Your music sucks

I have a habit of opening multiple tabs on Firefox at once, then slowly browse through each tab at my own pace and leisure. So you can imagine my joy when I hear the Jonas Brothers in all their teeny-bopping glory blasting through my speakers suddenly after opening 15 or so new tabs. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to go through each tab, scroll up and down to find the tiny, nearly non-existent music player just so I can stop Nick, Joe, or Kevin from singing one more verse of “When You Look Me In The Eyes¹“.

Every time I find the culprit site, I have the mad urge to leave a comment on it saying “TAKE DOWN YOUR DAMN MUSIC PLAYER!” because honestly, no one cares. If I wanted to listen to music, I’ll listen to my OWN music, thank you very much. I don’t care if you think this one song is so awesome, I don’t want that thing blasting through my speakers, scaring the begeezus out of me. Did it every occur to you, those of you who have one of these annoying players on your site, that your readers might already be perfectly content listening to music on their computers?

So my advice to you is this: take the music player off². Tada! Seriously, this isn’t rocket science. If people want to listen to that song, they’ll go listen to it, without you shoving it in their face, or in this case, their ears.Error processing request

Ok, I know this is an old song, but it’s their only song that I can actually stand, and even then, I don’t like it all that much. ↩
Only if it’s an automatic player, those have got to die. But if it’s a manual music player, sure, keep it ↩

written on June 22, 2009 in Rants, WWW

61 Comments

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http://crumpledpaper.ca Christine

I can't stand that either. And because of that I have a tendency to leave my sound on mute. This occasionally panics me when I come across something I do want sound for and I start to think my speakers are broken! Lol.

So yah, I whole heartedly second that advice.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Hahaha. But yeah, it's not fair that we should have to adjust how we browse the web/use our computers because some people can't have the decency/common sense to remove their stupid automatic music player.

http://cyniquence.com Cy

Ah, yes that nightmare. At least most sites have started to learn and are leaving them off (or you know, it could be the change in the types of sites I visit these days). It's just the occasional blogspot that gets me. I do what Christine does and usually mute until sound is needed and plug in my speakers to my ipod so I can listen to exactly what I want.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I try to avoid visiting the genre of sites that have music players now too, just because it irks me way too much. But every while, you end up walking in doggy poo, I mean, landing on one of those sites, by accident. Woe is life

http://intherain.net Trish

Ugh, I know. I always wondered if I should put music on my site, but these were the reasons I didn't. I hate when the music I hate plays. I usually click out of a site if it plays random music, unless it's like theme music or something.

Hey, is your avatar from NANA? It looks familiar, haha.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Please don't, and if you do, don't make it automatic. I don't know the characters in my avatar, I just thought it was funny, not to mention totally suitable for this post

http://reverie.violinstar.net Stephanie

Music players on automatic play are annoying, I must agree. Some people actually like music players. I know I do. It gives you a chance to find new music. I have a player on my site and people actually use it. So, I guess it depends on the person and the type of music you're into.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Hmm, true, I admit I have found new music thanks to the NON automatic music players on people's sites. But the least I ask is that I get to control whether I want it to play or not

http://angelasilvers.com/ Angela

your rants crack me up and i agree

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I try to make my rants funny so people don't think I'm just some cynical bitch who complains about everything

http://www.panikku.com Ongaku

Gah, I really hate it when people have music on their sites as well because I either have my sound off, for work, or I'm listening to my own music on the computer… so then it just gets in the way. X_X Plus, it just slows everything done on the site, so it is worthless.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

It does slow the site down, which is pretty bad since those type of sites probably already have 10 other useless scripts running at the same time.

http://herssecret.com anne

LOL ya i use to have music on my blog as well until it annoyed the crap out of me!

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I think I might have had one too, but thank goodness it was never on automatic.

http://girlandcity.com SassyGirl

I feel the exact same way! I hate clicking through tabs looking for the culprit. What's worse is when you've found the music player, but you can't find the pause or stop button! I usually end up closing that site immediately.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

The worst kind is the kind where the music just plays and you can't even find the damn player. I do close the site and make a mental note never to visit it again, lest they get an angry and public comment from me about their lack of common sense and poor taste in music

http://bumplum.com Raisy

I think that with music players, if you're gonna do it, at least don't make it automatic. I don't mind them much, just as long as I have the ability to press play and stop when I want to.

And yes, there are some musical tastes out there that are questionable. Jonas Brothers? :

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Lol, Jonas Brothers isn't the worst I've heard yet, though I usually don't stay long enough to find out how bad their taste can really get.

http://www.swashedbylife.com Annie

I hate music players on sites too. It makes me go crazy. I also hate those advertisements that make sounds! If I stumble upon a site with music I either mute everything or I just leave the site.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Ads aren't too much of a problem for me because the AdBlock Plus plugin takes care of those for me. But yes, unwelcome music/sounds are just plain annoying.

Katy

Pretty cool post. I just found your site and wanted to say

that I have really liked browsing your posts. Any way

I'll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you write again soon!

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Thank you for your encouraging comments and for subscribing I'm glad you enjoyed my posts!

http://rainbowscraps.net Tin

I agree, music players can get really annoying, especially if their music overlaps with another song which I'm really listening to. These music players are fine by me as long as they do not automatically play on page load.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Which is why now I rarely listen to music while bloghopping, or I listen to it from my ipod dock instead, and turn my volume to mute.

http://empty-dialogue.com Sapphire

LOL!! yyeah I hate background music @_@ It's annoying, especially when your computer freezes while you have your own music open, and both songs are playing so not only does it ruin your song, but it wont stop! AHHH X.X

http://riyuu.org Mimi

OMG yes Having my browser freeze while the music is still playing and losing all those other open tabs because I need to restart my browser irks me like none other. One day, I will end up leaving a nasty comment on one of those sites out of frustration, I can just see it.

http://www.hello-stranger.com/ Camila

I too have the tendency of opening up a million tabs. It's so convenient I hate it when music just starts playing out of nowhere though. and sometimes a random video will start playing extremely loud and it takes me foreeeever to find where it's coming from! I guess some people still think it's cool to have midi players..

And you're right, when people are playing their own music, it's even worse.

Mm I'm not a fan of the Jonas Brothers either.. they annoy me haha.

Cute blog

http://riyuu.org Mimi

That's what tabs are for! I like being able to control what I want to hear/watch, without the sites deciding for me. Especially if it's Jonas Brothers music or PETA infomercials, those need to die.

http://cindy.antipatica.org Cindy

I also hate those embedded videos that play automatically … same reasons. I mean sure, embed a vid if you must, but at least let the user choose when she is ready to play it!

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Ah, that's even worse! I do believe I visited a site once with one of these wretched things and I ended up leaving a comment telling the owner about the problem because it was so annoying. What's worse, it was a PETA infomercial. Kill me please.

http://blog.haley.nu/ Haley

There is seriously nothing tackier than having a flash or javascript music player blasting some horrid song without the visitor's permission. I despise it. Glad to see someone agrees.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I think most people woul agree that these music players are tackier than Amy Winehouse on a bad day, but sadly, some people just don't get it.

http://www.justkiwee.com Joann

That made me laugh. I agree 100% with you and well, I don't really know how the Jonas brothers sound seeing as I've never head one of their songs but I can imagine how annoying it must have been. If people want to share their music that much though then it would be better if it was a music player that didn't start on it's own and required prompting.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Jonas Brothers is "the boy band" teeny-boppers worship nowadays, kind of like N'SYNC and Backstreet Boys a decade ago, but a lot worse looking and lots of bad music. As you can tell, I'm totally not a fan. But I do agree that non-automatic music players are tolerable, as long as it doesn't make the site slow and laggy.

http://pinkfab.info anne

i also open multiple tabs esp. if I'm blog hopping.

yea! I wonder how annoying it can be if the music played are screamo genres. haha! very unpleasant to hear. Ü

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Screamo genres? Sounds…loud, . If anyone did put that sort of music on their site, on automatic, they need to be stoned to death. Seriously.

http://pinstripesandconverse.co.uk Jasmin

I hate music players too. Once I actually had to unplug my speakers because the music was so terrible and the player took so long to find within my network of tabs

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I wish I could unplug something to make the music stop, but I'm usually on my laptop. So sometimes I just plug in headphones to silence the damn music.

http://gigglebox.bravehost.com fiona

I know exactly what you mean! I like to browse random personal sites and the other day I was greeted by that god damn numa numa song on someones crappy plug site! It was really embarassing as well as it interupted the silence in the room ¬_¬ great site btw, I really like your blogging tips

http://riyuu.org Mimi

HAHAHAHAHA, numa numa! Seriously, someone would actually put that song on their site? Must have been quite humiliating for you
Thanks, glad you like my posts!

http://totalrapture.net Liesl

I agree. Music players on websites is simply pointless, AND annoying. I do the same thing you do – I open up a bunch of tabs and browse through them and the same thing happened to me. After I had some tabs open, I started listening to music and some Linkin Park song started playing. It took me forever to find the website it was coming from. I do like Linkin Park (and I like some of the Jonas Brothers' songs, too) but it's still kinda rude to have a music player on your site that starts automatically. I don't mind the ones that don't but I still think they're useless. People shouldn't use their websites to play music, it's just kind of an amateur move in my opinion. Any other experienced web designer would know it's a big no-no.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

You're right, I do agree having music on your blog is amateurish, especially if you have it on automatic. I also realized that Disney's website plays music automatically too, but eh, it's Disney

http://ipeedalittle.com Justin

I couldn't agree more. I already have music on when I return comments, so it's weird when 2 songs start playing at the same time…. even though 1/100 times, they sound cool together… but the other 99 times, i want to kill the person. haha

http://riyuu.org Mimi

, I feel you. I've yet to experience that 1/100th moment where the songs actually sound good though

http://hoshigirl.com Gel

I'VE EXPERIENCED THAT BEFORE AND I HATED IT AS WELL. Haha that's why I keep the volume on mute as much as possible whenever I do some "bloghopping". Ugh. I don't really see the point of having music on your site, really.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

I try to keep my volume on mute as well, but sometimes I forget or worse, I'm listening to music while bloghopping

http://blog.paperskies.net Averie

I totally understand what you mean by opening multiple tabs in Firefox. I do that all the time, sometimes there are more than 20 or 30 tabs open at once! Music players do suck, I hate it when I have to look for who's site it is, takes a freakishly long time when you have bizillion tabs open!

But still, multiple-tabs ftw right?

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Multiple tabs ftw, all the way But automatic music players = fail, and looking for the culprit while having multiple tabs = FAIL in capital letters.

http://paintedhearts.org Michi

I totally agree with you! I also open multiple tabs at once so I usually encounter such sites. I don't get why people have to embed those players that automatically play music in their sites. If they still want to put a music player, just please don't make it start automatically. It really annoys a lot of people.

http://riyuu.org Mimi

Couldn't agree more. It's the worst when I accidentally have my volume up at 100 and I get some trashy music blasting out of nowhere, while I'm on my laptop, in the living room. Ugh.