Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
Amazon Music Selection
Category: Showcase
I was sneaking around Amazon looking for this, that, and a bit of the other. I happened upon a stash of Flight of the Conchords and I clicked on the “Music Sampler” icon. It brought up a really nicely done window that lets you listen to samples of the tracks in a very rich webby way.
Do a view source on that bad boy to see what fun you can have with web development :)
2.1 rating from 21 votes
Excellent choice, Dion. Also pick up the Patton Oswalt while you’re in there :-)
I’m unable to find the “Music Sampler” icon. I’m not logged into Amazon.com and accessing it from Luxembourg. Thanks for a hint on where that icon could be.
I viewed source on your advice, so I hold you responsible for the nightmares I’ll be having tonight.
76 blank lines (some with extra whitespace) between the top of the document and the opening HTML tag. I guess with that many lines already they couldn’t really justify a DOCTYPE.
Nearly 1000 lines of inline CSS, coming to massive 32kb. 81 of the selectors aren’t even being used, according to Dust-Me Selectors.
And then a whopping 76kb of inline JavaScript. You’re certainly right about it being a bad boy.
OMG! Interesting how they manage the code ? =)
You should’ve mentioned RealPlayer first…
@Paul +1
if you look at the source code of the main site itself, it is the same mess!!! Imagine how much bandidth they would save if they externalized their CSS and JS…
!!! Run away!!!!!!!!!!
I can understand the performance needs behind putting all js and css in the doc to save on http requests for a site like amazon.
however, the real player plugin? Come on….
RealPlayer!? Forget it. While I admire the AJAX/JS prowess that this represents, I find Amazon’s continued embracing of Real to be a wart on the tip of their nose. What is wrong with a simple invisible Javascript driven Flash MP3 player for song samples?
Real must be paying Amazon to keep things the way they are.
They could’ve used MP3s and SoundManager 2 (JS/Flash API), but I’ll admit I’m completely biased. ;) I think historically they’ve used Real/WMA/QT, so it’d presumably be a ton of work to migrate all their existing audio.
I’ve found the sampler useful in the past, particularly when looking to listen to samples of obscure tracks for record searches, previewing albums etc.
At least now we understand better why the “slim” amazon was created.
I do like the inlined css/javascript - seems like it would possibly cut down on load time? (hard to tell with so much other content loading)
(why o why jsf amazon? those poor tortured devs :( )
Realplayer needs to be left for dead, like I thought it was until I stumbled upon this on Sunday. The install process alone for the plugin was just horrible and I had to avoid extraneous stuff all along the way. Why was Flash not used if they insists on a plugin?
the pain!!! the pain!!!
seriously, I used to work with people that loved to do the same thing as Amazon.
Once a coworker threw around 1200 lines of inline javascript into a login page… yes, 1200 lines in a login page… just for a fade effect and showing a throbber. (needless to say the concept of showing a fade effect and a throbber on a login page is completely wrong)
So where is the icon again? LOL, boy does this site have featuritis. Like BAD. Its horrible.
Inline js/css might cut load times down a little the first time, but you’ll never be able to cache any of that, so as soon as you visit it again, load times are worse than they would be if it had been externalized. What a mess.
RealPlayer? WHAT. Why are they making users install 3rd party software just to stream music?
@Paul - thanks for hint about the Dust Selector extension. That will be helpful… Bernd
I personally like RealPlayer, because I like lengthy installation processes that leave malware on my machine and can’t be installed. So what’s everyone’s problem?
Thx for the site info, Dion. For those looking around for the Music Sampler icon at the URL, note that it is degraded…if you’re using Safari3 or Opera v9.23 (as far as I can see).
Smooth move, AMZN.
I used to work with people that loved to do the same thing as Amazon. I personally like RealPlayer, because I like lengthy installation processes that leave malware on my machine and can’t be installed.
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