Harmony-central.com as we knew it is gone.

[Duff]

The awesome harmony-central.com, as we have known it, is now gone; replaced with a sorry immitation of what it once was. A really pitiful site as it now stands. Really sickening.

Supposedly motivated by a desire for the sponsor companies to make more money, quicker, the whole site it changed around and getting "reviews" is an alusive feat that I haven't fathomed but I have read that others have and it is a six stage process to get to the list of guitars, etc. manufactured by a manufacturer.

It suc*ks. There is a petition to change it back but considering the time and money the prime motivators put into this new version it is certain that the old version that we are all so familiar with is no more.

The new version seems very shallow and weak, features sponsored products and makes it difficult to search for a specific product and produces a very limited selection of reviews and ratings as far as I can get.

I find it pitiful and sickening that we have to lose such a great resource to such a pitiful replacement. Just the homepage alone looks extremely weak and inexpensive with little thought, if any put into its development.

What do you all think?

[BigJD]

As someone who has spent alot of time there in the past 6yrs,I'm pretty disappointed in the way things have turned out.
I really liked the lighting forum and spent a great amount of time on the live sound forum also.
It's how I got to know spudman on a personal basis, and learned so much more.
I'm saddened for-sure.
It's not user freindly at all any more so I find myself just skipping it all together.
I'm glad this forum is here for me to spend my time lurking through.

[Tarin]

Couldn't agree more... really bad move for HC.
Hey! HC!... you're new site is N O T U S E R F R I E N D L Y at all.

I'm sure similar bells are ringing all over the place and will get back to the same, or a similar page than before... it's a must.

[SuperSwede]

I never used the HC forum but the user review section was one of the finest websites ever. Its kinda sad that it seems to have played its last screaming solo on a scarthy push/pull nob amph that will turn on 999.999 times of 1.000.000 times. (new members: use the search function for "screaming solos")

[kiteman]

No more user reviews?

My bookmark doesn't work anymore. :help

[FrankenFretter]

Like SS, I never used the forums, but often would read up on the user reviews before buying gear. That was a great resource to have. It's sad to see what has become of that site. I imagine that the folks who run HC are quickly realizing that they're going to have to make some changes pronto, or risk losing any following that they've had.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, I liked the reviews a bit (though I used a healthy grain of salt while reading), and shopped the classifieds, but did not care for the discussion forum there. Too bad it got wrecked. Probably easier for someone to start a review site from scratch than try to make them change it back I would guess.

[Jimi75]

I always felt that the reviews there did not give a realistic impression. I mean if I was about to buy something and gave a darn about the 123 different opinions on that product....well then... I hadn't bought my Les Paul, nor my mid 70's Strat, the OCD is of course the most synthetic sounding overdrive and so blah and so blah on...too much unqualified reviews, sorry, that's only my 0.2 cents.

If I read a review on this forum here, I have most of the time heard a clip of the member, knwo whcih music he likes, what kind of a player he is and so on, so the reviews here give me a way more realistic impression, plus I know that I do not face product dissing here. How obvious were some of the HC reviews? Gibson haters, Fender haters, predjudices were spread, quality review died there.

[wingsdad]

10-12 years ago or so, H-C was a valuable encyclopedic source for product reviews, although they've always been somewhat limited in value, often tainted by rants and misleading info. The evolution of manufacturers' site and other user group discussion forums, but moreso, eclectic forums such as this one into pub-like sources of more credible, valued dialog about guitars and gear gradually rendered H-C obsolete. I'd rather learn about a particular guitar or piece of gear from people I 'know' than from 'strangers'.

[Spudman]

I used the reviews section often for many years and could certainly read between the lines. Often times there was other little information on a particular piece of gear anywhere else on the web and it helped me out a lot.

I can't understand why people don't adhere to "if it ain't broke don't fix it." I feel that site was one thing better left unchanged. It was fast and simple to navigate. Maybe they'll get enough feedback and make the changes the new site needs to survive. Who knows? For now I'll just spend more time at dresses.com. :AOK

[Brian Krashpad]

I rarely use the reviews. I'd rather rely on input form people I know, even if only from being online.

The forums are not that screwed up.

Everyone is having a cow over nothing.

Same ol' same ol'.

[Plank_Spanker]

I rarely use the reviews. I'd rather rely on input form people I know, even if only from being online.

The forums are not that screwed up.

Everyone is having a cow over nothing.

Same ol' same ol'.


Signed..........................................

[Tig]

The reviews helped me avoid a few purchases that may not have worked out for me. Specifically, a stomp box that had a terrible reliability history.

