So what's new?
Well, to be blunt, everything. But here are some of the many and forthcoming changes, in the majesty known as point form:
Comments - That's right, you can finally leave a comment! At the bottom of every article you will now be able to add comments by simply clicking on "Add a comment". If you aren't logged in you'll have to enter one of those annoying random blurry characters things (called CAPTCHAs), but if you are a registered user you get to bypass that completely and start commenting right away! Which leads me to our next new feature...
User Accounts - By clicking on the not so fancy Login/Register button in the top right corner you can create your very own Pop Zap account which you can use to leave comments on articles and contact other users (and staff). In the coming weeks, we'll be adding the ability to create fully featured user profiles, as well as forums and even some user exclusive songs and articles!
Share Links - Since we're in the age of social networking and blogging, we've decided to add the ability to share your favorite articles with your friends via the Share Links at the bottom of every article. With Digg, de.li.cious, Facebook and more, you can make sure that all your friends are in the know with the latest and greatest in the world of Pop Zap. Not sure which icon is for which site? Simply hover your mouse cursor over the icon for more info!
Music Player - After reading an article on Pop Zap, do you often find yourself thinking "wow, this band sounds like they'd be super-cool! I sure would like to hear their music, but where, oh where can I do that?" Well since MySpace exists, neither do we, but if you're lazy like us, or just don't feel like waiting 10 minutes for all the silly graphics to load on an artist's MySpace page, check out the new music player located in the right column of every page. This player will have full tracks from artists featured on Pop Zap, and if you want to navigate away from the page, just click on the "m3u" link under the player to have the current playlist stream through your computer's media player (i.e. iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp). Easy peezy, right?
Popular/Recent/Comments Tabs - Located just under our music player you'll find three tabs with various dynamic links to the latest articles on Pop Zap. Popular shows you the top ten recent, most read articles; Recent lays them out by date, ignoring popularity; and Comments shows you the last ten user comments. It's a fun way to see what other people are reading and possibly discover something new.
New Logo / (kind-of) New Name - Long time Pop Zap readers have probably noticed a couple changes in our logo, specifically the logo itself, but also the ammendment of our name from PopZap!Music to Pop Zap. Why the change? Well, as the old adage goes, KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid! People often found trouble knowing just what to call us, or just where to put punctuation and spaces, so we decided to simplify things for everyone, ourselves included. Hey, it worked for Panic (!) At The Disco, didn't it?
Search - No need to explain this one. You can (FINALLY!!!) search the site!
Photo Gallery - (Not yet active) You may have noticed a while back that our photo galleries have gone offline. This is because we have been working on a better way to integrate them seamlessly into the site. Well, in a couple of weeks the integration will be complete and you'll finally be able to revisit the galleries in all their glory!
Video Channel - (Not yet active) Enlisting the aid of Jason Ness and Alex Rongstad of SaveYourScene Productions, we've been working hard on some live music videos and conversations that combine high-quality visuals with the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that are usually reserved for those involved. You also get to see my ugly mug in full motion. I apologize in advance.
Travel Guide - Ever wonder what your favorite musicians like to do when they're at home, or where home even is to them? We have an all new section called Travel Guide where artists chat about their favorite hang-outs in their hometown. These are written by the artist and un-edited. The first one is up right now, written by Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner!
Stage Presence - This isn't so much a new section as it is a new means of organizing. All our live concert reviews can be found here. They were previously just thrown into Pop Talk.
Re-Worked Pop Talk - Speaking of Pop Talk, this section will now be reserved for more personal writings such as Nick's Random Musings, Zoe's Letter From Austin, Curt's mixes and Sara's Lyrical Reflections. I'll also throw my Editor's Notes in here. Due to the personal nature of this section, the articles will oftentimes be un-edited. Think of it like a blog for our writers.
There are many other new features, as well as upcoming features, but I'll leave some of them to the fun of discovery. One thing I would like to mention is that this is still a work in progress so it will take us a couple more weeks to import all of the archived articles over to the new site. In the meantime, if you are looking for an old article that doesn't seem to have made the transition yet, the old site can be found, fully intact at archive.pop-zap.com.
Also, please let us know what you think of all the changes, the new look, or if you find any weird bugs or glitches. You can do so by leaving a comment below, or by e-mailing me at tim [at] pop-zap [dot] com.
