music on websites

[onelargecat]

I hate, loathe, and detest when music starts playing on a website that I open. I don't care how much I like the song that starts playing...having music forced upon me by a website is really annoying. I find this all over the place, though, and can't figure out why on earth so many people do it. I figure most people must not hate it as much as I do

Comments

[mockduck]

Well, I'm half way between the last two options. It depends what mood I'm in and what vibe I'm getting from the other aspects of the site, like its design. Also, how tinny/cheesy the music is. I do tend to think of it as a bit of a throwback to the early days of the internet, when people did almost everything just to show that they could.

[ivymae]

Automatic music can be a hazard when browsing with a nearly-sleeping nursling on your lap, so if music comes on immediately I almost always close the window. The "duh" thing to do would be keep my speakers off, but when the tiny people are not sleeping we are almost always listening to music or podcasts, so the speakers usually stay on.

[marshmelococoa]

For me it depends more on how loud and overpowering it is. Sometimes it's the kind of music or the song but if it's softly in the background I don't usually mind. I do hate when even when your spearkers are low that the music blasts you out.

I can't decide if I want to add music to my website or not - with all of this in mind.

If I do, it will be recorded very quietly and something instrumental and lullabye like. Or nothing at all. Can't decide.

[onelargecat]

The way I think about it (from the perspective of someone trying to decide whether to include music or not) is that while some people might like it or even feel it adds to the experience, a lot of people are annoyed by it, and why do something that has the potential to annoy people? No one (I don't think?) goes to a website and thinks, "If only there were music playing on this site...it's so annoying that it's quiet." But people DO think, "It's annoying that there is music playing" if a song starts up, so I'd choose to err on the side of not doing the annoying thing.

[red_ruby]

I'd definitely err on the side of caution here and NOT include it. It's just so outside what you'd expect or need from most websites, and specifically from yours, that it would (IMO) be a distraction.

[onelargecat]

Oh, believe me, no website of mine will EVER have music playing without the user choosing it. It's a big trend in photographers' websites (at least among the photographers on the board I'm on), though, to have music start playing the second you load their pages. I hate it.

[kirinqueen]

What if you're already listening to music? Hearing two or more songs playing over each other and not knowing which thing to switch off (if it's more than two, or if you have loads of tabs open) is incredibly annoying.

[onelargecat]

I DO want to listen to music. Just not the music someone forces on me on their website!

[kirinqueen]

If I open more than one Myspace page that plays music, it crashes my Firefox. I BURRRNN with loathing of the non-optional music playing.