Jonny Trunk’s Recommendations tip you off to music you haven’t heard without just handing it to you. For example, here’s something Jonny recommends:
A quick scroll through Amazon will show you which Mingus album he’s talking about. But that small effort on the part of the listener changes everything. It’s fun to get new music, but it’s even better to discover new music yourself. By leaving the legwork to the reader, Jonny also leaves some of the joy of discovery. Besides, good music is always better when you earn it.
It goes beyond music too. The best moments are those Kathy Sierra ones where we think “Aha! Yes! I kick ass”—and those usually happen not by following instructions but by connecting the dots between the instructions.
tom s.
on 27 Oct 09A couple of decades ago I heard a lecture by a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Someone who had heard him talk before leaned over and said “he will be clear, and interesting, and there will be no questions” – and was right. The talk was polished, and all the loose ends were tied up so neatly there was nothing left to prompt questions.
Too neatly. It is those loose ends that we tug at, to get a better grasp of the material. The best lectures, and recommendations perhaps, have to draw you in, and they do so by making you work.
It’s the same for other forms of art. I like David Lynch not because he’s perfect but because he is so inconsistent and leaves so many unanswered questions; Michael Haneke’s Hidden/Cache draws you in precisely because you are not sure you understand what’s going on in front of your eyes.
Jamie Tibbetts
on 27 Oct 09Hmmm… I don’t get why you’re advocating forcing users to search for something rather than just linking to it. That can only lead to frustration and annoyance in my book. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I’d much rather be provided with links to what I’m supposed to be checking out rather than having to do a bunch of needless copy-n-pasting and trial-n-error.
mingus
on 27 Oct 09here, jamie, you lazy fuck
Chris G.
on 27 Oct 09@tom I don’t think you can apply those lecture- and speech-rules to the internet or computer work.
In my opinion everything computer-related is about getting to your goal fast. The copy-and-pasting-thing might not be helpful for discovering new music – because that is/can be achieved by “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Looked At” and “Customers with Similar Searches Purchased” or something similar to the “Genius”-function in iTunes.
Michael Moncur
on 27 Oct 09I do understand the value of letting users discover something for themselves, but I’m not sure this is a great example.
The charm of that blog wouldn’t be diminished even a tiny bit by an Amazon link here and there. And it would be GREATLY ENHANCED by a “play” button with a sample. After all, discovering great music is all about HEARING it.
As it is, while I can appreciate it as a novelty, and maybe as a nostalgic celebration of album cover art, it isn’t likely to ever help me find new music. I have my doubts whether that was even the author’s intention.
panoptican
on 27 Oct 09and yet, i could think of better ways to describe that charlie mingus album that leaves something to the imagination. indeed, i could think of better ways that invoke the imagination to wander and wonder at great lengths at the possibility of music. while i do appreciate greatly the intent, i doubt seriously the results. nobody listens to tunes partially prompted. you either have to inspire entirely or hope for the best. a slight hint and in-between is likely to end in failure, i suspect.
seaworthy
on 27 Oct 09The first versions of Duncan Hines cake mixes contained everything one needed to bake the cake. In test marketing, however, the company found that by leaving out the egg and milk components, and thereby requiring the “cook” to add them, the cook gained a sense of involvement and control over the final product—the cake was, thus, “homemade.” That was the key to success.
Jamie, Baymard Institute
on 27 Oct 09seaworthy brings about a good example. Also, I don’t think Jonny Trunk’s goal is to get the most amount of people to listen to this music, to discover it, but rather deeply involve a certain type of visitor.
By providing a link you may get more people to click through and listen, but all of them will be much less involved (because they haven’t invested anything).
Chris
on 27 Oct 09I’d answer with a very emphatic “IT DEPENDS.”
You can leave a little to the imagination in a good way or you can leave a little to the imagination and be a nuisance. In most cases, I think people who try this end up being a nuisance. I don’t know how successful Jonny Trunk’s reviews are, but the popularity of reviews generally depends on diction and insight, so the absence of links probably doesn’t have a large effect one way or another here.
It also depends because each user responds differently, so where Ryan sees this as subjectively appealing, I see it as annoying. I have no idea which of us represents the majority. My subjective preference is music reviews with samples not only included, but presented inline in the body copy adjacent to the snippet of text that is most pertinent.
Incidentally, the Duncan Hines story if fascinating in its context, but it has to do with building something and is not information-related at all. I don’t think it’s transferable.
This discussion is closed.