Initially reported by Wired, and according to CEO and full-time dreamboat Alexander Ljung, the Berlin-based music streaming service SoundCloud recently exceeded 15 million users. Going along with that, they’ve decided to completely redesign the site, because let’s face it: after a certain point, web engineers just get bored, and the obvious way to alleviate said boredom is to fuck shit up, CSS-wise. Well, at least that’s the impression that I’ve come to take on over the years. Yes, I’m a cynical bastard.
I have faith that the redesign, which the company refers to as the “Next SoundCloud,” and which is currently in private Beta, will ultimately be a net positive though. According to Ljung, it “delivers a simpler, faster, more social sound platform to help everyone appreciate sound more.” Features of note include the ability to continuously play audio while navigating the site, a more appealing and interactive waveform player, and the ability to repost audio in a manner similar to Tumblr’s “reblog” feature. Co-founder and CTO Eric Wahlforss remarks, “It’s much more than an aesthetic change. By making use of state of the art technologies available in the latest generation browsers, we’ve created a technology platform that enables us to provide a much better user experience and develop new features faster.”
It wasn’t long ago that SoundCloud hit the 10 million user mark. Actually, you only have to go back to this past January. For the arithmetically challenged, that means that an apparent 5 million users signed up for the service in a mere 4 months — a 50% increase. Yeah, I’d say that’s reason enough to fuck shit up, but not in a sadistic way. Keep kicking ass, SoundCloud. Go here to preview the new site.
• SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com
