Statement from LotusFlow3r designer to members (UPDATED 3/27)

This note just came our way:


We understand that several people have had issues with the site, and we're working diligently to address them all as quickly as possible. With the great amount of traffic that we've received there have been some issues getting the large amount of content in the site out to everyone simultaneously. We're currently doubling the size of our server farm in order to make sure that fans can get all of the albums and videos they desire. To accommodate our friends overseas we've relaxed some of the normal security checks put in place by American banks. Since the vault has 3D and video, which is pushing the boundary of the web and current technology, only newer machines can adequately handle it. If fans are experiencing choppy videos in the vault, they should click the fullscreen button on the video and it should improve their experience. Thanks to everyone for their patience while we scale up LotusFlow3r.com to accommodate the great response from Prince fans all over the world.

Thanks so much,
Scott

3/26/09 UPDATE: the MPSoUND zip was fixed last night, and they're working on optimizing video playback...


****

3/27/09 UPDATE: We've launched an optimized version of the site tonight that should address a good amount of the issues that people have been experiencing.

We've optimized the Flash throughout the site which should help improve the experience on all computers.

We've recompiled the zip files of all of the albums so if anyone has had issues with downloading any of the albums they should attempt to download them again. It's recommended that they only attempt to downloading one of the WAV zips at a time as they are each over 400MB.

The video playback should be improved somewhat, but we are working on making it flawless.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Scott & the LotusFlow3r.com team

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

I actually had better results when I switched from full-screen mode back to regular. I am using Safari on an iMac.

Anxiety said:

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

Anxiety said:

thank U

Definitely cool to see such a quick response from the designer. The fullscreen definitely helps. Watching Sacrifice of Victor right now. Love it!

Jesus Christ. No fucking forethought, whatsoever.

I have a quad core processor 600gb hard drive a top of the line video card and its all choppy for me. O yeah, I have 16meg internet service too. So I should have no problems at all but I do cuz all of the traffic. They should have listed system requirements before launch, so that those with an older cpu wouldn't have joined just yet.

CerpinTaxt said:

Tell Scott that they need to increase their customer service before upgrading the server farm! Ive sent numerous emails about a real serious problem and have recieved no response!

Very poor poor planning on many levels. Step up your game boyz!
[Edited 3/25/09 19:44pm]

I agree that at full screen the vids play a little better, but still a little bit of static and choppines. As far as the albums, nice to know it was included in the price of the membership. I'm enjoying the majority of the songs on all the albums so far. I was able to download all the albums to my mp3 player.

However, in the meantime, while they are still in the process of working on the site, here's a few tips:

1) The part where you go in to signup your name, address, username, credit card info should be brighter; a white/yellow background to make it easier to see if the info is going in right would help.

2) Also, for new fans signing up, they need to be able to go to directly to a sign-up page to register for sign up, instead of playing a quiz to get to the sign-in/registration page.

3) Again, the freezing/choppiness of some of the vids when playing, even at full screen. The vids in the archives, some don't have sound and freeze, so that needs to be checked as well. That's all I have for now.
[Edited 3/25/09 21:00pm]

Anxiety said:

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

well ya know,

there are 3,000+ MFs on this site!!!!

Anxiety said:

There's still no way to log in if you don't have anything called Province/State/Region in your home country address.

whats the 3D part



?

Cuddles said:

whats the 3D part



?

Not sure what I make of that statement, I have in the past subscribed to sites by U2 and Liverpool (football club) and never had any of the problems I see many encountering here. The 3D thing is also abit lame, as there are sites out there using this technology with up to 10,000 users at a time and most of them are not even spending a dime.

I personally would have loved a top notch official Prince site, where a premium is paid for more exclusive material and where general music enthusiasts can access to enjoy the legacy of the past.

So far, I am glad that the european CC didnt work last nite.

i want my money BACK

cuz i am still not a member..

even though i got charged...

kick @$$ job Scott, the site rocks!!!!!

[b]I knew this shit would be suspect but I fell for it anyways!!! I can only hear one cd and can't hardly watch any of the footage!!! This shit better tighten up!! and why da hell don't they have a 3x in the t shirt??? Big men listen to Prince too!!!

I trust that they are ironing out the glitches etc. I never doubted that.

It's just a shame that the statement contained nothing to alleviate the concerns of those of us who have been severely overcharged! Or they could just reply to our emails.

Im glad to c this statement. Im sure there is more to come. I think its great for people like me way over here in NC becaues we or I cant come to LA. (Im saving tho. lol) I really like the site and have enjoyed the excitement. When I view the videos in full screen they work great. I keep looking around and cant wait to c whats to come. Peace and Love


ps....to whom it may concern... be nice, the only love there is, is the love u make!

Scott said:

Scott said:

Scott said:

Scott said:

Thanks for the heads up, guys. I guess I will hold off on my purchase for awhile.

2020 said:

i think WE ALL should consider this VERY SIGNIFICANT that a comment like that was sent 2 THIS WEBSITE!!!

HIGH FIVE!! TO THE .ORG & all it's members!!!!!

squirrelgrease said:

Jesus Christ. No fucking forethought, whatsoever.

I appreciate the updated statement....an email prior to launch would've been the right thing to do ...a tested site while there were kinks with prior sites there was a sense of order in place.


Feels like the money was collected first,then work on the system later.Now since my VAIO is older this means... For now, forget video watching.Full screen for the vids doesn't work, in my particular case.Perhaps, There will be a way for older systems to operate or DL the new videos.Not everyone has a new system,So again and this is the last time I will post a concern.Hopefully,The issue should be resolved by the LF site before launching or adding anything else.



Thanks to the members who have posted tips...
[Edited 3/25/09 22:07pm]
[Edited 3/25/09 22:11pm]
[Edited 3/25/09 22:13pm]

Scott said:

For the first time in my online career (lol) I find myself agreeing with Bart.

The problems with the site cannot simply be based on traffic. A professional & competent operation would have anticipated many of these problems re: credit card verification, security issues, etc.

MPLS wav was still broken the last time I checked. That has nothing to do with traffic, demand, or "cutting edge" design. The mp3's for some downloads aren't tagged for easy import into digital players. That has nothing to do with traffic, demand, or "cutting edge" design. This has to do with more attention paid to graphic design than functionality or usability. And no serious beta testing of the site, other than sneak peeks at Prince's mansion to a select few.

There is no clear customer service interface to handle problems with sign up, tech issues, etc.

THAT is why they sent the note here to Prince.org... because the Org has become the FAQ/Customer Service surrogate for Prince's $77 website.

I'm grateful that they DID respond, but it would be more appropriate for them to send an email to their paid customers FIRST, or at least post an announcement on their own site.

I'm sorry y'all... anyone who's known me my years online know I am the furthest thing from a naysayer... but there are no excuses for this. This is Prince's third rendition of a serious website presence... he should know better.

Anyone remember Tekadence?

NuPwrSoul said:

PurpleRok said:

i think WE ALL should consider this VERY SIGNIFICANT that a comment like that was sent 2 THIS WEBSITE!!!

HIGH FIVE!! TO THE .ORG & all it's members!!!!!

NuPwrSoul said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Yeah that's really great --- But what the fuck do we do in the meantime - I have downloaded these CD"s 3 times and my WINZIP will not open them so i can fucking listen to the damn thing. SHOULD HAVE WAITED TILL SUNDAY!!!!!

Its good they are aware of the problems and are working on them.

Somethings you just won't know what will happen until it happens... and well... shit happens.

The only things they should have done prior... would have been to allow true 'beta' testers. They painted the site as being very 'video gamish'... and that's how online games do. they select 'X' amount off users with various specs to work out bugs before hand.

Displaying the site to a select few in a controlled setting with thier state of the art systems... ie
Dual Core or 64 bit processing
likely 4+ gb of DDR2 memory
likely no less than 512 mb G-Force or Radeon video cards

its very unlikely they had a clue o the potential problems others with much lesser systems would experience.

The video cards was the spec I think they neglected most. I didn't consider it until I and others discovered better video play back in full scream. that simply means that the average video cards just can't handle all of the flash 3D and streaming content.

It appears that the designers/maintainers/etc of the site are a very small club.
Why else is there no telephone line open?
Or is the zip still unfixed?
This is no complaint, just gathering a picture on facts.

udo said:

that lotusflow3r site have an email address? i have a concern i'd like to email someone over there about.

thanks.

facedown7 said:

Cuddles said:

whats the 3D part



?

BigDaddyHQ said:

musicman said:

facedown7 said:

Yeah that's really great --- But what the fuck do we do in the meantime - I have downloaded these CD"s 3 times and my WINZIP will not open them so i can fucking listen to the damn thing. SHOULD HAVE WAITED TILL SUNDAY!!!!!

