News comments :
Deezer: new version

At the end of last summer, just before back-to-school, a news about Deezer came through "Le site du Zéro". If Deezer doesn’t sound familiar to you, acknowledge that it is an online music broadcaster. It allows you to listen to your music as well as millions of songs legally and for free, online! A couple of days ago, Deezer's staff showed us a brand new version, which replaces the old, beta test version.

Deezer’s popularity

Deezer, created by Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya, is available in 16 different languages. The creators had to negotiate huge contracts with the biggest record labels to propose their music. Most of the money comes from the advertisements on the website.

In addition, let me remind you that Deezer had problems with music copyrights. Indeed, Universal Music didn't give their agreement to Deezer for using their music. Those songs were actually used illegally. It should be noted that, at the very beginning, some users found a way to download the music that they had listened. This mistake was corrected as fast as they figured it out.

The website’s founders had to negotiate precious agreements with those disc companies. With this new version, the creators announce that they signed with new independent record labels: "Because Music" and "Believe". The Website now features more that 1.5 Million tracks !

The new Deezer

The new version of Deezer appeared a few days ago. The developers have stressed the "community" aspect. Actually, there are some new features more "community oriented" : each user has a profile (music style, favourite artists, etc.), and a friends list. The artists also have a detailed profile (biography, discography, fans, comments, etc.).

Deezer is becoming what we could call a social network. You can even listen to your friend's playlists, become fan of an artist, and more ! Here is a quote from one of Deezer's foundators:

Quote: A foundator

New modes: radios

In its first version, Deezer accepted only one listening mode : you looked for a music, and listened to it. With the new version, Deezer introduced "SmartRadios" and "Theme radios".

SmartRadio is an intelligent radio . Using that mode, if you don't like a song, you just tell the radio, and it will change it for you (two buttons: "I like" and "I don't like"). The theme radios are sorted by genres (rock, rap, jazz, etc...).

GeoIP

As seen earlier in the news, Deezer had some problems with users who could download music illegally on the website. Deezer's team then implemented an IP black-list to avoid the illegal download.

With that new version, a new system was implemented to authorise only the IP's in a delimited zone : GeoIP. Each time a user connects to the website, his IP is localised by. If the IP is out of the zone, many songs will be inactive for the user.

That system wasn't stable in the first version of Deezer, and some users couldn't listen to the music. But it was upgraded, and security checks are harder to go round.

A new interface

Deezer now has a new interface. It is mostly black, like the last version, fully coded in Flash. The design changed for a clearer style, for the user's comfort.



The forum's new design will come in a few days. Deezer also changed its URL system. They now are permanent. That means that each page on Deezer has a URL that does not change. It is useful to share your favourite music with your friends. It allows Deezer to be more stable and faster.

Conclusion, links

• Deezer
• Deezer's Blog
• Deezer's first release news (fr)

Enjoy !

Thank to the NTS for the translation