Raf - this looks nifty. I'm not a Mac user but I'm sure the Mac users will dig it.

I appreciate the upgrades you've been making lately (Fresh paint, Profile changes, Dropbox) but I'm wondering...are these the types of changes that the Kompoz folks have been clamoring for?

It seems to me the Wish Lists and Suggestions forum remains ignored. You don't acknowledge or address most of the suggestions in that forum. So when I see "upgrades" to Kompoz that are largely "cosmetic", I wonder why the suggestions for "functional" improvements are ignored.

The members who take the time to (repeatedly) make improvement suggestions in the Wish List area seem to be those that make the deepest contributions to this site. They care the most and they are your target audience. Why ignore them?

For example, I've seen lots of improvement suggestions for Inbox functionality. I've seen no requests for cosmetic menu changes. I've seen many requests for enhancements to the track type menu. I've seen no requests for Dropbox.

I am not playing down the upgrades....they are welcome and appreciated but it leaves me wondering...why make the effort to change the menus or add Dropbox when those items have never been requested?

Maybe there is a method to the madness but I get the sense there is more of an "Oh! Shiny" approach to the upgrades than a practical, functional improvement to the collab and music making experience.

Thank you very much for the sneak peek ! This looks very very good and also usefull !

I am snoopy what the final version will be ! I am sure it will be a hammer mega super duper thing !

I want to thank you Kompoz (Raf and the Team) for all the work and time he had invest in all this nice updates !

I like this, and I like the dropbox addition. And I'm one of the regular wish list whiners. :D

I'm gonna be thrilled when we have a project / task manager. :)

@Jim: I appreciate your feedback. I truly do. Let me try to explain my methods...

As I noted in the blog above, this specific post is about more than a cosmetic change. This feature will be rolled out as part of a larger initiative that addresses THE SINGLE MOST OFTEN cited complaint in the forums: uploads. You'll see many posts about Error #2038 and error #403. As mentioned above, this "sneak peek" feature will be part of "...a more feature-rich application, which will also include upload and download capabilities." In other words, we're addressing the upload problem by building a band new uploader. My blog post here is a very early sneak peek of a new product to address exactly that. There's a whole other discussion here for Windows users about an uploader, which is being tested now.

The Dropbox functionality was also rolled out to address issues with track uploads and downloads. Dropbox addresses issues some users have experienced with slow downloads or stuck downloads. Dropbox gives users a more direct (and modern) way of getting files. It improves Kompoz performance too, by moving the bandwidth churn over to Dropbox.

With regard to Fresh Paint and what you might see as other cosmetic changes, that was in response to several posts from members (in the Wish Lists, which I actively monitor) such as this one.

If you look here, you'll see that we are not only actively working on another very-often requested feature, we're also soliciting design ideas and input from the community to provide you with the best possible product. The Kompoz Army group was created to provide a focus group for site improvements.

Another HUGE improvement we recently made -- directly in response to Astronut's blog, which was strongly supported by the community (but which he has since removed) -- was to increase server capacity at the DB layer. That was a big improvement to the overall site performance. Huge!

My M.O. has been to troll the Wish Lists forums daily and cull the TOP requests (based on impact to all users and benefit to the Kompoz product). For big issues that require thought, I bring them to the Kompoz Army. For others, I add them to our internal Bug Tracking system to be prioritized.

Occasionally, I will posts blogs like this one to "share" (I was told in Astronut's blog that I do not share enough).

This looks really cool, Raf! I love all the changes you made to the site lately, especially the Dropbox function.

Honestly, the changes have been great! Thank you for the wonderful new features, including this one:)

Raf the question is, if the DB layer tweak meant such an improvement..how come it wasn't done sooner? ...I'm not talking in an ungrateful manner, but my logical part is saying. it makes sense that if something's not running right and you're pretty sure whats causing it, to get in there and sort it out..
its not true that the upload has been the biggest gripe in the forum..its has been the most pressing short term thing but the development of a player to which we can add comments on the timeline has been the biggest call long-term...you came through with the waveform player which was great and again sped up playback on the site but in essence was mostly cosmetic..how about developing the other half of that now its in place?

@Ben: I disagree with you that commenting on the player has been "...the biggest call long-term". Only a few people have asked for that, and we have track commenting already (albeit not on the waveform itself). This is a cool feature (and it's on the list), but it's not top 10.

I also disagree with you that the upload issue has NOT been the biggest gripe. If you can't upload tracks, how can you collaborate? It has been in the top 2 (after site performance, which has been addressed).

This looks like a nice app feature. But, I'm not a mac user either...but I understand this is just part of a bigger thing you have planned. Cool stuff!

