rafaelchampion

Hello guys. I'm an old member of the forum, very active in the MX era, when my taste for Coldplay was in it's peak. Much has changed since then, including my no longer unconditional love for the band, since I don't like very much the music direction post MX era. Although absent from this forum, I've since missed something I've loved a lot in my time here: The Mixtape Exchange. The idea is so good, I love absolutely everything about it, the concept, the care of crafting a mixtape for another person, reading the reviews. Everything. Recently I've done a 'micro-version' of this exchange with a friend of mine in a more 'modernized way', since the original Mixtape Exchange idea includes downloading the songs and removing it's metadata to hide it's name, artist(s) and album name. Long are the days of my multi-thousand downloaded mp3 music library, having moved to listening to music in cloud platforms (mainly Spotify). Because of that I've tried to translate this new more modernized reality to the Mixtape Exchange dynamic, and I think I came with a pretty good attempt. So I thought about returning to this forum to suggest this approach for the next/future/alternative Mixtape Exchanges to you guys and collecting feedback about it. Yeah, a lot of text and no explanation yet, so let's go to the practical part. How does it work? Well, from start, 2 requirements: using Google Chrome and having a Spotify subscription since otherwise it wouldn't be possible to play the songs in order, which in my view breaks a little the 'order importance' principle of the mixtape. We can discuss this more in the FAQ in the end of this explanation. Chrome in this case is necessary since we'll be installing an extension called "Stylebot". This extension allows us to custom Spotify webplayer's CSS (basically the 'look' of the page) which allows us to hide the names of songs, artists and albums, while keeping the playlist name and cover, important to the mixtape. So the preparation phase would include: Installing Chrome's Stylebot extension; Downloading a custom preset CSS I've written and importing to Stylebot; Once done, if you open Spotify Webplayer, it should look like the image below: No, the songs are not blurred because I want privacy lol. That's how they will look after applying the CSS. Note that not only the names are blurred but also uniform, that's because the CSS is edited to change the real names to "TRACK NAME", "ARTIST NAME" and "ALBUM NAME", to avoid long/short song names from being recognized. I've also hidden the name of the playlist creator under it's name as well as the "current playing" song near the player's controls and made the real album art black and blurred. Once the webplayer look like this, the person can receive the link to the playlist, opening it exclusively on Webplayer, allowing them to listen to the playlist without revealing the songs. So, method explained, let's clear some possible questions. FAQ Can this be done on phones?/Can I apply this method in my phone environment? ANS: No, primarily because of the extension that needs to be installed on chrome, secondly because the CSS behaves differently on phones, so this only works in desktop for now. Can this be done on MAC? ANS: I don't own a MAC but I think it should work if you're using Chrome since you should still be able to install extensions. Does this work only in Spotify?/Can I do this on my other music service subscription (Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube Music)? ANS: Theoretically it should be possible to mess up with other webplayers' CSS but since you need a subscription to have the service's full experience I think we should concentrate in only one service, so, since Spotify's the most used... So this means if I don't have a Spotify subscription I cannot take part in this kind of Mixtape Exchange? ANS: Unfortunately, I think so. That's why I also suggested this can be an alternative Mixtape Exchange maybe. It will depend on the habits of this forum's people regarding to music services, which I'm very much alien since I left. If most use Spotify, we should be able to do it. In some countries though, Spotify offers 1/3 free months of trial so if you never tried it before you could subscribe to participate the Mixtape Exchange and then unsubscribe afterwards. Will my webplayer look like this forever? ANS: No. The styles applied can be turned on/off anytime. You can turn it off after the Mixtape Exchange period is over. Does this work on Spotify app on Desktop/Spotify Windows App? ANS: No. It's only possible on the webplayer environment since it's the only place I can apply custom styles to the elements. Isn't it possible that someone says it will apply the custom CSS but they don't apply/deactivate the CSS revealing the true contents of the songs? ANS: Yes, it is. But even the regular Mixtape Exchange has it's flaws if the person REALLY wants to know which song it is before it's revealed (Shazam). It's virtually impossible to be 100% secretive about the songs. The participant should abide by the rules. ------------------------------------------------------------- So, folks, I would like to know what you think. Feel free to ask any questions that weren't answered.

Oh I see. My bad. Enviado de meu GT-I9300 usando Tapatalk

The link to Gerben's review is wrong buddy

I knew what was going to happen but even though I almost didn't sleep. That was waaaaaaaaay TOO brutal. But lots of surprises are still on our way this season people. Hold your breaths. If you think you were surprised for the past events of this season, you can't imagine what's about to come.

The sooner it comes, the happier I will be (if it's not a Ghost Stories pt. 2)

:shocked2: I didn't know he has 6 children. C'mon Chris, there's a thing called condom already! LOL

Yes, there is more interaction with Coldplay, but as you said Matt's voice is monstrous live. I love every performance of Knights of Cydonia(even if there's little vocals[words]). Chris (Wolstenholme)is an average side singer too(though Will is much better[he is better in everything he does, he is better breathing air than anyone lol jk]).

Even though I love Coldplay live to the death, I think Muse live is one little point ahead. They rock it from the beginning to end, even more after The 2nd Law.

