Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Thu, Sep 9 2010, 4:01PM
Many of you have pointed out that the new Gramophone Player doesn't work with the iPad and iPhone. We knew this, of course, but I have been remiss in not mentioning it in the run-up to launch. Rather than continue to mail all of you, I thought I'd better post the gist of what I've said to a number of peole already:
iPad and iPhone compatibility were obviously factors that we took into consideration when building the Gramophone Player. However, we had to decide between an early release of the player and making it iPad compatible. We looked at iPad and iPhone compatibility and found that, whilst it's currently possible, it provides a severely compromised user experience which we wanted to work with further before releasing publicly. In view of the fact that iPad/iPhone users of the site form less than 1% of the user base, we took the view that it would be better to get the player in the public domain to ensure that the majority of users could begin using it and familiarise themselves with it. In the meantime we'll continue to evolve it, in the hope that we can make it more iPad-friendly before the release of the first player-only content.
I hope you'll bear with us for a short while so that we can work on getting the player to those of you who are using what is, after all, almost the perfect medium for the player!
Tue, Nov 2 2010, 8:38AM
#2
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Saying that less than 1% of visitors to this forum are iPhone/iPad users is perhaps disingenuous. Given that you have created a "severely compromised user experience" for us, I imagine most will be accessing the forum from their desktop machines.
I interpreted what John wrote as meaning that iPhone/iPad users comprised <1% prior to the introduction of the Gramophone Player - hence the decision to go ahead with the Player in its present form.
Presumably everything else on the Gramophone site is accessible to iPhone/iPad users?
Tue, Nov 2 2010, 1:12PM
#3
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
As a subscriber to Gramophone for around 50 years I find his very disappointing, especially as Gramophone has always been a supporter and early adopter of new technology. Many other sites are working extremely well with html5. I do hope you are able to provide this soon.
Saying that less than 1% of visitors to this forum are iPhone/iPad users is perhaps disingenuous. Given that you have created a "severely compromised user experience" for us, I imagine most will be accessing the forum from their desktop machines.
I'm sorry if you feel I've been 'disingenuous', but I was simply quoting our site statistics and can't see any reason why I would be...
Usage from those two devices has certainly risen over the last couple of months, and now stands around 2.3% combined. However, since we rely on a third party provider for the player, we're somewhat at their mercy in terms of their development roadmap for iPad and iPhone. A single-track player works (as demonstrated in a couple of forums threads), but it's the furniture we surround the player with (the playlists and links) which are causing the issues in HTML5. We're working with them, and are expecting a resolution this year, but that's as close as I can say right now.
Thu, Jan 6 2011, 8:52PM
#4
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Any update on this yet? (written from my iPad!)
Thu, Jan 6 2011, 11:40PM
#5
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Good evening,
The people that run the system the Player is built in suggest it could be sometime in the Spring. At the very least, it is something they are working on, and they know the concerns of iPad and iPhone users and wish to address them. We'll keep you posted as and when there are changes.
Sun, Jan 9 2011, 1:55AM
#6
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Why not go one further and produce an iPad e-magazine like many others have done? It could include music and video links within the magazine. It works very well for other magazines and I think will be a major format for magazine publishing in the months and years ahead. As so many of the magazines are already in electronic format, it would be an amazingly rich and straight-forward-to-create product.
Sun, Jan 9 2011, 2:29PM
#7
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
It's funny how the ipad, which is supposed to be better than other computers won't do things that my fairly cheap netbook does.
Wed, Jan 12 2011, 12:27AM
#8
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Little did I know when writing my previous comment that Gramophone were on the cusp of launching an e-version of the magazine. The iPad version is excellent! And - hallelujah - at last good for the environment.
Wed, Jan 12 2011, 9:19AM
#9
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Little did I know when writing my previous comment that Gramophone were on the cusp of launching an e-version of the magazine.
Are we?!?!
EDIT - ooo, so we are!
Sat, Jan 22 2011, 5:14AM
#10
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Does the e-magazine work on the iPad/iPhone or does it rely on Flash?
The subscription page is not specific about this.
S Crowther
Sat, Jan 22 2011, 8:40AM
#11
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Little did I know when writing my previous comment that Gramophone were on the cusp of launching an e-version of the magazine.
Are we?!?!
EDIT - ooo, so we are!
God knows, I sometimes feel 'under-informed' about things at work, but the fact that the "Head of Technology Delivery for gramophone.co.uk" didn't know about the launch of an e-version of Gramophone brings me great comfort :-)
PS. Could you take a look at http://www.gramophone.co.uk/forum/about-the-site/word-verification when you get a chance? I'm getting the 'word verification' thing for pretty much every post/edit now.
