New official.fm url testing by HBS

[Hifi Banjo Strings]

Talking of tests, the new Official.fm has just been released. Let's see..

No Flash Installed

Well, "http://cdn.new.official.fm/cdn/tracks/2w5X/download?1334227491" is hardly streamlined.. This requires further investigation..

[lloyd]

Hi Oli
I've just edited and removed "?1334227491" from the end of your link and the track is still previewing for me, let me know if it is for you.

[Paul Stix]

quick explanation of how urls with php work......

i'll use your name as an example... but the first thing you have to know is that any time there is a "?" in a url... it's not part of the actual url, but a command that ONLY the hosting server understands..

quick example... http://www.mashstix.com with take you to the same place as http://www.mashstix.com?blabla393093

cause there is no script on the actual stix page to tell it to even look for ?blalbawhatever

better example..

you have two pages...... mashstix.com (index.php) and mashstix.com (Profiles.php)

so your profile link , lets say from the FP, is ...
http://www.mashstix.com/Profiles.php?na ... njoStrings

when you click that, your browser goes to profiles.php..... than that page does a read of the URL.... notices that there is a "?" and pulls the info from it... so it pulls name=HifiBanjoStrings

now it tells the server to display every track that matches that "name"... and you get only tracks with your name on them.

obviously it's a little more complex in the actual code but just know that ?something is only specific to that domain... in this case, officla.fm?30309830 means absolutely nothing on mashstix as we just want to pull the .mp3 file....

also remember that a while ago, we used to have to add .mp3 in the preview player urls as browsers didn't have a "default" file type to fall back on...... now they do, hence we only need the /download part...... so your browser goes to that page, and sees its actually a .mp3 file and not a page at all.

let me know if that makes sense.


now what does worry me in their url is the green part
http://cdn.new.official.fm/cdn/tracks/2w5X/download?1334227491

usually thats a random number/letter genarator to prevent hotlinking..... we'll see what happends when they go only with their new website version... but don't worry, there is always a way to hack websites...... especially urls and access.

- Paul Stix

[oki]

semi-related question for the official fm premium people:
do you get the same amount of traffic/downloads on official compared to when it was still a free site? or less or more?

im thinking about caving in and getting a premium account, official used to give me lots of downloads...

[lloyd]

semi-related question for the official fm premium people:
do you get the same amount of traffic/downloads on official compared to when it was still a free site? or less or more?

im thinking about caving in and getting a premium account, official used to give me lots of downloads...

I'm not a pro user but i did trial it...

I don't think that paying for it will increase the flow of traffic, what it will do is allow you to see who is downloading your stuff and where it is most popular... the main aim in paying for it is to allow you to upload more tracks.

[lloyd]

Hi Paul

On the same original subject, I've just had to fix a tracks preview player and have noticed that the soundcloud download has now changed also;

http://soundcloud.com/mashmike/dreadzon ... ad/s-BgzNW

is it time to change the sticky that tells these guys how to post preview players..??

Maybe it would be simpler to just tell the guys to right click on the download button on official and soundcloud and then copy link location.

[Hifi Banjo Strings]

Or get some [soundcloud] and [official] tags? I'd ask either Grant or Burton if you don't already know.. Just a thought..

[Ryan Nellis]

Guess I'll just use this thread for my questions.

Has anyone seen a place on the new.official page to go back to the old style? It seems like I'm stuck with the new one? That's unfortunate. I thought I was just "testing" it.

[oki]

semi-related question for the official fm premium people:
do you get the same amount of traffic/downloads on official compared to when it was still a free site? or less or more?

im thinking about caving in and getting a premium account, official used to give me lots of downloads...

I'm not a pro user but i did trial it...

I don't think that paying for it will increase the flow of traffic, what it will do is allow you to see who is downloading your stuff and where it is most popular... the main aim in paying for it is to allow you to upload more tracks.

i mean, i can imagine a lot of people, like myself, quit when they wanted us to pay.
so i was wandering if theres any traffic left actually. has that changed or stayed the same?

[Hifi Banjo Strings]

Boris - I started using Official.fm properly just before the payment system so I haven't really got a good comparison but I have had quite a lot of traffic since I signed up so.. who knows?

But as far as reach goes, I think SoundCloud has more users and traffic etc but you get more value for money paying at Official.. For roughly the same amount of money in both, SC has 12 hrs or track time vs Officials 200 tracks (that's 200 regardless of length). Also, SC has 1000 downloads and Official has unlimited..

You decide..