Raf, i understand, thanks for responding.
I too know this kompoz labs is part of something else you have in your hat so look forward to see what unfolds but please not toooo Mac centric..i know how much you love em but PC users have feelings too :)

I like it Raf - Thanks for sharing!
I'm not cool or sexy enough to own a Mac, but it looks slick, and I can certainly see the potential here:)

Having been on Kompoz for a little while now and having developed software all my life (but never for the Mac :)), I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU to Raf for his continuing efforts to improve the site.

Trying to satisfy the wishes of a very diverse group of users is always hard. It tends to get more bearable if you get paid say 500 $ per hour, but when it's done more or less "for free" it can be slightly less motivating. This is speaking from own experience.

I think Raf is doing a goddamn great job trying to balance the low budget with the high demands.

I agree that, for my personal part, site performance and upload problems have been the two absolutely most important things to tackle first. If you don't have a solid foundation, no matter how pretty you paint the house, it's still going to fall apart.

Some features developed are very unimportant to me (like this last one :)), but from experience I know that many times things are done in a certain order for a reason. Some features (searching in the forums springs to mind) may look "simple" but may require database redesign, which is always a pain. Some features may look incredibly hard to implement, but are done in 5 minutes.

What the hell is my point, you wonder? My point is that I (this is a personal opinion) can say the following about Raf:

1. He knows what he is doing development wise. I regard him as a very professional systems developer (based on my years of being one myself)

2. His heart is firmly planted in running this community to the best of his ability, without having any strong financial backing.

3. I do not mind at all in which order things are developed as long as the foundation and basic functionalities are strong and solid. I leave it to the man who knows the architecture to determine what order makes logical sense. I also leave it to him to determine how to use his time availability. Some stuff may require weeks of non-stop development, while others can be done in bits and pieces.

Having said all that, I also commend everyone who makes suggestions (including myself) and keep nagging Raf about stuff close to our hearts, this is a giving and taking and I think it is an absolutely amazing way to drive a community forward.

Keep at it, Raf, I'll even forgive you for the Mac and Java stuff, you are fornicating fantastic!

Rock On

B

Looks great. Can't wait to use it.

B

Raf, thanks for directly addressing my comments. I very much appreciate hearing it from your point of view.

The improvements you've been making lately - especially those that enhance site performance - are really great. I hope I didn't come off as being unappreciative of those upgrades. I was simply wondering how upgrades are prioritized and you have answered my question.

By the way, the Kompoz Army is a great idea and I commit to getting more involved in that group.

Thanks for all that you're doing!

Jim, thanks for the note. No hard feelings (ever) from this end. My goal is to make Kompoz THE spot for music collaboration. From the passion which underlies the comments regarding feature requests, I know that you and many others want the same. You guys rock. And thank you for enlisting into the Kompoz Army.

out of interest what IS the top ten of things you're planning on for the site raf? ...even if i prbably might not understand what some of them mean.

1- Desktop Uploader
2- Desktop Downloader
3- Task Center
4- Google Drive
5- Member Reputation Logic
6- Search
7- Project Forking
8- Inbox Improvements
9- Project co-manager Features
10- (Secret - related to publishing)

Please do not ask me to expound on each one. Some of these are already mentioned in the Kompoz Army group. These are just the big features. There are zillions of other small enhancements that are made independently of this list.

its okay..thanks for giving an idea...seems like you are working hard behind the scenes!

This Mac user is thrilled. I just got sexier.

I'm still hoping you'll get iPhone functionality back. iphone.kompoz.com still redirects to kompoz.com. The new drop down menus lesson the amount of click it takes to navigate, but my fingers are big and I often hit the wrong links.

Thanks for the improvements !!!

Raf, this is pretty darn cool. Anything that can reduce the number of steps required for me to bring tracks into my iTunes, and make it much simpler, is very good news.

I really like the improvements and changes you have applied recently - your IT creativity is much appreciated.

This is fantastic!
Questions.

Can this same download-to-iTunes action be applied to individual tracks within a project or just the featured track?

Will the file retain its integrity (bit, sample, extension?)

The reason I ask is that dragging and dropping from iTunes is an interesting local storage option. I already do this with multiple takes from my own recordings. It allows me to keep Logic files and folders small but I still have quick access to the alternate tracks (important for my Mac Mini). I can see an option to use playlists in iTunes as a project management tool.

@SLV - Yes, you will be able to add any track (not just the featured track) to iTunes. And yes, it will keep the same bit-rate, sample-rate, etc. If the track is a WAV file, it will import the WAV (not the MP3 version).

If anyone is interested in testing this feature, please see this post.

I think there should be a labs page to show off all the new cool stuff coming along these days.

I have spoken and I'm a pretty big deal around here. See that it gets done please.

lol. Yes sir!