PPS. And the 'Subject cannot be longer than 64 characters...' one, too, when it's clearly not.
Mon, Jan 24 2011, 12:54PM
#12
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Yes it works on iPad and iPhone thankfully! You have to download an e-reader from iTunes (all explained on the website).
It seems you can only download the latest issue though. You can browse through previous issues going back to about October last year, but the download speed onto the mobile devices seems inexplicably slow (it seems you can only view these issues online rather than download a complete issue, although the whole issue is available). The speed issues do not seem to afflict the desktop version.
Apart from the issue of only being able to browse older issues on iPad/iPhone, and the slownness of viewing these pages), the e-version of gramophone is an excellent alternative.
I just hope they make the experience more interactive (e.g. include weblinks/include the gramophone player etc.)
Mon, Jan 24 2011, 12:55PM
#13
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
Does the e-magazine work on the iPad/iPhone or does it rely on Flash?
The subscription page is not specific about this.
S Crowther
Yes it works on iPad and iPhone thankfully! You have to download an e-reader from iTunes (all explained on the website).
It seems you can only download the latest issue though. You can browse through previous issues going back to about October last year, but the download speed onto the mobile devices seems inexplicably slow (it seems you can only view these issues online rather than download a complete issue, although the whole issue is available). The speed issues do not seem to afflict the desktop version.
Apart from the issue of only being able to browse older issues on iPad/iPhone, and the slownness of viewing these pages), the e-version of gramophone is an excellent alternative.
I just hope they make the experience more interactive (e.g. include weblinks/include the gramophone player etc.)
Mon, Jan 24 2011, 4:30PM
#14
RE: Gramophone Player - iPad and iPhone
God knows, I sometimes feel 'under-informed' about things at work, but the fact that the "Head of Technology Delivery for gramophone.co.uk" didn't know about the launch of an e-version of Gramophone brings me great comfort :-)
In John's defence (not that you mean it in anything other than jest!) he's head of delivering things we do in-house - like gramophone.co.uk - whereas the digital edition is delivered by an outside company. It's my fault really for not keeping him fully 'in the loop'.
Sun, Feb 6 2011, 11:36AM
#15
Gramophone Player and digital edition
Joking aside, I find it far from 'comforting' that these services are being launched without any discussion even amongst Gramophone's own staff, let alone consultation with readers. Yet again these issues are being presented like something entirely beyond Gramophone's control, everything being solely a question about the capabilities and development schedules of external partners. Presumably someone with technical knowledge is actually selecting these partners based on a list of requirements decided in advance?
Exact Editions at least supports the iPod/iPad/iPhone, unlike the solution selected for the Player; but there is no mention of this in the news feature, so perhaps this was just a happy coincidence rather than a criterion for selection. I do see that a free trial issue of Gramophone is listed on their website but not amongst the free content on the Apple platforms, though, so perhaps we are to be denied this as well. Perhaps you could arrange a free trial issue on the Apple platforms so that we can see how it works without having to subscribe? I have tried a sample issue of another magazine with Exact Editions, both online and on an iPhone, and I have to say that I find both rather difficult to read: their website service has a very limited choice of zoom settings, and the iPod/iPhone app does not support reading the content in a landscape orientation. Exact Editions has an optional feature for downloading a full PDF of an issue: has Gramophone chosen to allow this, so that we can use alternative viewers offering more flexibility?
I hope an iPhone-compatible Gramophone Player really will appear in the coming months, and that Gramophone has actively informed its partner that this is of interest to its customers. Assessing the level of interest in iPod/iPhone music streaming based on the percentage of your website traffic originating from iOS devices is rather illogical as your website does not offer a compatible music streaming service. Despite its growing share, iOS devices are not the dominant means of accessing websites (just as my iPhone did not replace my camera despite having one built in), but Apple products do lead the market for portable music players. I would imagine that your website traffic is also now driven at least partly by the Player: I very rarely visited your website from any device when you still supplied CDs. I now do occasionally, from my PC, simply because it is the only means of accessing the Gramophone Player, although due to the inconvenience I do not even manage to do this once a month: I have three months' of Editor's Choice excerpts to catch up on. If an iOS version or download option is introduced, it will certainly be much more convenient, and I will probably have little reason to visit the website (unless it is the delivery route for iOS-compatible downloads or streaming).
As a subscriber to Gramophone for around 50 years I find his very disappointing, especially as Gramophone has always been a supporter and early adopter of new technology. Many other sites are working extremely well with html5. I do hope you are able to provide this soon.
Saying that less than 1% of visitors to this forum are iPhone/iPad users is perhaps disingenuous. Given that you have created a "severely compromised user experience" for us, I imagine most will be accessing the forum from their desktop machines.