CrimsonLot3s 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.

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?

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.

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?

Rorywan said:

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

IstenSzek said:

Same here.

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

2elijah 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.

Rorywan said:

(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.

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

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.

Rorywan said:

(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]

yeah I was getting that too for a few minutes today.

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.

udo said:

Yea, currently I'm in a hotel, but connected to a wired broadband connection. At home I have 15mbps and it is still choppy though. Actually, less choppy and more just not playing more than 15 seconds or so.

CerpinTaxt said:

I agree. I am very pleased that he took the time and responsibility to shoot a message over our way.

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

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!

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.