I'm with you. I downloaded both albums 5 time in mp3 form. I can't open shit. I was gonna buy the cds anyway Sunday. I just want the bonus trax from the web version.

But I'll wait until they get their stuff together.

I don't like downloading music anyway. That's why I like stores and Amazon.

.
[Edited 7/7/09 2:42am]

DigMeNow said:

facedown7 said:

errant said:

facedown7 said:

I know it's only 2 days but surely they knew the the fans would swarm the site wanting the new CD"s and such. Look what happend to the Jonas Brothers. Thier site crashed because fams wanted tickets etc etc. Same here, and PRINCE is much bigger than them. I just expected better thats all. and when U download something that u spend 77 $ u SHOULD be able to use it w/o any problems

I'm sorry but on March 24th, 2009, Prince is NOT bigger than the Jonas Brothers, much as we would like to think otherwise.

Don't know what my point is just saying.

facedown7 said:

errant said:

I'm sorry but on March 24th, 2009, Prince is NOT bigger than the Jonas Brothers, much as we would like to think otherwise.

Don't know what my point is just saying.

Right and who will be around after they are 4gotten????? come on now

facedown7 said:

errant said:

I'm sorry but on March 24th, 2009, Prince is NOT bigger than the Jonas Brothers, much as we would like to think otherwise.

Don't know what my point is just saying.

Right and who will be around after they are 4gotten????? come on now

facedown7 said:

musicman said:

I'm with you. I downloaded both albums 5 time in mp3 form. I can't open shit. I was gonna buy the cds anyway Sunday. I just want the bonus trax from the web version.

But I'll wait until they get their stuff together.

I don't like downloading music anyway. That's why I like stores and Amazon.

I am with you there. Now I feel all "taken" 77 $ is alot of money. 4 something u cant use, should have waited till sunday, but nooooo! It should not be THAT difficult Im sooooo pissed right now

stanleylieber said:

facedown7 said:

Right and who will be around after they are 4gotten????? come on now

ARGH...

keep track of your own point.

i doubt if prince attracted more visitors to lotusflow3r.com last night than the jonas brothers did to their site when it crashed.

errant said:

xlr8r said:

.
[Edited 7/7/09 2:43am]

This is why he needs Warner Bros!

stanleylieber said:

it's all good here, my sign-up and download process went smoothly on the first try.

Prince probably told them I do NOT want any words on the site Make sure you create a vast... empty space with just my music alone.I want my own world away from worlds...All I want is streaming 16 digit CC #s


Thank you, This meeting is done,Any questions? OK...fine have a good day gentleman I'll review the final specs.



[Edited 3/26/09 6:59am]

utopia7 said:

Prince probably told them I do NOT want any words on the site Make aure you create a vast empty space with just my music alone.I want my own world away from worlds...All I want is streaming 16 digit CC #s


Thank you, This meeting is done,Any questions? OK...fine have a good day gentleman I'll review the final specs.

stanleylieber said:

xlr8r said:

Don't I remember that one version of the NPGMC had a choice of whether you wanted the Flash side or non-Flash? Maybe something like that would help, although I have no idea how much extra work it'd mean.

It was good they communicated, but it could've been better. I know they probably have 42 gazillion emails, so maybe they should ask us to get an organized list together of what general problems still exist and who needs personal contact regarding billing issues, etc..

xlr8r said:

stanleylieber said:

relax. prince's legacy is intact no matter how many records the jonas dorks sell or how many fans they attract to their website.

NuPwrSoul said:

utopia7 said:

Prince probably told them I do NOT want any words on the site Make aure you create a vast empty space with just my music alone.I want my own world away from worlds...All I want is streaming 16 digit CC #s


Thank you, This meeting is done,Any questions? OK...fine have a good day gentleman I'll review the final specs.

ya know? and def NO "member connection" hahahahaha

xlr8r said:

stanleylieber said:

relax. prince's legacy is intact no matter how many records the jonas dorks sell or how many fans they attract to their website.

My point exactly.

stanleylieber said:

I just feel, as a graphic design minor, I might have at least a tiny bit of insight on this issue...

When designing anything, we were always taught that FUNCTIONALITY comes before everything else. (Yes, even aesthetics.) The site has to work and work effortlessly. Period. If it doesn't do that, then all of the artistic flourishes are ignored and put to waste due to user frustration.. (Here's an analogy:: Imagine walking into an art gallery, and before you could view any of the beautiful pieces, you had to complete a successful round of Sudoku just to properly view any kind of drawing or painting.. That's just frustrating, isn't it?)

I don't know about everyone else, but when I want to visit a Prince website, I just want the music and videos. I don't want to play a game. Heck, that's why we have video game counsels. They are BUILT solely for that purpose. Trying to make a website into some elaborate "Myst" experience is just a very poor idea on its face. Why? Because it all goes back to functionality. Websites are built for this and for accessing information first and foremost. If they aren't doing that very well, then there needs to be a redesign. It really is that simple.

Plus, why would you want to alienate a large portion of your fan base who happen to be running PC's with lower specs? If anyone has ever wondered why the "Diablo" video game series has been so ridiculously popular after all these years, I speculate that a large part of its success might have to do with the fact that ANYONE with ANY kind of computer can smoothly run the game. (PC or Mac) This increases your potential market share greatly and ends up benefiting everyone involved..

Basically, it comes down to this:: Make the website leaner, faster, and more straightforward. I say this even as a Graphic Design minor and Art major. There's a time and place for clever Flash tricks.. and this certainly isn't it.

heebong said:

i want my money BACK

cuz i am still not a member..

even though i got charged...

ShadeoViolet said:

The reason the videos are so choppy is that there are too high of a quality. Lower the quality and then the buffer will fill up faster than the play speed. Same for the audio MP3's. 320kps is over kill is you have the WAV versions. 193 kb s is more than enough if you put them on a portable player. I have a 3.2G machine and 4G memory and get choppy video. We all need a T3 connection. Anyone try the site on their company network?

kbarso said:

ShadeoViolet said:

kbarso said:

kbarso said:

kbarso said:

kbarso said:

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

Prince's New Subscription Web Site Greeted by Complaints and Derision
March 25
Link

After spending most of 2009 promoting his new online presence, Minnesota's own Prince finally launched LotusFlow3r.com Tuesday night as a paid site. And mere moments after paying their $77 for full admission, many Prince fans took to the Internet to start complaining.

Difficulty downloading songs, a cumbersome interface and overall lack of content were among the cries aired on the fan message board Prince.org, which inadvertently ended up acting as an FAQ for folks scratching their heads as to just how, exactly, they could sign up to join LotusFlow3r.com in the first place.

(The trick is to click on the small purple ticket found on the splash page and enter "1986" and "Los Angeles" into the blanks.)

So far, the $77 membership fee gives users access to photos (taken from his recent book "21 Nights"), video clips from recent live performances (streaming in a choppy manner that makes viewing them a chore) and the option to download and/or stream Prince's three new albums, the guitar-heavy "LOtUSFLOW3R," the synth-driven "MPLSoUND" and "Elixir," a Sade-like effort featuring Prince's latest protégé, Bria Valente. Numerous users have reported problems with corrupted music files and the need to download them several times.

Prince may be too busy to work out the bugs on LotusFlow3r.com. He's performing live the rest of the week on NBC's "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Saturday night, he'll stage a trio of concerts in the Los Angeles area. And Sunday, the physical versions of his new albums will arrive exclusively in Target stores, bundled together for the price of $11.98.

Anxiety said:

Anxiety said:

Ilove said:

Anxiety said:

well ya know,

there are 3,000+ MFs on this site!!!!

Im a SMF

serioulsy, if ran my business like this i'd go bust within weeks. It really is hard to imagine the planning could be any worse than this. Fair play that Scott has replied directly but surely it would have been better to assume that they needed to have a worst case scenario on capacity capacity i.e. if I were P my first question would be 'if 250k fans wanted to register around the world within a short time frame do we have a system that could cope'?.
This is a real shame because I think we all agree that this really is some of the strongest material he has done in many years and deserves much better.
Scott it's all about planning!.

kbarso said:

epic FAIL.

these graphic designers / managers of Prince are really f-king up. right there, they say the site is suited to newer computers. good business idea....restrict the potential audience from day one, load site with horrible (and dated) Flash animations, tell Prince (who isn't all that clued up), "wow, you are SO popular the really expensive site we billed you for has FAIL".

i feel bad for prince. his age is showing, when it comes to the business. he just got taken for a ride.

ShadeoViolet said:

^ makes me wonder how I would have signed up without the org?

