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  • Turntable.fm: What's It All About?
Technology Articles > Software > Games & Entertainment > Turntable.fm: What's It All About?

Have you been hearing a lot about Turntable.fm? If you have, you might be wondering what this website app is all about. To put it simply, it’s an app that allows you to experience new music while also allowing others to listen to the music that you love. But, again, that’s the simple version. Turntable.fm is, in fact, a lot more than a simple music app.

I’ll start off this review by stating that you can only join Turntable.fm if you know someone who’s using the service. In addition, that someone must be using Turntable.fm through Facebook. If you happen to gain an invite, the real fun can begin. What kind of fun? Here’s a quick rundown of the many reasons why Turntable.fm is taking the United States by storm (note: this app is only available in the United States at the time of this writing).

Entering Turntable.fm

As soon as you have snagged your invite, you can visit the Turntable.fm website. Once there, you will see a list of rooms that you can join. You’ll also be given a basic avatar (more on this later). Rooms are categorized by music genre (room creators give each room a name, so choose the one that appeals to you). Some rooms are filled with many people while other rooms are barren.

If you happen upon a room that doesn’t have a lot of people in it, you may be able to grab one out of five possible DJ spots. DJ avatars are placed at the front of the room, and once you’ve grabbed a DJ spot you can start spinning your music (chosen from the Turntable.fm library or from your own hard drive). If you can’t get a DJ spot, you can simply listen to the tunes that are being played. Eventually, you may be able to show your stuff on the turntables.

Rating System

You will have to chance to rate each song being played inside of any given room. If you like a son, you can increase that song’s rating. If you hate a song, and others hate it as much as you do, the song may be stopped quickly. The more great music a DJ plays the better chance that DJ has of gaining a better avatar. That brings me to the incentive of joining Turntable.fm.

The goal of this web app, if there is a goal, is to get the best avatar available. Beginners start off with basic avatars, and it is possible to gain better avatars as you go along. The best avatars are giant avatars that resemble popular music groups. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to gain a better avatar, since there aren’t always DJ spots available. This brings me to some drawbacks of the Turntable.fm website.

Drawbacks

First, it’s hard to grab a DJ spot in popular rooms. Why? DJs who aren’t popular or who have been playing songs for hours aren’t asked to leave or booted from the DJ spot. Since there are only five DJ spots, you might have to wake up really early or find a less popular room to start playing your music. Secondly, you can chat with other people who like the same music, but you can’t hold private chats (some may find this a big drawback).

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Turntable.fm isn’t available outside of the U.S. If you try to access the site from another country, you will be greeted with a polite message that effectively blocks you from the site. While a drawback for now, this may change within the near future. If you like music, want to discover music, or just want to know what Turntable.fm is about, check out the site by asking one of your Facebook friends to add you.