Machine Shop: Hype Machine Team Blog

I’ve put together a list of 52 songs that the Hype Machine visitors have found exciting during most of this year.

For each month that the Hype Machine was up, I’ve selected seven songs out of 50 most popular tracks during that time. The site was only up for a couple of days in April, so there are only three for that month.

I’ve tried to include different artists, covers and quirky songs, so hopefully many of you will hear something new. This list is not a traditional “Top Albums” or “Top Tracks” list because I tried to highlight tracks that were popular during a given month while avoiding some of the tracks that any mp3 blog reader must have already heard.

All tracks, new (released in 2005) and old qualified for this list as long as many people listened or read about them. I was surprised to see so many covers on this list, but most of them are very impressive.

Some other excellent lists are up at (in no specific order) My Old Kentucky Blog, Gorilla vs Bear, work for it, Popsheep, Take Your Medicine, Grey Will Fade, and Information Leafblower. If I missed a good list, feel free to add it in the comments.

So give some of the 52 songs of 2005 a listen, tell the bloggers who mentioned the songs if you really enjoyed something and pick up a record or two. And if you have something on your mind, you are welcome to drop me a line or comment.

A good article from Aidin Vaziri in Monday’s SF Chronicle about various trends in digital music.

R.I.P. CDs – Begone bright discs and pesky cases! Begone!

The article highlights good MP3 blogs, online radio, Napster and satellite radio. Give it a read.

I’ve been reading Questionable Content for a while now, but recently I noticed a great bunch of references to MP3 blogs in a few strips. If you haven’t heard about this webcomic, here is a WikiPedia entry about Questionable Content.

Here are the strips:
One (#449), Two (#465), Three (#466), and Four (#468)

Jeph Jacques even created a Blogger account for the blog mentioned in the strips: Yelling About Music!

Many of you have been telling your friends about the Hype Machine and writing about the site on blogs and even in some publications. I really could not ask for more. It warms the heart to know that others find my small project so exciting.

Thank you.

With the new visitors also comes an increase in traffic, which in turn ends up pushing my hosting account over the monthly bandwidth limit. This gets expensive.

The ads are here to make sure you can keep enjoying the Hype Machine. I am sure you like the site much better without them, but at this point, they are a necessary evil. I’d prefer to avoid having them altogether myself.

If you have any ideas or questions, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line – I would love to hear from you.

UPDATE 8/1/07: We are experimenting more with ad placement, so feedback is always welcome.

Thanks to Alf Eaton it is now possible to search the Hype Machine right from your browser.

If you have Firefox, you can install this search plugin and Hype Machine will appear as one of the options in the search box.

Click below and hit “Yes” to confirm installation, to set this up:

Firefox/Mycroft search plugin for The Hype Machine.

Here is Alf’s original post.