CarrieMpls said:

Anxiety said:

Rorywan said:

i feel really bad for prince because i like his music more than anyone could imagine but this has been a disaster for me also.
i have spent 2 days trying to figure out just how to log on
i mean really!....i had to read back over all of you guys comments just to figure out how to get into the site.
i so wanted this to work out for him.

We are the angry mob
We read the papers everyday day
We like who like
We hate who we hate
But we're also easily swayed

ShadeoViolet said:

zobilamouche said:

I just got 2 emails about my membership and was charge TWICE, I want my $77 back. I ONLY wanted 1 membership! I have sent a few emails now with no reponce. If ANYONE has the correct email AND phone number for problems please let me know .

Email: Support@Lotusflow3r.com
Sales@Lotusflow3r.com

realm said:

We are the angry mob
We read the papers everyday day
We like who like
We hate who we hate
But we're also easily swayed

FYI, here is an e-mail I just sent to the lotuslow3r support:

Hi,

I just wanted to inform you that it is still impossible for me to subscribe to lotuslow3r.com with a German credit card. It was posted on prince.org that you have relaxd some security checks. However, I just phoned my credit card company, and they told me they have several rejections of payments (from my several attempts to subscribe to lotuslow3r.com) in their system, and that the rejection was due to an issue with the security number (the three-digit code on the backside of the card, I'm not familiar with the exact technical terms). They also claimed that that is a known technical problem with some American websites when you want to purchase stuff with a European credit card.
The odd thing is that I was perfectly able to subscribe to npgmusicclub.com years ago with my credit card, so it should be possible to get that problem sorted out. It seems I'm not the only one with that kind of problem, and we all want to spend our money on purchasing Prince's music.

Best regards,

xxx

BartVanHemelen said:

Anxiety said:

About creditcard:

I was able to pay succesfully with my ING/postbank card (yes, the bankrupt bank) with just the CVC on the back as extra info.
No SecureCode check or anything.
This is a Dutch card so I would not know why a German card wouldn't work.
And yes: The SecureCode is awful.

im glad they aknowledged that fect, that not only do you have to pay 77 to get in...but you must buy a new system to make viewing possible.



but seriously...i am glad to hear they are working on the glitches....its a wonky site. the navigation is horrible....unless you are a mindreader.

be the change you wish to see in the world.....ghandi.

vi

udo said:

Cuddles said:

whats the 3D part



?

kbarso said:

I'm gonna pitch the company I work for to them.

HEY SCOTT!!!! Check out SeaChange International.

We are the world leader in VOD and IPTV and all kinds of good stuff like that. We specialize in Digital media storage and delivery. We have fault tolerant servers with patented technology. We deliver On demand content to whole cities, I'm sure we can do it for Prince's fans
and I'm not even in sales.

badmofo said:

I'm just curious if anybody can tell me... since there were problems with downloading the albums, when I read the terms and conditions, it said that you can only download each album once... after that, you can't. Are they going to allow us to try to download them again once everything is fixed? or is the attempt the first time going to keep us from trying again? Anybody?

Purpracer2 said:

Thus the reason why I have not joined, like i said because they still need to work out the gliches, I knew this was going to happen. Although I like that Scott is addressing the issues fairly quickly, I disagree with his comment to view the videos full screen, that does not take care of choppy videos, it not the viewers issue its the feed the website is presenting that is no good. For the price that is being paid, the website should have HD crystal clear video streams available, for all members to upload.

As far as the servers this should have never been a issue , the design team and Prince should have anticipated a very large traffic flow, nuf said with that one.

Hope they get this website up to the standards it should be, and what we fans expect and deserve for the $77.00 hard earned money we are paying.

udo said:

I think the website has great potential...when it gets fixed. I love the graphics and interactive parts... and I can be patient until I can download the music.. I'll just listen 2 it on my computer until...

Anxiety said:

Shorty said:

I'm gonna pitch the company I work for to them.

HEY SCOTT!!!! Check out SeaChange International.

We are the world leader in VOD and IPTV and all kinds of good stuff like that. We specialize in Digital media storage and delivery. We have fault tolerant servers with patented technology. We deliver On demand content to whole cities, I'm sure we can do it for Prince's fans
and I'm not even in sales.

Oh one more thing, I can go to numerous internet sites, and watch crystal clear HD videos, one being youtube, without paying a dime. So why would I want to pay for poor quality videos, do the math it.

since the "3D" portion of the site is not really 3D at all and the
whole flash portion offers nothing (absolutely zero) to the entire
experience but delays and stutters, i simply can't understand why
they didn't create a 'normal' site.

all this gaudy artwork could have simply been static and layed out
much more clearly/logically.

it starts with the original sign up. people are trying to sign up
to the site multiple times with the initial username/password they
used for site updates.

but now you need to register *again*. so when you finally figured
that out you're already pissed off over that stupid ticked stub on
the site with the 1986/Los Angeles riddle.

if it weren't for the org i would have just stopped right there and
not bothered. how f*cking childish is that anyway?

then you have to make up crap for their state/provice/postal code
boxes to register since you are forced to put in date even if you
live in a part of the world where your entire adress is supposed
to be written down in the 2 adress lines and requires no more room.

next up you hit the credit card 'wall'. does that whole farce mean
that NO ONE actually checked this before the site went live? that's
incredible. absolutely incredible.

finally you're in, after your creditcard has been billed 7 times
for each failed try to enter the site and you're checking your cc
status to see if those 6 empty tries are being removed from your
charge.

the inside site is just like previous prince websites, clouded and
irritating. slow on the move and hard on the nerves. glitches and
frozen screens. navigation is a total bitch. especially if you're a
grown man and not a 14 yr old who likes computer games.

no where is there a sitemap where you can see exactly what there is
on offer on this site and where you can get it. so you click and you
click and gather up the content you payed for. all the while the
screen keeps freezing up, your downloads are impossible to unzip or
the original files are simply corrupted.

the main album on which this entire franchise is built, you find out
only when downloading, is butchered in the first 15 minutes of play
because the lead off single is taken off and crudely replaced by a
2 minute throw off track. you signed up to get it early, but hey, it
isn't what you went in for. too bad. you can get the real deal at a
target store though. sigh.

customer support is slow and the video section is so slow it's just
a nightmare. 36 hours after joining i have yet to watch a single
video in it's entirety. the stop/start clay animation is just not
my cup of tea.

funny side note: the sacrifice of victor continues another trent that
started over at the npgmc, selling COPIES of original stuff. this one
even has japanese subtitles. was it recorded from japanese tv? wow?!

the rest of the content on the site is not exactly what was promised
in the press release. where are the outtake pictures of previous cd's?
and there was more but i was so tired by now that i gave up. haven't
been back yet. i'll try again when i hear news of something new being
up no the site, like music for instance.

all in all he built a website that is a bitch to run and contains a
plethora of glitches when all the while the little content that is on
there could easily be distributed by a site no bigger than a thread
on the org.

squirrelgrease said:

danzakairos said:

Oh one more thing, I can go to numerous internet sites, and watch crystal clear HD videos, one being youtube, without paying a dime. So why would I want to pay for poor quality videos, do the math it.

I checked Lotus early this morning it seems they have added security certificates to the site (note the pad lock in bottom right corner of your browser) and the streaming video is running smoothly in both regular and full screen modes.

It seems the developers are working to correct the issues.

trust4u said:

They really should have provided a lite version for people with weaker machines. Accessibility here would make sense. We don't need a spinning fucking 3d globe to select and watch videos or look at pictures.

Anxiety said:

Have a look at it now!
ha ha. The whole screen is corrupt.

nice effect!

Anxiety said:

Anxiety said:

CarrieMpls said:

Anxiety said:

i'm not surprised. this is a big opportunity for the people who are designing and running the site, so they're going to want to work hard to make not only prince but the fans/members happy.

I'll check in again when I get home and I'm looking forward to it.
The complaints have been legitimate, but it's obvious they're working hard to correct them as quickly as they can. We've seen fix after fix in direct response to the problems pointed out. All within less than 48 hours of the site opening. I DO think these things should have been tested before the launch, but I'm very pleased with the response so far with the Prince-y peeps involved.

I have a good question!

Are these two web designers going to be running around on Saturday pitching the web site.

By the comments I am reading, they better not step into the LA Live complex.

Too funny...

Purpracer2 said:

I think the website has great potential...when it gets fixed. I love the graphics and interactive parts... and I can be patient until I can download the music.. I'll just listen 2 it on my computer until...

Why didn't they have the foresight to perform a stress test on the site in advance of the official launch?

Still a lot of bitching about glitches, which will no doubt be addressed.

But still nothing about the overcharging.

My bank account is now empty & is about to become overdrawn with an imminent standing order (which I will be charged for). Very disappointed!

(D')

Purpracer2 said:

danzakairos said:

sunkissedbrotha said:

EmancipationLover said:

- no one made a test dowmload of the music files before it went online???

