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Net Gains (Jun 26, 96)
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Our first stop is the Warner Bros. web site , which is by far the best of the lot. On a pitch black background, a collage of different artistes signed up on their recording label, greets you as you log onto the Warner Bros. home page. Incidentally, a clickable collage like this one, is called an image map in internet lingo (you could use words like these to show off !). To get the low down on your favourite artiste, all you have to do is click on that particular artiste's snapshot, or symbol as in the case of TAFKAP (The Artiste Formerly Known As Prince). On clicking on the TAFKAPs symbol, you have a choice of choosing high resolution / low resolution / or a text - only version depending on your computer, modem, and most importantly, on how good your Internet Service Provider ( like VSNL) is ! Having a leased line at my disposal, the obvious choice was the high resolution choice for further online interaction with TAFKAP. What ultimately comes onto the screen is part one of a 3- screenfulls blowup, each part appearing everytime you ask for more by clicking on the "more" button. Warner Bros. also has the likes of Madonna, REM, kd lang, Tom Petty, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers signed up on their label, so if you're into any of the above artistes, check out the Warner site.
Ranking just a lil behind the Warner Bros site is that of Atlantic Records. This is a 5 - frame page. Frames is a relatively new concept in home pages that a lot of people are up in arms against because they just don't know how to use it. In a home page created using frames, the page is split into partitions, with at least one staying put during your entire surfing session on that home page. The other frames change depending on what you click or choose on the page. Just keep in mind : to go to a previous frame, DO NOT click the back button of your browser. Instead, hold your mouse button down on that frame, and you'll be able to navigate easily through the previous frames. All power to the mouse !!
Atlantic records boasts of names like Mr. Big, Bette Midler, Hootie & the Blowfish, All-4-One, Tori Amos, and the youngest hit sensation - Brandy. One cool thing about music companies on the net, is that you can sometimes hear songs from a new music album before actually buying it. For instance, The Scorpions released their latest album - Pure Instinct on June 04. Before actual release, three out of eleven songs from the album were available on the Net. People who visited the site could actually hear songs like - Wild Child, You and I, and Are You the One. One prominent link here was to what was labelled, "Free Stuff" , boasting of contests and the like. Another noticable link is ON THE ROAD - a database of tours by artistes signed up by Atlantic. A search engine here makes work really easy by allowing you to choose the artiste you're interested in, the country, and the state of tour. Once you've made the above choices, it generates a list of concerts that are "happening" as per your choices. Interestingly, India wasn't listed there - suggesting that we're still not a country worth listing on the tour lists.
The bronze position in our review of sites of music labels goes to Sony Online The simple, appealing interface gets it this distinction - there are cute buttons that you click on to visit any of the following areas : music, games, movies, consumer electronics, and gear - the above being a few of Sony's fingers in different pies. Sony has a special section devoted to wearables (under the topic "gear") like t-shirts and jackets . You can search for stuff of your liking falling in price ranges of less than $25 to more than $1000 ! Sony seems to have the greatest collection of music videos available on the Net - the greatest number of them being by Mariah Carey, who's married one of Sony's big bosses. Alice in Chains, Aerosmith, John Denver, and The Presidents Of The United States Of America also figure a lot on Sony Online.
Restrictions of space prevent me from
talking about Geffen Records and
Polygram Online ,
but you could check them out for artistes like : Lisa Loeb,
Peter Gabriel, Urge Overkill, and Nirvana.
Until next week then, chal !