Coming soon, very soon We're putting the final touches on a…

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Tuesday, 27 August 2002

Coming soon, very soon

We're putting the final touches on a brand new feature for all Xanga members. (Yes, this one's for Xanga Classic users, too!) More details soon - for now I'll let the pictures do the talking ...

1. Just click to search for Currently Playing, Reading or Watching:

2. Thanks to Amazon.com Web Services...

3. Now any Xanga Member can search Amazon.com's huge collection of stuff!

4. To find any CD, Book, DVD or Video in the Amazon database

5. And add it straight to your Xanga site!

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Comments (73)

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does it actually play the tune, or is it just a product link?

can the feature be used to link to things i might play, watch, or read that aren't available on Amazon?
- 8/27/2002 12:24 PM
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As a self proclaimed music addict, I can't wait to start using it!
- 8/27/2002 12:25 PM
- monsur (message)
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Hi seanmeister, well this feature revolves entirely around the new Amazon Web Services. We've wanted to launch a feature like this for a long time (I'm talking Xanga version 1.0 here!) But we never found a good way to make it easy for Xanga users to find and add stuff straight to their weblogs (ever wonder what that "Reviews" tab is for? Hah - it's really just an artifact of our earliest attempts at this type of feature.)

So to answer your questions:

1. well, no it does not play the tunes (we don't want xanga to go the way of Napster ) But in future tweaks to this feature, we might be able to make it so the links for songs automatically point to MP3s or music clips that amazon.com may provide through its web services

2. Again, the whole reason we're excited to finally launch this feature is that Amazon has provided a way to integrate the search and selection process straight into the xTools interface - to make it super easy to use. So for now, the feature is just for stuff available on Amazon (which hopefully covers most of the stuff available anywhere ). But if other places start offering web services like Amazon, then we could look into potentially integrating them as well.
- 8/27/2002 12:45 PM
- marc (message)
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Whoooa, that looks so cool!
- 8/27/2002 12:56 PM
- dan (message)
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Wow! Finally an easy way for me to search and instantly add the stuff I'm reading! Thanks, Marc!
- 8/27/2002 1:05 PM
- janet (message)
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Looks like a cool tool.
- 8/27/2002 1:09 PM
- writermom25 (message)
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This will be used!!

Thanks guys!
- 8/27/2002 1:16 PM
- rae_o_sunshyne (message)
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When you say the the Reviews tab is "really just an artifact of our earliest attempts at this type of feature," it makes me wonder if you have plans to bury the Reviews "artifact." I keep my literary index there, so if we are going to lose Reviews, I need to move my index before it goes poof. So... is the Reviews tab going to go poof???
- 8/27/2002 1:25 PM
- Alice (message)
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I think this is a nice idea. I remember when you could sign up to be an associate or whatever with Amazon and Barnes & Nobles on your own personal website. Recommend books, music, etc. and if someone clicked thru your site to purchase that..you made money. Is this the same? Who makes money off this for steering business to Amazon?
- 8/27/2002 1:30 PM
- purpleluna (message)
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Hi Alice - I knew you'd be wondering about the fate of the reviews tab No worries, we've all noticed and appreciated how you (and others) have been using the Reviews area in your own creative ways. We have no plans to get rid of it... if anything we'd like to upgrade that area eventually to fit a more literary functionality... maybe rename it "essays" and make some other tweaks so that it works pretty much exactly like you seem to want it to work .
- 8/27/2002 1:32 PM
- marc (message)
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Mmm...tres chic. Can't wait to use it!
- 8/27/2002 1:33 PM
- starboard (message)
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will we be able to use our own amazon affiliate info?
- 8/27/2002 1:45 PM
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can you say 'sellout'
- 8/27/2002 1:54 PM
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Hi purpleluna, haha - I'm impressed you remember that old feature. Agreed, it was a pretty cool feature - we've always thought affiliate commerce (like the amazon associates program) was a great way for any website owner to cover some of the costs of running their websites. It's sooooo much better than banner ads (or popups/popunders - gad) because it can be contextualized... (for example, as a "currently playing, reading, watching" area that a lot of Xanga users have been posting anyway, manually).

So we've reprogrammed that old feature you mention for all Premium members. If you're a Premium member, you'll get a place to input your Amazon Associate ID, and then we'll automatically configure all your Currently Playing, Reading, and Watching links to help earn you some cash through the program. Nobody's ever going to make a lot from affiliate commerce, but it's pretty easy for any site with moderate traffic to earn a few bucks a month (and that's enough to cover, say, the cost of Xanga Premium ).

One big issue you've heard us mention before: Xanga needs a way to defer the costs of delivering all of the pageviews for free Xanga Classic sites (xanga's currently averaging about 3 million pageviews per day, and rocketing ever upward), so on Xanga Classic sites, all of the links are configured for Xanga's associate account - we're hoping everyone likes this new feature, but it's also important for keeping xanga cookin' - finally, we have a way for Xanga Classic users to stick with the free service but still help us pay Xanga's hosting bill, just by using a cool new toy .
- 8/27/2002 2:10 PM
- marc (message)
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That old feature is still around for personal websites. Thanks for explaining some things. It will be interesting to see how this looks. I *want* to be excited about it but we'll see. I did have one of those accounts before..dont think anybody really cared what I read, LOL I never made a dime. But kudos to you for coming up with a way to defer costs on pageviews for free accounts.

I do love my Xanga!
- 8/27/2002 2:22 PM
- purpleluna (message)
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I like how much care and thought you guys seem to put into every aspect of the creation and delivery of Xanga. It's probably why I've never even considered going anywhere else for my blogging needs. I'm looking forward to being employed soon, so that I can finally upgrade to Premium and pay my way for this service I've been using for 20 months!

Take care
-J-
- 8/27/2002 2:34 PM
- justinburnett (message)
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hello, capitalism.
- 8/27/2002 3:18 PM
- skatallite (message)
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I loved the idea!!! I mean, the new toy
- 8/27/2002 4:39 PM
- Lotus (message)
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very very cool... i like it a lot
- 8/27/2002 6:04 PM
- mssn_head (message)
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Wheee!! I'm a music addict, too... so... whoo hoo!! I like it!!
- 8/27/2002 6:09 PM
- Forsberg21 (message)
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thats cool..
- 8/27/2002 6:10 PM
- juSs_aCe (message)
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Very cool! Will it allow us to add a pic of the currently whatever? That would be great. For premium users, I would suggest keeping the affiliat info defaulting to Xanga, but with a very simple box to allow you to change that.

Of course, being a former B&N employee, I wish you would allow us to choose between the two, but I won't gripe.
- 8/27/2002 7:15 PM
- namaste (message)
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I like it!
- 8/27/2002 11:02 PM
- anja (message)
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Can you link to a website where you are listening to a webcast or the radio?
- 8/28/2002 2:04 AM
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xanga is so cool! ... but I want money cuz I want Premium!!!!!
- 8/28/2002 11:42 AM
- Saby (message)
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