HN Explorer

Ask HN: Help me open source my existing "Github for music" startup?

40 points by anulman ↗ HN
asarazan posted a now-deleted thread about an album he posted on Github. In the comments, I posted the following:

* * *

I actually had something like this built (before I started coding) as a startup out of Rails & Flex... but, after ~12 months of being unable to solve some UX problems and pursuing the wrong business model, it's now just sitting online.

URL = http://youphonics.com/login; username => hnguest; password => goodolyc

Since some of you actually seem to be into the idea of Github'ing music (ericb, baddox, asarazan, xpaulbettsx, mrspeaker, zcid, JoachimShipper, johnny22, beaumartinez...), it'd be neat if any of you want to help me package and open source the code base!

* * *

I hope that, even though the original thread may not have been appropriate... this is. :)

[Edited for formatting, added guest credentials]

19 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 51.8 ms ] thread
rch
How about creating youphonics as an org on github? I'd look for something to help out with, given a public repo.
anulman
This is what I initially thought of doing. But, after seeking advice from 3 more senior developer friends, they recommended first going through the codebase and sectioning it out.

That said, I'm more than ready to prove them wrong. If at least 4 others ask for the same thing (through this thread, PMing, email...), it's on.

[Edited for clarity]

rch
That's sound advice - It might be tough to get excited about a rough codebase without some context. But rough code is still better than just an idea, or a typical spec...

I'll check back later.

anulman
If you want, just shoot me an email (aidan@youphonics.com) and I'll let you know if/when the last vote comes through.

Worst case scenario: I'll invite you to a private repo shared via Dropbox.

rch
Thanks for letting me take it for a test drive - it's ambitious, but definitely has potential.

Very interesting...

ay
Very interesting. I had a similar (same?) idea though did not push it further than grabbing the domain (ovrdub.com)

UX-wise, I wonder if there is a reason why you do not represent the different "pieces" as tracks ? I think this might make it for a simpler user experience ?

I'd be definitely interested to peek at the code.

anulman
Setting up the repo now in Dropbox. Shoot me an email (aidan@youphonics.com) and I'll share it with you?
beaumartinez
Although the submission you speak of was deleted, its discussion thread wasn't[1].

YouPhonics certainly sounds like a good idea, capturing the "social" aspect of GitHub. I assume it allows you to mash-up and remix peoples tracks? That would be killer, and I'm sure people using services such as SoundCloud[2] to host their tracks would quickly migrate to it. (If you have the time, post an guest login here for us to demo it.)

I second rch's motion[3] to GitHub YouPhonics' code―even if it is ugly and hacky (depending on your level of perfection, whose code isn't?!). If anything, you'd make all the effort you put into it even more fruitful.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2429930 [2] http://soundcloud.com/ [3] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2430432

anulman
Re: [1] – true, though access to it became severely impaired for folks who browse HN posts through RSS readers. Still keeping an eye on the thread, thanks for linking!

Re: [2] – your assumption is 90% correct. There are nuances, but it becomes ridiculous to explain with words. Guest login: username => hnguest; password => goodolyc

Re: [3] – duly noted. Another one or two in your camp, and I will absolutely disregard the advice I previously received!

jamesbritt
Guest login: username => hnguest; password => goodolyc

This isn't working for me. Has it changed, or am I somehow boning it?

anulman
It wasn't working for someone else before (~7 hours ago, just got back from dinner and a meeting), but I had fixed it before I left.

Just tested; it's totally working now.

k-mcgrady
This is a pretty cool idea. I'm sure DJ's and artists creating remixes would find it really useful. I don't know how much help I would be specifically but sticking the project on GitHub sounds like a good way to get some traction.

If you get it going I know I would definitely use it (and if I can help with any of the coding I will).

anulman
Sweet! Let me know how I can get in touch – aidan@youphonics.com, or @anulman
dmounce
It'd definitely be cool to see YouPhonics open sourced. There are a decent number of desktop-based OSS out there that do similar things, but not usually polished, and certainly nothing I know of that's web based.

I'd love to help out however I can.

anulman
Woohoo! Send me over an email at aidan@youphonics.com... that way, we can discuss your specifics without overcluttering the page.
choxi
http://merge.fm
anulman
http://indabamusic.com http://thounds.com

Yes, there are others in the collaborative creation space. Indaba's currently leading, and I know and love the guys behind it.

choxi
Really? That's pretty cool, I used to be a developer at merge.fm, would love to talk to the Indaba guys if you could drop an intro. My site's: http://roshfu.com if you want to make sure I'm legit first :)
anulman
Contacted you over Twitter to keep this page as uncluttered as possible ;)