I hated Muse when I discovered them, when I started to like them, I thought Coldplay were better, but somewhat I think Muse is better than Coldplay now too. *IMO*

I'm assuming rafi is me lol :laugh3: I'll explain to you, the other people don't really need to read.

Haha I understood you. I love you all here. I know we have discussions sometimes but I can't say I hate someone. Like I said some pages ago, I know now what is like when MX came out and I didn't understand how could people not like it.

Call Coldplay and tell them to burn every Ghost Stories copy ever and I'll be a happy fellow again :laugh3:

I am not a fat emo guy that stays in dark bedroom all day. I can't go for a walk while on my job. I can listen to music though. And yes, my favorite band should be allowed to affect my day. It has always done, in the past, for the good, but not with this record. Plus this is THE criticism thread. If you want to enjoy your favorite album ever you'll be better in "Why you love Ghost Stories?" thread. I don't keep going there telling you why you should hate this album so leave us here complaining.

You mean thrown together(not really), without connection(absolutely not), without purpose(no), without identity(I laughed here) like all of U2's albums? Their albums are not even closer to the cohesive Coldplay works(except maybe War), by far doesn't mean they are bad, that's the opposite actually, they are awesome. There's just more than a way to build an album, one of them is making a cohesive thing, other is only set a theme and do not stick too much with that.

Being not proud of X&Y doesn't mean it's not good. It's awesome actually. A shame they don't like it. Hahaha I really wanted to have some reaction like "Burn their houses", maybe it would make this sadness since may 12th go away. Instead I keep trying to figure out how Viva La Vida or Death and all His Friends makers wrote True Love (half actually, other half was Timbaland). I only want to find out how to go on knowing the 4 (*5) people I used to punch myself in the chest and say I'm proud to like, that never failed me before, made something that disappointed me deep in the heart.

This record affects my days since it came out too so we have the right to complain about. If complaining annoys you, you are free to watch other threads too.

I understood you too. Well, I guess Coldplay can go on being true to themselves •Without trying to make music the people want to listen to on the radio; •Without going Ghost Stories overall direction; The proof of that are, firstly Atlas, and then Ghost Story. Nothing can be as true as the last one. Those songs have the Coldplay spirit on them. I don't want another Mylo Xyloto; I don't want another A Rush Of Blood to the Head nor another X&Y. I only wanted them to stop not caring a bit about what the fans expect from them. Most of us expect Ghost Story-songs like. No one can deny that, look over Ghost Story thread and see the acceptation for yourself. It's not being stuck into time, it's being stuck on your roots, in what made you what you are today.

ASFoS not being as successful as those songs doesn't mean Coldplay didn't want it to. They did want it actually. Chris said it on Zane. Not the actual phrase but as meaningful as "We don't have that song, we don't have that song, so ASFoS was born". What brings us back to "making what sells".

What doesn't mean they did not try. Indeed.

http://kingsofar.com/2014/05/02/biggest-selling-itunes-artists-within-last-24-hours/

Thanks God we don't have a song called A Sky Full of Stars then.

You mean tell me it's bad, if you don't then liiiiiiiiiiiii[...]iiie.

Look it's not that I am that close minded. Go to my last.fm and you'll see even Rihanna, Avicci, Eminem, Beyonce, Nobuo Uematsu and Ramin Djawadi on the bottom of what I listen to. I am trying. Do you think I like not linking it? I knew Coldplay would never disappoint me but when Ghost Stories came I struggled as much as some people did with MX which I love by the way. I also tried to explain to them why Mylo Xyloto was that good but for the more I tried the more they wouldn't like it and I couldn't understand why. I guess, in the end we are just expecting too much from them, them to be perfect all the time but we never know one day they will fail with some portion of their fans. I used to see them in that angelical aura of perfection. The aura is now gone and I'm angry because of it.

Thank you and I like you very much too, I watched your video, but darling, I am not saying that people that plays computer are not talented. What I said that one have to have talent to play a guitar. What's very different of playing a computer, and no, it's not that easy. I didn't say also that it's not possible to make good music with computer. What I said is sometimes people can play the computer but they can't play a guitar. What's is more pleasurable of course will depend on taste, that's why some people love Ghost Stories and some don't. It's just that hard as we are trying to tell on this thread to accept the sound we got used have changed. And what Jon Hopkins does is beautiful but I will never appreciate it as much as I appreciate this: [video=youtube;7lwOFd1RXEA]

You have to have talent to play a guitar, you have to know the power you give to the strings, you have to tune your strings correctly, you have to let the instrument be part of your body. Now everybody can put the notes on the tabs in a computer. Even I can do it with Guitar Pro 6 or Ableton Live 8 but I can't play a guitar correctly. Does Ableton Live 8 or Guitar Pro makes me a musician then? No, they don't. Did you get it? It's the talent that differs instrumentalists from the stuff you listen to on the radio nowadays (and you know what I mean, not "Everything that's on the radio", but "the shit that's on the radio"). Something when you listen and say "I know this person is playing it because it has their musical signature". This is not found in Ghost Stories. Anyone could have been playing any song. From what we know, and I mean from the last show, One Direction can be playing any song since Chris love them to death.