ShadeoViolet said:

IstenSzek said:

EmancipationLover said:

- no one made a test dowmload of the music files before it went online???

i guess not. i just got word back about my question regarding the playtime
of the track "boom"

it's 03:19 on the download and yet the runningtime on the site says it is
actually 04:54.

people on here kept saying it was meant to be like that and how great it
segues into "the morning after" (which is doesn't).

staff now reported back that they will look into it since the file might
have been corrupted after all.





Last night an enormous amount of people hit the site. That may have messed up the download. Please try again, after this first explosion of humans.

wait. what? so the people logging in are once again to blame?

these guys are too much, really.

trust4u said:

yeah it is odd how several of the tracks start off with the ending of the previous track.....

the main reason i am happy i paid my money is that i love the video section and am looking forward to being able to play the videos without the choppy parts

some of the music i downloaded is some of the best stuff prince has done in ten years - and i am really enjoying it

it seems clear to me that this website was set up for the fans - so we should be patient

i mean, if prince really needed the money - don't you think that the site would be error free and a lot better than it is? you bet it would be

think of all all the buzz this site could have created and gotten new members to join.....instead most people think the site kinda sucks so far

but i love it

stanleylieber said:

trust4u said:

Millions of users entering Credit Card info

trust4u said:

stanleylieber said:

japanrocks said:

udo said:

EmancipationLover said:

First, sorry for my typo in the first post... "Counsels" should be "consoles."

Now, as for everything else... I still honestly think the site is a failure EVEN IF the bugs were to be worked out.

If he wants to make money off this site, which, given the $77 dollar subscription fee, is OBVIOUSLY the case..then there should be no need for the site to be designed as a maze and guessing game. The fact that this website needed its own "Tutorial" thread is just terrible. NO website should need to come with an instruction manual. That's just a great incentive for people to get up and leave..

If I went to a grocery store and the aisles were constantly being fluctuated, I probably would stop coming to that store for business. The same goes for this site.. If I can't access the information easily and immediately, why am I wasting my time? Why not just go to a torrent and start downloading the music within seconds?

It needs an overhaul.. Desperately.

BartVanHemelen said:

udo said:

Anxiety said:

squirrelgrease said:

Exactly. This guy has a pair o' globes on him.

really? i thought it was a very professional, very nicely worded message.

maybe i just get off on being condescended to.

Shorty said:

You know what this should have been adressed ahead of time. This is why people do tests. I'm sure 90 percent of people that joined had already registered their email so there could have been an estimate made as too how many people would be logging on at the same time and how much server space was needed.
Also there should have been research done ahead of time into what kind of security banks have and the transaction part of the site should have been designed accordingly, not after the fact. It's not just European banks that do these things. I couldn't get tickets because Lotusflow3r tried to charge my card 1 penny to authorize it and my card doesn't accept 1 penny charges and it's not just my card it's many banks, and I have never had that happen before so obviously it wasn't necessary in the first place.
Saying that it's the banks fault or people's computers is cop out. My computer and internet connection are top notch and the site doesn't work right and my bank is a normal big bank and the site made errors and couldn't process my transaction and I couldn't get one ticket.
Many of my friends couldn't even get in at all!
The only thing that would be acceptable at this point is to offer a grace period for members to ask for their money back, because I myself would like a refund, and they can even deduct the 12 dollar charge of the CDs because that would be fair, but I have emailed them and asked for a refund and not had any response.

squirrelgrease said:

Anxiety said:

really? i thought it was a very professional, very nicely worded message.

maybe i just get off on being condescended to.

I would like to say something condescending, but it would probably just go over your head.

stanleylieber said:

udo said:

If that is true, why do we pay?
Why does P make a scene about his (C)opyrights?
This is very contrary his normal pose. (!!)

At least for us we would expect that content is not accessible to non-members (because we paid).

it's not like that on purpose.

drclay said:

EmancipationLover said:

udo said:

stanleylieber said:

it's not like that on purpose.

So it is by accident?
Who is supposed to be competent?
We are just the customers, didn't you know?

Yes, I might be asking something here, but it is not too much for $77.

japanrocks said:

Anxiety said:

squirrelgrease said:

I would like to say something condescending, but it would probably just go over your head.

that's the sweetest thing anyone has said to me all week.

udo said:

squirrelgrease said:

Anxiety said:

that's the sweetest thing anyone has said to me all week.

That's what I do. I fuckin' cheer bitches the hell up. I volunteer at nursing homes on the weekend.

stanleylieber said:

squirrelgrease said:

That's what I do. I fuckin' cheer bitches the hell up. I volunteer at nursing homes on the weekend.

i am interested in your services. do you have a website? does it accept credit cards?

A simple solution Scott

Shut the website down.
Leave a note on the front "website shut due to technical difficulties will re-open within 24 hours"

Start again.

Sit up ALL night, employ others if you need but solve every issue the website has before taking it live again.

Make sure that the website is 100% safe and secure especially for your customer’s transaction and the website downloads.
People should be given the option Flash or html page for signing up/login the security padlock should be seen at all times when private details need to be entered.

You need to include a simple html interface; it is good business sense to do this for those that do not have speedy computers/connection. This was done for the npgmc and is easily implemented so no excuses just do it. If you do not your decreasing your boss’s profit margins and that’s not good business sense.

Have a simple help/FAQ page for General queries and troubleshooting problems

Have a simple service fault/update page so that your customers can check for outages and scheduled maintenance that may affect the service

Implement a decent customer service: When a customer contacts with a problem they should receive an automatic reply stating that someone will contact them with an answer within 48 hours.

Fix all issues ASAP and most in this community will become happy bunnies praising whatever bones Prince throws at us. If you don’t run for cover cause this community will go on and on and on and on and on and drive you bonkers. You know how irritating that song "the song that never ends it goes on and on my friends" You have been warned...

.
[Edited 3/26/09 9:38am]

stanleylieber said:

TypoQueen said:

zobilamouche said:

EmancipationLover said:

stanleylieber said:

i am interested in your services. do you have a website? does it accept credit cards?

Calm down your hopes. It uses the same payment system as lotusflow3r.com...

udo said:

L4OATheOriginal said:

zobilamouche said:

See, THIS is why HQ was far better then any Official Prince site. People may vent on Aaron, the mods and all that, but HQ was first and foremost the perfect tool for a prince-fan to get info. And back in the day, to see video, pictures etc. Unless Lotusflower starts providing a substantial amount of interesting unavailable items (these do NOT include candles and insence), I'll be spending some money on music elsewhere and will settle for the cd-set when it hits the stores.

so then y don't u go back 2 HQ? oh yeah that's right

stanleylieber said:

EmancipationLover said:

Calm down your hopes. It uses the same payment system as lotusflow3r.com...

i don't know why everyone is hating on squirrelgrease and cussing him and everything. his website only charged me sixteen times. it's not like i was going to do anything else with that money. i love him. i hope he sees my blog and invites me to his crib where a little spanish man will serve me captain crunch and load my ps3 games for me.

stanleylieber said:

squirrelgrease said:

That's what I do. I fuckin' cheer bitches the hell up. I volunteer at nursing homes on the weekend.

i am interested in your services. do you have a website? does it accept credit cards?

squirrelgrease said:

stanleylieber said:

i am interested in your services. do you have a website? does it accept credit cards?

One of the services I offer.

EmancipationLover said:

stanleylieber said:

i don't know why everyone is hating on squirrelgrease and cussing him and everything. his website only charged me sixteen times. it's not like i was going to do anything else with that money. i love him. i hope he sees my blog and invites me to his crib where a little spanish man will serve me captain crunch and load my ps3 games for me.

...and a mouth full of rainsonettes...

stanleylieber said:

udo said:

Maybe.
It could depend on the type of deal he struck with them.
But indeed, some managament appears to be missing.

how much you wanna bet the site spec was given to scott in the form of a princebonics haiku

stanleylieber said:

is this another glitch on the site where the music from the albums are not playing anymore nor can u click on2 one song in particular? whenever i try 2 go 2 the worlds, the song titles keep running over and over but nothing can b heard..

TypoQueen said:

A simple solution Scott

Shut the website down.
Leave a note on the front "website shut due to technical difficulties will re-open within 24 hours"

Start again.

Sit up ALL night, employ others if you need but solve every issue the website has before taking it live again.

Make sure that the website is 100% safe and secure especially for your customer’s transaction and the website downloads.
People should be given the option Flash or html page for signing up/login the security padlock should be seen at all times when private details need to be entered.

You need to include a simple html interface; it is good business sense to do this for those that do not have speedy computers/connection. This was done for the npgmc and is easily implemented so no excuses just do it. If you do not your decreasing your boss’s profit margins and that’s not good business sense.