Many reviews required a whole block of salt, not just a grain! Luckily, some reviewers had decades of experience, which made their findings a little more legitimate.

The logistics of a review section like that must have been a nightmare! That would be quite labor intensive.

[otaypanky]

I can't understand why people don't adhere to "if it ain't broke don't fix it."

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/otaypanky/1107k1.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/otaypanky/128782882804726633.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/otaypanky/fart.jpg

[Duff]

This move makes about as much sense as pounding on your toes with a ball peen hammer.

I feel dis-serviced and I don't like it.

This goes to reinforce the belief that another really stupid person is born every minute, or maybe second these days.

[Tig]

This move makes about as much sense as pounding on your toes with a ball peen hammer.

I feel dis-serviced and I don't like it.

This goes to reinforce the belief that another really stupid person is born every minute, or maybe second these days.

"Think of how stupid the average person is and then realize that half of them are stupider than that."
-George Carlin

[Spudman]

Harmony Central has now reverted back to it's original form.

[Robert]

I noticed that yesterday. What a move! Let's make a bet. How long will it stay in its current form?

[Spudman]

Anderton is pushing pretty hard that everyone goes to 2.0 but I know the majority of the folks like the 1.0 best and wont make the move. I wouldn't be surprised if 1.0 gets a remake or they both end up in existence.

[Duff]

There is no harmony at harmony.

The old version we like so much is there alright, but it is de-nutted: you can't post new reviews, etc. So it is sort of a dead image of itself.

They make it sound like they are working on the new version to make it really nice and better. I don't really see this happening in actuality.

When you look at reviews there is not a date that the reviewer submitted the review, as far as I can see. It just says 3 months ago, etc. But I could easily be looking in the wrong section of the reviews because it is not an easy new site to navigate around in. I think it is far inferior to the old site.

Why do they think the new site is better? It just isn't apparent to me. It looks cheap.

I would bet that they are paying some software development company BIG money to produce this inferior product. BIG money. Maybe even an additional BIG annual licensing fee and maintenance fees, as well as administration fees. Why?

Having a sterile version of the old site there is inadequate because it will contain no new content. This will have the effect of trying to push people over to the new site because of its up to date content. Slowly wean us off the old site and gradually get us to go to the new site when we need to.

Thing is, the new site doesn't seem to have the traffic and content of the old site, at least in terms of reviews. People may be jumping ship rather than mess with the undesirable new site and the way it was shoved down our throats.

I wonder if statistical analysis will show that the number of submitted reviews per week has decreased with the new format as compared to the average weekly statistics for the old format? I'm sure that info will never be shared with us.

[Spudman]

I'm still unable to log into the new site. I guess I don't care if I ever do really.

[Bloozcat]

The feedback about the new format seems to be universally negative.

I could understand the change if it was a quantum leap from the old site to the new, but this is anything but that. Navigating the site is more laborious and time consuming than before with no appreciable gain in function. In other words, it's all pain and no gain.

Changing something just because you can is no reason to do so. If you're not making it better (as in this case), you're making it worse (again, as in this case).

[mars2010]

the new HC site is terrible, so much for looking at their reviews before buying something...i always read a lot of sites reviews before buying, but HC was one of my favs. this reminds me of the 'new look' they gave ebay a while ago, the old one was better. i guess the web design people just need something to keep them busy sometimes, so they come up with this stuff...

[otaypanky]

the new HC site is terrible, so much for looking at their reviews before buying something...i always read a lot of sites reviews before buying, but HC was one of my favs. this reminds me of the 'new look' they gave ebay a while ago, the old one was better. i guess the web design people just need something to keep them busy sometimes, so they come up with this stuff...

I think you can still access the old review section, look for legacy reviews.
I don't know, I didn't try, but you may even be able to still post in that section.

[player]

No more user reviews?

My bookmark doesn't work anymore. :helpcare to elaborate on that?there is an easy fix and a not so one depending on info given.

[Bloozcat]

Yes, you can still access the old reviews in the "legacy" format.

Reminds me a little of the sucker play that Coca-Cola pulled on the public when they introduced the "new" Coke years ago. Coca-Cola had no intention of permanently replacing the old Coke with the "new" Coke. They just took the old Coke away from the consumer to increase demand. When the complaints reached a crescendo, Coca-Cola "re-issued" the old formula as "Coke Classic". Sales went through the roof, and Coca-Cola laughed all the way to the bank. The "new" Coke was slowly removed from the market place and no one noticed.

The difference between HC and Coca-Cola is that Coca-Cola had a devious and well thought out plan. HC appears to have just stumbled into quicksand without even remembering to bring a rope.