MoS new site misses on usability
I'm a great fan of the shows on the Ministry of Sound radio. They got some great dj's there (and some are good friends), a versatile line up of shows and quality music.
We were lucky to get some heavy rotation there to couple of our productions, and I even think we were the first to be hosted twice at the same week in 2 of the most popular shows (Fuf was visiting MoS Express and Funktional).
But their revamped web site really brings the nerve.
Not that the graphics are bad, it's actually cool. But two decisions made a long scratch on my usability experience:
- You must sign in to listen. What? are you trying to be totally silly? It's your best front-end to listeners, and you force them to register. Such a big no-no.
- Tracklisings and shows from the past archive are gone! Now that's a big frustration for me. 2 weeks ago I listened in great pleasure to one of the latest "Ministry of Sound Chill Out" sessions. And I had the tracklisting. Now - niether the show, nor the playlist. Very dissapointing.
And if I needed another proof for the bits of carelessness behind this new site design, there's a terrific flash advertiment to none else than...BBC Radio 1 (MoS biggest competitor) - on the front page!
(Spare me the explanations etc. I know the current status of radio in the UK. Radio 1 at least preserves tracklisting).
Ok - there's a good point - their podcast. But again they don't provide a direct link to d/l.
(Tags: ministry of sound, internet radio, user interface, radio 1, tracklisting )