Have a simple help/FAQ page for General queries and troubleshooting problems

Have a simple service fault/update page so that your customers can check for outages and scheduled maintenance that may affect the service

Implement a decent customer service: When a customer contacts with a problem they should receive an automatic reply stating that someone will contact them with an answer within 48 hours.

Fix all issues ASAP and most in this community will become happy bunnies praising whatever bones Prince throws at us. If you don’t run for cover cause this community will go on and on and on and on and on and drive you bonkers. You know how irritating that song "the song that never ends it goes on and on my friends" You have been warned...

.
[Edited 3/26/09 9:38am]

udo said:

stanleylieber said:

how much you wanna bet the site spec was given to scott in the form of a princebonics haiku

Well, also some www-experience, business-sense (as explained), normal testing by abusers like us all, etc could come in VERY handy.
If the instructions from P were shady, then he (Scott) should have put his foot down about risks, issues, and assumptions. Not too firm, but at least P was aware then.
P's management (which is void) could have extrapolated on P's vague wishes. (if they were vague...)

And yes: just gimme access and I can test. Fee is negotiable.

Also, since "you guys" were sent a statement from the designer, please pass this along...


How hard is it to put up an HTML announcement page addressing our concerns? I could do it for you in thirty minutes or less. Seeing as how I'm unemployed I'd be happy to do so, for a fee. Please send me an Org Note to disuss.



[Edited 3/26/09 10:34am]

AH Hahahaa! Server Farm...yea, so all the animals, mostly stupid sheep, can EASILY, with no brain work, use the site...right? Riiiight.

Go for a fun trip everyone. Just drop 77 in that bucket and keep moving....keep the line tidy and neat...single file now...


Fucking lots a laughs. Prince is going to be bored again.

barnum and bailey circus had a sign at the entrance: "this way to egress"



how to do this right: http://nin.com

L4OATheOriginal said:

stanleylieber said:

barnum and bailey circus had a sign at the entrance: "this way to egress"



how to do this right: http://nin.com

Cerebus said:

Also, since "you guys" were sent a statement from the designer, please pass this along...


How hard is it to put up an HTML announcement page addressing our concerns? I could do it for you in thirty minutes or less. Seeing as how I'm unemployed I'd be happy to do so, for a fee. Please send me an Org Note to disuss.

Can anyone who has successfully logged onto the LF site tell me how the h@ll to log on? I've tried a million different methods, and I still can't seem to get it right. Also, there doesn't seem to be clear instructions on how to establish a user name, or password. I just guess I'm not savvy enough or intelligent enough to figure it out. Help!!

Sunkissedbrotha

Cerebus said:

stanleylieber said:

barnum and bailey circus had a sign at the entrance: "this way to egress"



how to do this right: http://nin.com

Thank you!!!!! I just used that point at the place where I regularly post. And Trent did it more than once for FREE. Smooth, smooth, smooth. While here we are paying for our frustration. So wrong, when it could be so right. Siiiiigh.

for example, this is the site for the 2009 nin/jane's addiction tour:

http://ninja2009.com

theAudience said:

CarrieMpls said:

Nice to see them address the concerns.

I think it's funny they pass the message along here and don't say that on their very own site, though.

Probably done to quell the highest Whine component.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=182431

sunkissedbrotha said:

Ilove said:

Anxiety said:

well ya know,

there are 3,000+ MFs on this site!!!!

Im a SMF

Is that the MF as in the 1992-era meaning?

QueenOfDiamonds said:

Mother Fucker. Right. I see. So what's the "S" for. Son?

stanleylieber said:

QueenOfDiamonds said:

You're a what? a SMIRF? Is that like something out of the seven dwarfs?

udo said:

The website is garbage, pure and simple. Scott Clay and his minions should be fired and all of our money should be returned.

L4OATheOriginal said:

zobilamouche said:

See, THIS is why HQ was far better then any Official Prince site. People may vent on Aaron, the mods and all that, but HQ was first and foremost the perfect tool for a prince-fan to get info. And back in the day, to see video, pictures etc. Unless Lotusflower starts providing a substantial amount of interesting unavailable items (these do NOT include candles and insence), I'll be spending some money on music elsewhere and will settle for the cd-set when it hits the stores.

so then y don't u go back 2 HQ? oh yeah that's right

dartluv5 said:

ShadeoViolet said:

I just feel, as a graphic design minor, I might have at least a tiny bit of insight on this issue...

When designing anything, we were always taught that FUNCTIONALITY comes before everything else. (Yes, even aesthetics.) The site has to work and work effortlessly. Period. If it doesn't do that, then all of the artistic flourishes are ignored and put to waste due to user frustration.. (Here's an analogy:: Imagine walking into an art gallery, and before you could view any of the beautiful pieces, you had to complete a successful round of Sudoku just to properly view any kind of drawing or painting.. That's just frustrating, isn't it?)

I don't know about everyone else, but when I want to visit a Prince website, I just want the music and videos. I don't want to play a game. Heck, that's why we have video game counsels. They are BUILT solely for that purpose. Trying to make a website into some elaborate "Myst" experience is just a very poor idea on its face. Why? Because it all goes back to functionality. Websites are built for this and for accessing information first and foremost. If they aren't doing that very well, then there needs to be a redesign. It really is that simple.

Plus, why would you want to alienate a large portion of your fan base who happen to be running PC's with lower specs? If anyone has ever wondered why the "Diablo" video game series has been so ridiculously popular after all these years, I speculate that a large part of its success might have to do with the fact that ANYONE with ANY kind of computer can smoothly run the game. (PC or Mac) This increases your potential market share greatly and ends up benefiting everyone involved..

Basically, it comes down to this:: Make the website leaner, faster, and more straightforward. I say this even as a Graphic Design minor and Art major. There's a time and place for clever Flash tricks.. and this certainly isn't it.

Couldn't have said it better myself and I graduated with a Graphic Design MAJOR! Functionality comes first. Even as I type, there is a glitch with Bria's album being able to play

3/26/09 UPDATE: the MPSoUND zip was fixed last night, and they're working on optimizing video playback...

I just went onto the site, and saw the dynamite actually exploded..yes it all it's purpleness, and the site was moving much quicker to get into, so there is definitely work being done on the site to make improvements.

I also went into my account information and noticed the secured "https://" link was there, and the "https://" link also stays on while you're on the site surfing in the three worlds.
[Edited 3/26/09 12:38pm]

Anxiety said:

2elijah said:

Love the website.....but the videos are mot working properly still. It would be great though if we can have mp3 or wave file downloads of the LENO LIVE TUNES (GUITAR/1999) and the COACHELLA JAMS too....(SHHH, 7/COME TOGETHER,CREEP)
Thanks Nicky Tuzio otherwise knows as tuztones.

BlueZebra said:

Anxiety said:

Anxiety said:

Doesn't seem to be a problem to communicate that there's more Tonight Show tickets available.

Cerebus said:

BlueZebra said:

IE8 is 7 days old

does anyone have the email address for support over there? i have an issue/inquiry and can't find it on the site or in the confirmation email i was sent.

thanks.

errant said:

CrimsonLot3s said:

Cerebus said:

BlueZebra said:

IE8 is 7 days old

And IT works great. I love everything they changed about it and it's definitely faster. However, web designers know (or the should know) the specs of
what's GOING to be happening on the internet, not just what is happening. I believe they can even get access to beta versions of some applications. Anyway, no; I do not have any other browsers installed on my PC as I've been online, non-stop, since 1996 and NEVER needed one. I was considering trying to visit the site through IE7, though.

BlueZebra said:

Cerebus said:

And IT works great. I love everything they changed about it and it's definitely faster. However, web designers know (or the should know) the specs of
what's GOING to be happening on the internet, not just what is happening. I believe they can even get access to beta versions of some applications. Anyway, no; I do not have any other browsers installed on my PC as I've been online, non-stop, since 1996 and NEVER needed one. I was considering trying to visit the site through IE7, though.

anyway ... back to ranting !

Dear Scott,

What have you been doing for the past couple months? Obviously not testing the site to see if it would work.

To spend $77 and after 2 days still not be able to download all the albums is just ridiculous.

Either fix the site, take it down, or refund our money.

myloveis4ever said:

Anxiety said:

This note just came our way:


We understand that several people have had issues with the site, and we're working diligently to address them all as quickly as possible. With the great amount of traffic that we've received there have been some issues getting the large amount of content in the site out to everyone simultaneously. We're currently doubling the size of our server farm in order to make sure that fans can get all of the albums and videos they desire. To accommodate our friends overseas we've relaxed some of the normal security checks put in place by American banks. Since the vault has 3D and video, which is pushing the boundary of the web and current technology, only newer machines can adequately handle it. If fans are experiencing choppy videos in the vault, they should click the fullscreen button on the video and it should improve their experience. Thanks to everyone for their patience while we scale up LotusFlow3r.com to accommodate the great response from Prince fans all over the world.

