I’ve been a Pandora user for a while, and I love my Sirius Satellite radio, but recently I was introduced to Grooveshark by the lovely folks at Reddit. Great service, easy to use, all browser-based. And there’s a mobile app available, though you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone.
So far the UI has been easy to use, and it was even smart enough to register and log me into my new account immediately, without waiting for email confirmation or even stopping the music from playing. Wow. A “Tip of the Hat” to the engineers at Grooveshark.
But the thing that sealed it for me, and has me contemplating a VIP account with Grooveshark:
Really? “cowbell.grooveshark.com”? I’m officially hooked.
I’ve always liked Clay Shirkey. Smart guy, pissed enough to be honest (or is that honest enough to be pissed), but there’s also a hint of optimism that makes him reasonable rather than unbearable.
He gave a great keynote, but the story I liked the most was about a friend of his. This friend was watching a DVD with his daughter when his daughter hopped up, ran around the back of the television, and started rummaging through the cables. After a few minutes, dad asks her, “What are you doing?”
The little girl peeks her head out from behind the television.
“I’m looking for the mouse.”
Clay’s response is, paraphrasing, if it’s not interactive, it’s broken. Television and traditional media outlets, and the world in general, need to realize that all the “free time” we have these days will be spent sharing and contributing to the social web. That’s the essence of Web 2.0 and the future of social networks.
Codebum the Monkey getting things done at Web 2.0. At least somebody is!
Rule of the Road #637: if you cannot drive more than 10 mph under the speed limit while talking on you cell phone—pull over!
