the new Jambase
As you may have noticed, my life often revolves around music. I rely heavily on a site named Jambase to feed me show calendar information for upcoming gigs.
I noticed that Jambase updated their look and feel about a month or two ago. Rather then be the first to review something, I like to play with it for a while to see if it’s really as good as my first impressions indicate.
Well, in this case, it’s proven better! The new Jambase is kick-ass. There’s simply nothing bad I can say about it. Aside from a much, much cleaner look and feel that strikes me as being more intuitive with a color-scheme that’s more user-friendly, it’s feature-rich in a way that I really like.
Here are some specific adds I really appreciate:
1. Search bar at the top is greatly improved. Typing in acronyms or venues works just fine (WSP instead of Widespread Panic, for example).
2. My JamBase is now, in my opinion, the heart of the site/application. I can very, very easily add shows to my personal calendar and then see if any of my friends are also going to the show, if they also use JamBase
3. DOWNLOAD TO OUTLOOK! Quite possibly my favorite feature (though not as accessible as I’d like! sometimes can be hard to find). For those of us who are not organized, if you actually view the page for an event, at the bottom is a download to Outlook link
4. Quick links to show info, venue info and buying tickets. Always in the right spot.
5. The frames in the middle displaying your shows w/ scroll bar are handy. They keep the rest of the buttons on the page accessible.
6. Being able to share my profile/show calendar with others has been helpful already, while not expected.
7. The “quicklist” of shows in your area on the left when you visit Jambase.com is key for a quick look at what’s going on in your area today/this weekend.
Well, overall, it’s just better. I think Jambase hit the spot on this. I’d be OK with better use of some of the whitespace or smaller fonts, though - I like all my info to fit on one screen - but that’s a pretty minor complaint compared to the old site, which was just hard to navigate in general.
Very impressed. Thanks Jambase folks!