Thanks so much,
Scott

thanks

Crazy that so many are having ,problems with the site. I for one am not. Everything is great. Loving it. Also managed to get tickeys to friday leno. leaving tomm morn. Good luck yall.

Peace & Love

dagarcia said:

lucasnes said:

myloveis4ever said:

thanks

Yes...thank you so much for addressing the concerns. I think I can speak for most that the effort is appreciated. I must say this is an improvement from previous sites and I am looking forward to the future of it.

Thanks again!

uhum...

Although it actually makes me more angry to say so. I downloaded and installed Firefox and was able to download all three albums, at the same time, succesfully. Smooth and easy. Again, more angry. ... uhum. ...

krazysi said:

BlueZebra said:

anyway ... back to ranting !

Yeah, how dare you stop ranting! You cant be true Prince fan

BlueZebra said:

krazysi said:

Yeah, how dare you stop ranting! You cant be true Prince fan

I'm cool, I didn't pay $77

BlueZebra said:

krazysi said:

Yeah, how dare you stop ranting! You cant be true Prince fan

I'm cool, I didn't pay $77

veronikka said:

BlueZebra said:

I'm cool, I didn't pay $77

your sig!!!

After joining the NPG site, and having it closed with no word whatsoever, I vowed to not join this site, especially not for $77, and after reading all your complaints, I'm so glad that I didn't!

journey said:

After joining the NPG site, and having it closed with no word whatsoever, I vowed to not join this site, especially not for $77, and after reading all your complaints, I'm so glad that I didn't!

BlueZebra said:

veronikka said:

your sig!!!

Don't take it personal

BlueZebra said:

journey said:

After joining the NPG site, and having it closed with no word whatsoever, I vowed to not join this site, especially not for $77, and after reading all your complaints, I'm so glad that I didn't!

That's a little insensitive .... did you get the music though ?

AS of this evening the video is still choppy regardless if it's full-screen. I'm running the latest browsers, Flash, etc. I emailed support and received no response yet.

r2funky said:

Something tells me tech support only consists of one person...and he's up to his neck in email complaints and blistering denunciations of LF's substandard performance.

Copycat said:

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen, you made This fool working for Prince sounds like he doesn't know what hes doing!!!!!

BlueZebra said:

journey said:

After joining the NPG site, and having it closed with no word whatsoever, I vowed to not join this site, especially not for $77, and after reading all your complaints, I'm so glad that I didn't!

That's a little insensitive .... did you get the music though ?

Videos running well in full screen for me. I downloaded most iof them and run them in flv player and they are perfect. I downloaded all the albums in mps last night. It looks like you cant download WAV or mp3 now.

If Prince does a proper tour and I'm able to snag some good seats through the site (like my 3rd row Musicology seats), I'll be a happy man. But if he only does a series of random concerts in California (and I fear he might) then the ticket deal is useless to me.
[Edited 3/26/09 18:37pm]

BanishedBrian said:

BlueZebra said:

Purpracer2 said:

I think the website has great potential...when it gets fixed. I love the graphics and interactive parts... and I can be patient until I can download the music.. I'll just listen 2 it on my computer until...

You don't pay $77 for "potential" right ?

That's like shelling out $30k for a non-existing car that MAY come full-option, with a rad engine and unprecedented ICE, but we give you 4 tires right now.

I'm new to this, and it sucks. I'm goin to Target for the CD's . F this.
I shouldn't have to jump through so many hoops to get to this crap. I'd be willing to pay for the experience, but so far it sucks. Go to Ween.com to see how it should be done! C'mon, we just want some new music, we don't all have time to dick around on some lame fantasy website.... I have a job and 2 kids for Christ's sake. Softball...Basketball... School.... you're lucky if I buy your CD's at all! Just get down to business.....Obama style! Lay it out for the regular guy. You Rock! So.....JUST ROCK!!!! Stop playing games. Now, that I've vented.... PEACE to whoever might read this. I mean it. PEACE.

Anxiety said:

ok pls sum1 how do i get in ... im either real lame or its not working .. i dont get it .. help

Honestly, why isn't there a "non-flash site" option. The site is great to look at, but I wouldn't mind a basic "text only" site if it meant not having to deal with all these dern glitches!

what's done is done..So can we all be patient..yes our money is valuable..yes it is frustrating,let them have the time to expeditiously correct everything.






THANKS FOR THE UPDATE !

The funniest part is that many of these same people had horrible experiences with NPGMC1 and NPGMC2.

LotusFlow3r tells all members "no refunds." At the same time, they do not guarantee or warranty anything. They can change the site at any time. They can cancel your membership at any time for any reason with out notification. You have one chance to download. If you get it wrong, tough luck. If LotusFlow3r breaches the agreement, you indemnify them of any liability. There are no guarantees that Prince is coming to your town. If he comes to your town, there are no guarantees that you will get reduced or advanced tickets. There are no guarantees that you will get good seats to a concert.

In other words, pay the money and take what you get, if you get anything.

Now a year from now, those same NPGMC1 and NPGMC2 members who were complaining will complain again about LotusFlow3r membership. I was a 1 and 2 member but did not complain. I really liked 1 the best.

Anyway, I am not doing LotusFlow3r membership this go round. I'll just pay the $12.00 and get the music from store.

The underlying idea is that there appears to be no incremental improvement.
No new website improves on the last one.
Every P site starts from scratch and appears to learn nothing from the previous incarnation.
Even mostly basic things like ssl, browser compatibility, server load etc appear to have been left untested.

Of course I do realise that over here we see mostly complaints and few messages from people that have no problem at all.

If this were a free or very cheap thing then it wasn't a big deal. But now we blindly pay $77 (which is about 56.73 euro for the rest of the world) so we have a business deal. In such a situation we can be a bit more critical about things.
Compare to buying a new TV (like the americans did inthe past 6-7 years), what if it had multiple flaws in the first week like the ones on the site?

No, this is not bashing, just getting people to have a fair grip on reality.
Flaws are not the problem, but the number of them and the scale.

xlr8r said:

Damn some of yall are histrionic

site is amazing now

the haters can go to sleep

Amazing how?

Anxiety said:

Copycat said:

japanrocks said:

japanrocks said:

xenon said:

japanrocks said:

site is amazing now

It's fantastic today.

No choppiness at all on the vids, site looks fantastic.

udo said:

things work fine when i use firefox

Video playback is working 100% better now.

stanleylieber said:

udo said:

If that is true, why do we pay?
Why does P make a scene about his (C)opyrights?
This is very contrary his normal pose. (!!)

At least for us we would expect that content is not accessible to non-members (because we paid).

it's not like that on purpose.

japanrocks said:

japanrocks said:

badmofo said:

If you think he needs Warner, then your not a true fan. I can understand glitches, but there is no excuse for asking your fans to pay $77 for a site that hasn't been completely tested. As another orger said, I would want an HTML version. It would be much easier to view in HTML because you could preload the videos and it wouldn't be so choppy. Eh, but we'll see.

3/27/09 UPDATE: We've launched an optimized version of the site tonight that should address a good amount of the issues that people have been experiencing.

We've optimized the Flash throughout the site which should help improve the experience on all computers.

We've recompiled the zip files of all of the albums so if anyone has had issues with downloading any of the albums they should attempt to download them again. It's recommended that they only attempt to downloading one of the WAV zips at a time as they are each over 400MB.

The video playback should be improved somewhat, but we are working on making it flawless.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Scott & the LotusFlow3r.com team

BartVanHemelen said:

stanleylieber said:

it's not like that on purpose.

I argue that it is. It is a direct result of hiring an incompetent f*ckwit to do a job that should be handled by professionals. This guy had obviously ZERO experience in making this kind of site.

Also, Prince should have hired independent testers to check the security. If your livelihood depends on people paying for your shit, you better make sure no one can get it for free.

FunkyPhresh said:

Anxiety said:

I am still unable to download the albums.....when I click on the download MP3 tab it tells me the file is not found. Also, the songs are just scrolling on the player instead of letting me listen...I cant get them to stop scrolling and start playing. This was NOT the case 2 nights ago, but is today. Anyone else having these issues???
Im annoyed that by the time I can access this music I will be able to buy it at TARGET for only $12

I am at my work computer and I noticed that lotus team did make the "account" section bigger, and when you type in information, it is much lighter (in light blue) if you type any info in, so you can see the information you're typing in without straining your eyes.

