Frequently Asked Questions
Using Goombah
Using Goombah | About Goombah
Recommendations
free, all, keepers...
- What are Free Recs?
- What is the All Recs tab?
- What are Keepers?
- Are Free Recs legal?
- Why do my recommendations change when I reload or come back to Goombah?
- Why do I get the same tracks recommended in different clouds?
Clouds
making, saving deleting, voting, what are they?...
- What is a Taste Cloud?
- What is Voting?
- What is the Refresh Recs button?
- How do I get new recommendations for a cloud?
- How do I save a cloud?
- Where are my clouds?
- How do I delete a cloud?
- Can I edit a cloud?
- What's a Prefab?
Killer Recommnedations, and Headless Goombah
Other Stuff
- How can I listen to Goombah and look around the site without interuptiong my music?
- What happens when I enter an artist with the same name as another artist?
- Why doesn't the artist I entered appear in my recommendations?
Recommendations
free, all, keepers...
Free recs are actually free recommendations. Really, really free (as in beer). You can listen to them as often as you like. You can download them and play them on any device you like (even an iPod). Now ain't that nice?
Recommendations drawn from the libraries of Goombah Members (over 16 million unique tracks) show in the "All Recs" tab. These tracks may not be free for the taking, we can still help you preview them with a little help from Napster's free, online streaming.
When you vote for a track (the thumb up button next to each track), it is put into the Keepers list. Each track has a Keepers list associated with it. Tracks that play all the way through are also put in the Keepers list after they finish playing. To remove a track from the Keepers, just click the Thumb Down button next to the track.
They sure are. No catch, no strings attached. We provide tracks in the MP3 format, compatible with most players, including iPods.
Q: Why do my recommendations change when I reload or come back to Goombah?
Recommendations are ever changing. As Goombah's knowledge of other people's tastes grows and as your taste profile evolves, new recommendations are computed and updated. The tracks in your Keepers list will not change, so be sure to move anything you like from the recommendations to Keepers before you finish with Goombah for the day.
Q: Why do I get the same tracks recommended in different clouds?
Each new cloud is autonomous. If it has similar characteristics to another cloud, it will have some tracks in common with other clouds.
Clouds
making, saving deleting, voting, what are they?...
A taste cloud is the nebulous world of music that surrounds a taste profile. Your taste profile is based on the Artists you've input, and the tracks you've voted on. The more information in your taste profile, the clearer the cloud, the better the music fits your taste.
Clouds aren't branches. If you tell Goombah you like Miles Davis, Interpole and Nora Jones, you'll get tracks that appeal to people who like all three of those artists. Other services will pick tracks from three branches of the Musical tree, but Goombah gives you a better mix of relevant stuff in between.
Voting a track up or down (use the thumb up or thumb down buttons to the right of each track) helps Goombah refine the quality of the recommendations for that cloud. After you've voted up and down several tracks, Goombah uses that information, along with the original Artists you may have entered to recalculate a new batch of recommendations.
Q: What is the Refresh Recs button?
The Refresh Recs buttons appears when there is an updated set of recommendations available. Pressing it will replace the list of recommendations with a new list that is more targeted to your taste based on the updated information you've given Goombah. The Free Recs and All Recs tabs each have their own refresh buttons.
Q: How do I get new recommendations for a cloud?
If an updated set of recommendations is available, Goombah with fetch them when you click the "Refresh Recs" button in the recommendations tabs. The Free Recs and All Recs tabs have their own refresh buttons.
If you're a member and you're logged in, all clouds you create will be automatically saved. The next time you login, your clouds will be available in the Cloud Menu. You can access your music from any computer as long as you login.
If you aren't a member your clouds are still saved. You can only access them by using the same computer and the same browser. If your cookies get deleted (see the preferences/internet-options of your browser) your clouds will be lost. If you've created a custom cloud, you'll notice a pink "!" near the top of the Goombah player. Click this to login or signup (you can also click the login/signup links in the upper right corner of the window). Once logged in, this button will not appear again, since all your clouds are auto saved while you're logged in.
All clouds you create while you're not logged in will automatically be saved when you log in. You can easily login or signup while you listen.
If you were logged in the last time you used Goombah, your clouds should be saved. If you weren't logged in, they were saved, but only for that computer/browser. If you can't find your clouds, try the following things
- Were you logged in when you created your clouds?
- Are you logged in now?
-
if you don't have a membership, or if you weren't logged in when you created your clouds, are you using the same browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari etc.) on the same computer?
If so, is it possible the cookies for that browser were cleared/deleted?
- If none of this is helpful, please contact Goombah here.
Custom Clouds can be deleted by clicking the delete button in the upper right portion of the player. If you aren't listening to a custom cloud, the delete button will not appear.
Not as such. You can continue to tweak a cloud by voting tracks up or down. Soon we will add the ability to edit the seed-artists (the artists names you originally entered to create the cloud) and to name the cloud.
Goombah has several prefab collections of music that fit into certain genres (Jazz Fest, Classically Inclined, Rock etc.) Each prefab is like a ready-made cloud. If you vote on tracks in a prefab it gets cloned as your custom version (Jazz Fest Tweaked, Classically Inclined Tweaked etc.)
Killer Recommnedations, and Headless Goombah
That's what we call recommendations drawn from the 16 million + tracks in Members' Libraries. Free recs (from a 9 thousand track library) are good, Killer recs are, well, killer, Dude.
Headless Goombah is a Java applet which calculates recommendations from our Member Libraries (over 14 million unique tracks). This is the most efficient way to make recommendations from such a large Library.
Q: Why won't Headless Goombah (aka Killer Recs) start?
