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A Guide to Spotback.com

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By: Rustycat | in: Music, Technology |

Spotback have recently launched the ‘Spotback Music Project’. It’s a great project; they really seem to have mapped the best music news sites and blogs around. You can listen to MP3’s, read news about pop stars, alternative indie bands, music gear, electro music, industry and more. We, at The Plugg are proud to be featured on it.
I’m a big fan of Spotback even before they added the music category. I’ve been using the site for quite a while now, and have always been trying to convince all my friends that it will change the way they get their information off the net. But all I’m getting is “I didn’t get it?!”, “What’s the rating for” and a lot of “I didn’t understand…”
So I’ve decided to put an end to this and write ‘a guide to Spotback.com’, everything explained here is applies to the Music Project as well.
Here goes:

Spotback Music

What is it?
Spotback is a personalized news aggregator. What it does is map some of the best RSS feeds from targeted blogs and e-zines and present them to the reader based on his or hers personal rating history. With categories like Sports, Computers and Internet, Tech, Business, Science, Entertainment, News, Arts, Health, Hobbies, Women, Education, Blogs, Games and of course, our favorite, Music, you can read all the top headlines without having to sift through a million sites and RSS feeds all day.
Why am I rating?
Ok, so you hit the front page, now all you have to do is read a few headlines and start rating the stories. As you rate the stories, Spotback learns your personalized opinions and tastes and starts dropping you more recommended stories. Keep rating as much as you can, even if you hate the story don’t be shy give it a minus 5. Eventually Spotback will “learn” you and really start presenting you with the stuff that interests you.
How do I take it to the next level?
Your next step is crucial in completing the absolute web 2.0 experience. Customize. In the top toolbar click ‘advanced options’. When your page goes dark and you see the ‘New Layout’ option, click it. Here, all you have to do is tell Spotback which categories and sub categories to show you on the front page. Finish it and you’re golden!
Are there any community features?
Here’s the kicker, you can click beneath any story the ‘Who Liked This Story’ and meet other people with the same interests as you. Not only can you rate them, you can sign up for their RSS feeds and follow their favorite news, just like on Stumble Upon.
Can I add my own RSS feeds?
If you’re into RSS feeds and didn’t see some of your favorite blogs on Spotback, just click the NewsSnacks tab and add them there. You’ll receive the feeds and the Spotback team will be notified of the source and eventually add them in to the general rotation.

I know, it sounds a bit complex, but it isn’t. Good things are often hard to come by on the net and this is one of the fewer internet sites that have taken the simple web surfing experience to the next level whilst adding your personal touch to it.
Highly Recommended. Give it a shot: http://www.spotback.com/


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Posted on February 26, 2007

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