saw the new redesign for the first time Thursday.
Since the beginning of the 'beta' phase, there have been numerous complaints about the layout, navigation, functionality and overall design. The staff over at Last.fm asked for, and received, thousands of feedback reports which they seem to have completely ignored. The beta testers (of which I was one, in the interest of full disclosure) were told repeatedly that the beta layout we were toying with was a work in progress. These assurances continued literally until the moment it went live. So much for user feedback.
CBS came in and spent close to $300 million for Last.fm and, in an attempt to recoup that expense, they have turned Last.fm from a modestly profitable and close-knit community into just another Myspace or Facebook. The same thing happened to LiveJournal. It was small, it was profitable and it was growing nicely. Then it was bought by SixApart who promptly added advertisements and other money-grabbing schemes in an attempt to make back their investment as quickly as possible. The older, more sophisticated users, (i.e. users with disposable income) left in droves and took their paid subscriptions with them. SixApart eventually had to sell it off and the site is now only a shell of it's former potential because of the corporate, bottom-line mentality. Last.fm, I'm afraid, is about to suffer a similar fate.
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