Since I have a new computer here I figured I might as well try a different browser, since I see this & that about this one & that one here & there. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox the other day & it does a few nifty things that seem so obvious that one wonders why they weren't written into IE. But then some of these things don't really occur to a lot of people, which was why advice like Jack70's to right-click on links to open them in new windows seemed so revelatory. They sure didn't occur to me. But since I spend a lot of time browsing, it's a no-brainer to go with a browser that's going to offer additional functionality, while being more stable. There are pluses to IE, but overall I think Firefox looks like a winner & I'm probably going to stick with it most of the time. One major benefit is that you can create a toolbar on the page that features one-click access to the sites you go to most often; another is that you don't need to open new windows simply to be looking at more than one site at one time. And another is that this site loads more rapidly in Firefox than in IE (not that that's saying all that much). I also downloaded functionality extensions that offer nifty little tricks, helpers, shortcuts, & gimmicks of the sort you'd think would be a part of any browser, yet unheard of by Msoft, apparently. But I don't want to advertise for this product, which is still a beta version. It's free & easy enough to find, download, and read up on. I know some people have engaged in some browser chat on this board, but I don't remember much about it, other than I seem to remember Dusty talking about using Opera.

One thing I'll need to keep IE for is the new AMG. It's a complete redesign, and while I guess people like glitz, I have to question why it was necessary. Especially since it only supports IE for Windows. No IE for Mac, no Mozilla, none of these other browsers. It took awhile, but I finally loaded it up in Firefox; but once I got to an artist page, I could not gain access to any of the individual album links.

I'm not sure if I find this more aggravating, or more perplexing. I don't mind the IE thing so much, but the redesign...I don't see the point. I suppose one fringe benefit is that they now offer some song samples. I don't know, I was used to them being an encyclopedia, not a jukebox...I've always felt it's better to be good at one thing than not so good at more than one thing. But that's me. I haven't spent enough time with it to speculate further on its functionality, at least on a quasi-professional basis. I will be doing that within a few days & I guess I'll add my comments. But for now it's just irritating.

I saw a thread on the Velvet Rope (I did mean to start this thread last night, but got a little busy arguing with someone who apparently doesn't know what a fake book is) where people were *****ing & moaning, heavy AMG users apparently, many of whom don't use IE at all. There were comments to the effect that most AMG users don't even use IE (actually, the phrase was something along the lines of 'people smart enough to not use IE'; these software adventurists are an uptight bunch, aren't they?), meaning that they've alienated their core users. To that I remind myself that it's a free resource, and I was saying awhile back that I don't understand why offer all this for free when they could probably add a pay tier. As I'm told IMDB did awhile back, and hell, Craig's List is going to be charging for job listings within a few weeks, too.

Anyway, when I have my first occasion to use it extensively I'll try to add more. But for now, it's a redesign similar to most of the ones I've seen Ebay go through over the past few years--in the sense that I don't see a tangible benefit for the user. What do y'all think?