The most common reason is that your browser preferences have been set to not open files automatically after download. Open the download manager for your browser (in the Windows menu, Tools menu, or File menu), find the "Headless" and click open. You can also do this by going directly to the place on your computer where files are downloaded to (desktop, downloads folder etc.) and double click the Headless file.
Other Stuff
Q: How can I listen to Goombah and look around the site without interuptiong my music?
Click the "Launch Radio" button with the spring icon. This pops Goombah into another window so you can use you original window for surfing.
Q: What Happens when I enter an artist with the same name as another artist?
If you enter ambiguous artist name, Goombah will use the name of the artist that most closely matched the name you entered. If you aren't sure of the name or spelling of an artist, look it up first (try Google. Google often gives you the right spelling, even on misspelled names and obscure names). There are a lot of odd names in the music world. Even a slight misspelling of an artist's name could match another artist you didn't intend.
Q: Why doesn't the artist I entered appear in my recommendations?
By default, Goombah shows the Free recommendations first. If your artists isn't available in the Free catalog, it won't appear in there. That Artist may appear in the All Recs tab, but even then, the other artists may actually out rank the artist you typed, because Goombah skews toward more adventurous/new recommendations, rather than acting like a band search engine.
About Goombah
Using Goombah | About Goombah
- How does Goombah make music recommendations?
- How does Goombah know what music I like?
- What kind of music will I find on Goombah?
- Why should I rate tracks "good" or "bad"?
- Where does the free music come from?
- Why do you refer to "clouds"?
- Why is Goombah a better way to find new music?
- Is Goombah really free?
- How does Goombah make money?
- Why is it called "Goombah"?
- How do I sample tracks that aren't in the Free tab?
- What does the music cost?
- How can artists, including undiscovered artists, benefit from Goombah?
- Why is Goombah a different way of marketing music?
Q: How does Goombah make music recommendations?
Goombah uses a unique methodology to analyze music from user collections and clusters to deliver the best recommendations to music lovers. Building on information from its desktop application launched in late 2006, Goombah analyzes the music and play patterns in music libraries to determine what mix of music people really like. Rather than analyzing components of tracks or linking similar artists together, Goombah uses the music taste of thousands of clusters of real people to make recommendations. The result is recommendations that are less predictable and more relevant. With more than 16 million tracks in user libraries, the music discovered with Goombah is targeted and full of delightful surprises – not just more of the same.
Q: How does Goombah know what music I like?
Goombah builds knowledge of each new user’s musical taste based on their selections, plays and rankings. Soon power users will be able to let Goombah look at their music library to get the most precise recommendations right out of the gate.
Q: What kind of music will I find on Goombah?
There is no limit. Our inventory is based on what is in our members' collections - currently more than 16 million unique tracks. We don't have a pre-arranged grouping of artists or editors that select and analyze the music.
Q: Why should I rate tracks "good" or "bad"?
This helps Goombah start to build your music profile and understand your unique taste. Also, when you rate a track as "good" it automatically gets placed in your saved playlist.
Q: Where does the free music come from?
Goombah’s Free Music catalog currently contains nearly 10,000 tracks sourced from 1,000 labels. The tracks are professionally produced and DRM-free from both established and up-and-coming artists.
Free music is also targeted to users based on their taste. Users can play their recommendations radio-style, save or download the tracks they like, and send them to friends.
Q: Why do you refer to "clouds"?
Goombah wants to make your music discovery more than just listening to a track that is new to you. The cloud concept includes finding out more about the artist, viewing other members who also like this music (and listening to other music they like) and learning about related-content such as new music releases, review and articles.
Our cloud concept is possible because of Goombah's proprietary taste-based content server that precisely delivers music and related content to individuals based on their music taste. Users get content they are interested in such as articles and new music releases from artists they have or are apt to like, and the advertiser gets to reach their audience directly and efficiently. Goombah has signed agreements with more than a dozen leading music content providers including Paste, Popmatters and Blueswax to serve their content to Goombah users based on musical taste.
Q: Why is Goombah a better way to find new music?
Goombah filters the vast supply of music and presents only that which you are likely to enjoy. Just listen to the music you like and Goombah does the rest. We believe that the music is about the people that listen to it, not the science of the song.
Yes. Goombah is totally free to members. You may find that Goombah recommends music that you want to buy from iTunes, Amazon, Napster or other sites, but there is no fee for using Goombah. Goombah also has a collection of Free Music from established and emerging artists.
Q: How does Goombah make money?
Goombah has developed a taste-targeted content, music and ad server that precisely delivers content to individuals based on music taste. Goombah also gets a commission on music that you buy when you click through from Goombah on your desktop to an online music store such as Amazon or iTunes.
Q: Why is it called "Goombah"?
The dictionary defines goombah as "trusted friend or adviser." We are all about helping you find great music suited to your tastes.
Q: How do I sample tracks that aren't in the Free tab?
Recommended track in the "All Recs" tab aren't free to keep, but we can help you stream a full-length sample using Napster's free web streaming. Click on the "Play all in Napster" button to hear these tracks.
Clicking through Goombah to a music seller's site to buy a track or a CD is the same as going there directly. The music will cost the same as it normally does at that site.
Q: How can artists, including undiscovered artists, benefit from Goombah?
As a result of Goombah's ability to match artist with audience, record labels' and artists' music is presented directly to those consumers who will love it. As the Goombah community continues to grow, the recommendations will get more precise and it will provide a very efficient way for artists to find their audience. More information can be found at the "Artists and Labels" tab at the bottom of the home page.
Q: Why is Goombah a different way of marketing music?
Goombah introduces music precisely to those listeners who are most likely to enjoy it. If they enjoy it and play it the music will begin the process of spreading through the Goombah community. Music is spread directly from user to user with similar taste profiles, rather than by commercial tastemakers.