They are definitely making some improvements. The "Everytime" video plays nicely as well. I just hope the vids and other stuff work just as good on my home computer.

3/27/09 UPDATE: We've launched an optimized version of the site tonight that should address a good amount of the issues that people have been experiencing.

We've optimized the Flash throughout the site which should help improve the experience on all computers.

We've recompiled the zip files of all of the albums so if anyone has had issues with downloading any of the albums they should attempt to download them again. It's recommended that they only attempt to downloading one of the WAV zips at a time as they are each over 400MB.

The video playback should be improved somewhat, but we are working on making it flawless.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Scott & the LotusFlow3r.com team

Thanks Scott.

Rorywan said:

Anxiety said:

3/26/09 UPDATE: the MPSoUND zip was fixed last night, and they're working on optimizing video playback...

Problem is, even if the site works properly.. it is still shit.

CrimsonLot3s said:

3/27/09 UPDATE: We've launched an optimized version of the site tonight that should address a good amount of the issues that people have been experiencing.

We've optimized the Flash throughout the site which should help improve the experience on all computers.

We've recompiled the zip files of all of the albums so if anyone has had issues with downloading any of the albums they should attempt to download them again. It's recommended that they only attempt to downloading one of the WAV zips at a time as they are each over 400MB.

The video playback should be improved somewhat, but we are working on making it flawless.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Scott & the LotusFlow3r.com team

Thanks Scott.

skibby said:

IstenSzek said:

CrimsonLot3s said:

3/27/09 UPDATE: We've launched an optimized version of the site tonight that should address a good amount of the issues that people have been experiencing.

We've optimized the Flash throughout the site which should help improve the experience on all computers.

We've recompiled the zip files of all of the albums so if anyone has had issues with downloading any of the albums they should attempt to download them again. It's recommended that they only attempt to downloading one of the WAV zips at a time as they are each over 400MB.

The video playback should be improved somewhat, but we are working on making it flawless.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Scott & the LotusFlow3r.com team

Thanks Scott.

i still can't play a single video on the site. they all start and then
stop within the first 10 seconds.

forget about it being choppy, they simply stop and go back to the PLAY
button/start screen. so you have to press play again to start the vid
up once more and then it just cuts off after a few seconds again.

NuPwrSoul said:

ShadeoViolet said:

kbarso said:

if you have a nice computer does it fix the old promo videos seemingly being sourced from vhs?

i just played the chocolate box video on my laptop and it played beautifully. not a chop to be had.

2elijah said:

Rorywan said:

Problem is, even if the site works properly.. it is still shit.

But you chose to join, Rory, no one forced you. The glitches are being worked on, although it should have been fixed at the beginning without a doubt, but besides all that, you chose to join, no one forced you. Just my 2 cents

edster777 said:

IstenSzek said:

i still can't play a single video on the site. they all start and then
stop within the first 10 seconds.

forget about it being choppy, they simply stop and go back to the PLAY
button/start screen. so you have to press play again to start the vid
up once more and then it just cuts off after a few seconds again.

Same here.

Rorywan said:

2elijah said:

Rorywan said:

I know I chose to join, I was it expecting something a lot, lot better. Not talking about the content (which is also disappointing) but the "3D" environment and the graphics. I actually didn't mind the album art when I saw it a while back, but those 2D photoshop images are horrible, cheap, nasty. The only interesting technical element is the video globe. The rest of the site is made up of 3 horrible images, each with 2 click points. nothing to look at, nothing to play with. I think its really cheap. It has actually made me not want to listen to the albums. It cheapens the music.

There are some great websites out at the moment. Have a look at the one for Coraline Movie for example. This is lazy and IMHO absolute ugly crap.

(bolded part) Well, then there should be no problem with you going to those sites then, , but like I said, we all have choices and none of us was forced to join. We all took a risk. I agree that all of it should have been up to par at the time we all joined, but it wasn't, so why keep knocking yourself out about it? Let's see what happens down the road, and quite frankly it's good that site's techs are working on it, as it wouldn't make sense to add anything else to it until the majority of the glitches are out.

At my job they installed new programs in all our computers and told us our computers would be faster, and we would have state-of-the-art software.. well that was 1 month ago, and we've had glitches like screen freezing, some programs taking long to open and other major issues, that are still being worked out ever since they upgraded/installed new software Not much you can do but just wait and be patient and wait in the meantime.

This whole experience has tainted my listening experience with the albums... I can't listen to the them without thinking that Prince just f*cked me over like a door to door insurance salesman.

I was looking forward to downloading the Crimson & Clover cover and it's not even available for download! This sh*t is jacked.

Anxiety said:

maya said:

This whole experience has tainted my listening experience with the albums... I can't listen to the them without thinking that Prince just f*cked me over like a door to door insurance salesman.

I was looking forward to downloading the Crimson & Clover cover and it's not even available for download! This sh*t is jacked.

2elijah said:

Rorywan said:

I know I chose to join, I was it expecting something a lot, lot better. Not talking about the content (which is also disappointing) but the "3D" environment and the graphics. I actually didn't mind the album art when I saw it a while back, but those 2D photoshop images are horrible, cheap, nasty. The only interesting technical element is the video globe. The rest of the site is made up of 3 horrible images, each with 2 click points. nothing to look at, nothing to play with. I think its really cheap. It has actually made me not want to listen to the albums. It cheapens the music.

There are some great websites out at the moment. Have a look at the one for Coraline Movie for example. This is lazy and IMHO absolute ugly crap.

(bolded part) Well, then there should be no problem with you going to those sites then, , but like I said, we all have choices and none of us was forced to join. We all took a risk. I agree that all of it should have been up to par at the time we all joined, but it wasn't, so why keep knocking yourself out about it? Let's see what happens down the road, and quite frankly it's good that site's techs are working on it, as it wouldn't make sense to add anything else to it until the majority of the glitches are out.

At my job they installed new programs in all our computers and told us our computers would be faster, and we would have state-of-the-art software.. well that was 1 month ago, and we've had glitches like screen freezing, some programs taking long to open and other major issues, that are still being worked out ever since they upgraded/installed new software Not much you can do but just wait and be patient and wait in the meantime.

have a look right now.. its all gone down..




This is coming up, tried a few browsers...




Its back to normal now..
[Edited 3/27/09 10:20am]

Getting better...I can see almost 30 seconds of a video before it shuts down!

Maybe Scott can explain what/where the bottleneck is?
I mean, if your line is quick enough (a few Mbit/s), the PC/Mac/etc isn't too old then stuff should just plainly work.

Rorywan said:

have a look right now.. its all gone down..




This is coming up, tried a few browsers...




Its back to normal now..
[Edited 3/27/09 10:20am]

NuPwrSoul said:

We're his customers, right?

BTW: You need +/- 2Mbit/s down to be able to play the videos.

udo said:

Mars23 said:

Anxiety said:

Even though the update says to redownload the files, I am unable to. This is 3 days after the launch. I have a few MPLSound files that I've d/led but can't open. I would love to be able to listen, but can't. Very frustrating!

It is still impossible to subscribe with a German credit card for me. I can't believe this, but since I can't buy the music for download and there is no retail release date for Germany, I think I have to download a new Prince album illegaly for the first time ever. Well done Scott, you really know how to make some money for your boss! Take home message: Prince, you have been

P.S.: I sent an e-mail yesterday morning explaining the problem - no reply!

skibby said:

EmancipationLover said:

It is still impossible to subscribe with a German credit card for me. I can't believe this, but since I can't buy the music for download and there is no retail release date for Germany, I think I have to download a new Prince album illegaly for the first time ever. Well done Scott, you really know how to make some money for your boss! Take home message: Prince, you have been

P.S.: I sent an e-mail yesterday morning explaining the problem - no reply!

Edmonton, AB - - If you're happy and you know it your hands, if you're happy and you know it do a

NuPwrSoul said:

I would have appreciated an email or some thing from them. They could have sent that same message to all the subscribers. But what can you do? Be patient I guess. Prince is about the only adult person I would be patient for.

I can now watch videos with very few breaks.

I can now download the albums (wasn't working 24 hours ago)

BUT, I can't extract the files and listen to the albums (.wav versions). I keep getting error messages saying the compressed folder is invalid.

Incidentally, I still haven't had any password reset mails from when I first tried to log in...I used my correct screen name and the email address they have been mailing me on (so they do know about me) but no response as yet two days down the line. I had to re-register.

The site is much better today.

God DAMN there are a lot of dumb motherfuckers walking around! - George Carlin
Stalkerwomen of the world unite in delusion!!!!!

Mars23 said:

Amazing how a free site like the Org provides 100000x more information than the artist's official site.

