SoundCloud has been constantly adding new features and removing old ones since they rolled out a new version of the site in 2013. They recently removed the dropbox feature and added capabilities to their groups as a replacement.
However, SoundCloud has always made it possible to switch back to the classic version of the site… until now.
SoundCloud is deleting the classic version of their service all together, saying they don’t really have a choice:
“The complexities of keeping two SoundCloud websites up and communicating with each other at a global scale has been extremely difficult, causing increased outages on both sites and slowed the platform as a whole.”
There are a few features that the new SoundCloud doesn’t have that make it easier to collaborate with others. For example, you can’t send exclusive tracks to users’ feeds in the new version.
Overall, the biggest change between the two versions is the layout, and there’s no questioning that the new SoundCloud is easier on the eyes.
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. She also runs West Coast Fix. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u
This is a bad move. The new design is more unstable than the “classic” mode. Uploads fail all the time – not just for me, but for other musicians who’ve shared this issue on other boards. As a rule I immediately switch to “classic” before doing anything on the site. Generally not impressed with SoundCloud. In particular, the lack of an RSS feed capability prevents automatically moving content into other sites. They do provide RSS if requested. I emailed SoundCloud three times to get this capability added to my account (per their instructions) and never received a response. Thanks for the arrogance, SoundCloud! The last thing I will ever do is give this company money to expand my use of their flaky platform.
Out with the old. In with the new. Nothing is better than something new. Old is the new old.
Soundcloud is ushering in a ‘new’ set of problems with this move.
lets get done nine
keep the badass old tunes comin
I hate this move and I, for one, don’t find the new version easier on the eyes or the brain. Quite the opposite. If SoundCloud is going to drop one version, they should drop their ill-conceived “new” version and retain the one that works well, the classic. I bet this is an IT-driven move, not a user-driven move.
Everyone on the internet hates new things. Just think about all the FB changes that have been made since 2004. Opening it up to more than just college students = backlash. Switch to newsfeed = backlash. Switch to timeline = backlash. User growth = exponential (well, at least linear). It’s not arrogance, they took a look at their user-base and likely judged in 2012 that their infrastructure wouldn’t be able to handle how fast they projected they were scaling. In my experience, whenever something changes on your site, people complain for a few months, and then everyone gets used to it. It’s always the same cycle.
They also recently announced their second generation API, which makes it obvious they’re trying to grow the business in a smart, measured, effective way. As for the bugs, there are always bugs. To say that uploading to Soundcloud today is bad, just remember 3 years ago when processing would fail half the time. I never have issues with their uploader anymore. Also, looking at their job board’s engineering positions, they’re looking for devs with experience in modern, multi-threaded languages like clojure and go, so they’re obviously thinking about large, scalable.
Anyways, to quote that new Future Islands song, “People change.”
– Rick Louie
Lead Content Producer, Indaba Music.
Soundcloud User
Yeah, IT dept heads know it all. Keep telling me that. As someone on the creative side, I’ve seen reams of the pathetic arrogance of the supposed managers of coders. I don’t just do creative, I can get around pretty well on the backend, too, meanwhile the nerdherders keep their jobs relevant by breaking what didn’t need to be fixed. True at Google/Youtube, Adobe, Apple, and Facebook as well.
Facebook sucks, period. Now that they’re charging to reach fans, it’s marketing over. These companies are all creating giant openings for new companies, just like IBM, Xerox and MSFT did. Same old pedestrian greed.
The one axiom in business that doesn’t change that sir nerdlingers/hedge fund jockeys don’t seem to get is that the CUSTOMER and the USER ARE ALWAYS RIGHT! You don’t grow your business by sabotaging what grew it in the first place, IDIOTS!
Now you’re assuming that the user is the customer. This is definitely not the case.
Don’t really like the new design, only thing that’s good is that a track keeps playing now even if you open a new window within Soundcloud. They should keep that feature and stick to the old design.
Sounds great to me. I love dumping tech companies when they start telling me what to do. It’s becoming a past time.
Anyone teaching the term ‘barrier to entry’ or customer satisfaction in these moron companies run by tech-lord business school grads?
CANNOT VIEW OR HEAR SOUNDCLOUD ON PS3 NO MORE!!!!!! browser doesnt show new version, just get error message….
And this is why hearthis.at is creaming loads of new users, bad move soundcloud
By turning off the old SoundCloud, it just stopped working on millions of old production computers, game consoles and mobile phones. Bad move!