coxy's blog

A while ago I posted about thesixtyone and didn't really go into much detail about the site - but that's because I hadn't been using it much. More recently, I've become addicted to the site. Forget Spotify, move over Last.fm Radio, I'm playing the game.

thesixtyone turns listening to music into a game; the more you listen to and 'heart' music, the more reputation you gain. The more rep you gain, the more you level up. The more you level up, the more you can do with the site and the better you look. You see how it's addictive?

When you first arrive at thesixtyone, I can't say it's obvious how you navigate around the site; but if you stick to it, you'll soon get used to it and find that you're zooming around the site to find the music you want to play and the music you need to listen to.

I say 'need' because thesixtyone isn't about merely listening to music that you want to hear - there's the game element - and if you're playing the game, listening isn't the fastest way to increase your level; you can complete quests - and this is where the site becomes a whole lot of fun.

This Just In
Listen to seven songs on the first pages of the recently posted section of the home page.
Award: 10 reputation, 2 hearts

'This Just In' is one example of a daily quest and is a way of earning frequent rep and hearts. There are Main Quests too which are sometimes a little more complex, but score larger rewards. Discovering a song before fellow users will gain you rep on a daily basis too and you'll here audio confirmation that you're the first to discover that track (which is a really neat feature).

N' Sync
Get four listeners who you've invited to listen to the same artist at the same time.
Award: 50 reputation, 5 hearts

A massive advantage to thesixtyone is that by playing the game you're allowing the site to take you on a journey of undiscovered music - there are many 'unsigned acts' on the site and you'll find yourself listening to artists and genres that you wouldn't usually listen to.

I think the best way to get into thesixtyone and to fully understand what I'm babbling on about, is to check it out for yourself. The site integrates well with Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm - so there's no excuses not to get social about it.

Sign up for free - remember that you were referred by coxy - and get playing.