Prince, or Scott, whoever - go look at something like nin.com. That's more of what we had in mind. We're not 11, we don't want games, we don't want "planets". Music, info, video, that's what we crave!!!

billymeade said:

God DAMN there are a lot of dumb motherfuckers walking around! - George Carlin
Stalkerwomen of the world unite in delusion!!!!!

Wow the site runs ridiculously better now

NuPwr319 said:

Vendetta1 said:

It's Prince's 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan.

Part A: Release a three cd set exclusively through Target, forcing consumers to visit the Target website and/or walk through a brick and mortor Target store, thereby causing said consumers to make impluse purchases which create unexpected profit as all parties involved are already making money on the aforementioned three cd set. (How's that for a sentence? Eh? )

Part B: Open a new fan website just far enough ahead of the previously mentioned CD release that the herd will still sign up en masse. Doesn't matter that the site isn't ready, or that the system requirements are still far more than the average PC owner currently has, he still got the fawning multitudes (myself included) to pony up the cash in a hot second.

Part C: A large portion of those mentioned above, who were not aware that the minimum suggested RAM is 1GB, go out and by new 1GB RAM sticks or new superfast gaming PCs.

Part D: Go on tour so all your fans can prove they STILL love you after the website mess by getting them to spend another 100 million plus on concert tickets.

BRILLIANT!!

Good thing Lotusflow3r is great and MPLSoUND is good (I don't hate the Bria album - there's just not enough Prince on it).

Someone posted that people took a risk when subscribing. I disagree. It was 100% certain that any prince site was gonna fail, no risk at all there

And making people pay to watch videos they already have (because only hardcore fans can be bothered joining and they already have all the publicly available material)? Brilliant!

And telling people they would have to pay even more to see "premium" material (check the T&Cs)? Priceless!

For anybody outside the US, there is 0 value proposition, as the CDs will be available elsewhere in real CD for cheaper. For anybody living outside LA, there is very little short term value, you rely on the hope he'll tour the US this year and you may get a ticket (or may not, the site clearly states there is no guarantee), and in the meantime you get charged $77 for 3 albums (well, 2.5, proteges albums are almost always weak).


And the site itself? As per prince's past practice, he probably chose a yes man who offered the job for cheap instead of using a more expensive but reputable company. And I wouldn't be surprised if Scott sues him in 2 years because he still hasn't been paid ... that's a very usual pattern with any prince supplier.

I won't get anywhere near this site with my credit card, I'll wait for the CDs

If in 11 months there is plenty of content and the $77 seem worth it, maybe I'll join then, when I know exactly what I can get for the money. Otherwise, forget it.

Edit: forgot to add: "recompiled the zip files"? Who the hell recompiles zip files?

[Edited 3/27/09 21:38pm]
[Edited 3/28/09 3:26am]
[Edited 3/28/09 3:27am]

Anxiety said:

Still, after a coulple of days, they haven´t fixed that I can't extract the zip files.

MichaelHogberg said:

Still, after a coulple of days, they haven´t fixed that I can't extract the zip files.

MarriedIntoPurple said:

Pro-You lying f***ing zebra!
Live and let live
www.silvercloudshop.co.uk

Anxiety said:

the videos are a bit better now. at least they don't just stop and
return to the beginning.

it still took me about 8 stops before i was 4 minutes into the
sacrifice of victor video. so i gave up.

will try again next week. hopefully by then they will have sorted
this.

IstenSzek said:

crimson/bria promos are down..
And why have they incorrectly ratio-ed several of the videos on the video dome.
Have a look at creep, we see a stretched samll fat prince, for the first and last time. It's just carelessness.

errant said:

Copycat said:

Anxiety said:

billymeade said:

Anxiety said:

I love the website now after a shaky start. I also love paying a fee to see the videos. Prince deserves every penny.

Deserves every penny, huh?

If only Prince would hire online customer service representatives to troubleshoot complaints and respond to email inquires. I've been waiting since Wednesday for someone to contact me about a simple sales issue.
[Edited 3/28/09 10:07am]

Okay, so far, I can get the vids to play, and the choppiness is out, but now it "freezes" while watching the videos every now and then, and then starts playing again, so the issue with the vids freeaing is now the only problem I'm having watching the site.

Scott said:

Scott said:

Scott said:

Scott said:

stanleylieber said:

ok...i had to sit there after i logged in for like 5 minutes and finally the purple orb took me to the 3 worlds. is that NORMAL???? to wait that long? my pc is only a year old for chrissakes.

Yay! Finally the "Everytime " video and "Chocolate Box" and "Crimson and Clover" are all playing all the way through smoothly with no choppiness. and since I couldn't make it to LA this weekend, I'll just pretend I'm there having fun with all the rest of the fans that were blessed to be at 3 shows in one day.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:21pm]

they seem to have fixed the problem with the thumbnail images not all displaying correctly in the photo/video section.

Hold up... You guys forgot to mention the limited edition "founding member" T-Shirts!

BartVanHemelen said:

PEJ said:

PEJ said:

2elijah said:

PEJ said:

Prince shoulda just hired you. You seem like you know it all.

I don't think so PEJ.. Bart never seems to say anything nice and it sounds like he wakes up that way everyday, the way he comes across in his posts like it's his daily orange juice. Constructive criticism is one thing, and there's various ways to give advice, but being miserable 24/7 is another. No one is willing to listen to what you have to say when you're spewing negativity all day.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:27pm]

stanleylieber said:

2elijah said:

I don't think so PEJ.. Bart never seems to say anything nice and it sounds like he wakes up that way everyday, the way he comes across in his posts like it's his daily orange juice. Constructive criticism is one thing, and there's various ways to give advice, but being miserable 24/7 is another. No one is willing to listen to what you have to say when you're spewing negativity all day.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:27pm]

system administration and managing networks isn't about saying nice things and making people feel good. it's about ensuring the systems and the network remain functional. admins just need a 'jen' character to run interference.*

(* see episodes of 'the it crowd.')

No joke though, I can download the mp3 files simply by passing the url along, there are no session protections here..... he really needs to address this or no one will even need to leak bit torrents. I'm not going to pass the link along to anyone though, I had to pay 77 dollars to get it.

2elijah said:

stanleylieber said:

system administration and managing networks isn't about saying nice things and making people feel good. it's about ensuring the systems and the network remain functional. admins just need a 'jen' character to run interference.*

(* see episodes of 'the it crowd.')

No thanks, I would rather work hard for someone that shows me respect rather than have someone go the "anal" route just to prove he can be an ass....no pun intended of course.

I remember we had a supervisor like that with that same type of attitude, that individual didn't last long. He caused low morale among his subordinates, and caused people to quit, and the company was losing money and time. They finally replaced him with a real, human-being, that expected those he supervised to perform the job right and was upfront when things were not up to par, but did it in a respectable manner, and won the respect of many back, because he didn't have to make others feel "small" by spewing his egotistical BS and nastiness to prove he knew how to manage while maintaining a productive work force.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:35pm]

stanleylieber said:

2elijah said:

No thanks, I would rather work hard for someone that shows me respect rather than have someone go the "anal" route just to prove he can be an ass....no pun intended of course.

I remember we had a supervisor like that with that same type of attitude, that individual didn't last long. He caused low morale among his subordinates, and caused people to quit, and the company was losing money and time. They finally replaced him with a real, human-being, that expected those he supervised to perform the job right and was upfront when things were not up to par, but did it in a respectable manner, and won the respect of many back, because he didn't have to make others feel "small" by spewing his egotistical BS and nastiness to prove he knew how to manage while maintaining a productive work force.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:35pm]

people like bart don't belong in management. you want them putting hands on the actual systems to make sure everything keeps working. you need a people person to run interference between the 'barts' in the server room and the guys wearing silk socks reading the wsj.

PEJ said:

2elijah said:

In any case, I'll leave that mess alone, and get back on topic. Nice chatting with you though.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:50pm]

Be a bit patient with the vids... click on them, go and check your emails, make a cup of coffee, toast some bread or something, then come back, press play and watch full screen... seems to work fine for me... Haven't tried the Sacrifice of Victor, cos that'll take a while to ready itself... Anyone got to Call The Law? How are Tony M's MFs dealt with?

stanleylieber said:

2elijah said:

In any case, I'll leave that mess alone, and get back on topic. Nice chatting with you though.
[Edited 3/28/09 14:50pm]

I have a Mac and I have not has any problems with the web site at all I would love more live rare performances. Nice job!

errant said:

PEJ said:

janecarol said:

errant said:

Prince, of course. Although he's much older and could possibly die before their careers are finished.

But in March of 2009, the Jonas Brothers are about 1,000 times bigger.

but has about 1000 times more experience! That cracks me up,

PEJ said:

2elijah said:

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:

TwiliteKid said:

BartVanHemelen said:

squirrelgrease said: