Supported Browser Types

ZuKool makes extensive use of JavaScript. Our website works best on the following browsers (others may work but are not tested or supported at this time) :

  • Internet Explorer: Version 6.0 and above

  • Firefox: Version 1.5 and above

  • Safari: Version 2.0 and above

Songlist Feeds

Using your favorite feed reader (i.e. Bloglines, Google Reader, Outlook etc), you can subscribe to users' public songlist feeds.

  • If your browser understands feeds simply click on the link/button and you will be taken to your feed reader where you can subscribe.

  • If your browser does not understand feeds or shows the feed code, instead copy the link location (right click or control click) and paste it into your feed reader.

As the user whose songlist feed you have subscribed to creates a new songlist or updates a songlist, you will get an update in your feed reader. Simply click on the link in your feed reader and be taken to ZuKool Music. All of the songs in the songlist will be there for you to hear.

Make sure you select public for those songlists you create that you want to share with the community and your friends.

Application Requirements

The ZuKool Music application requires the following settings for your browser.

  • JavaScript enabled
  • Cookies enabled

Microsoft Internet Explorer

In order to enable JavaScript and Cookies in Microsoft Internet Explorer there are many detailed settings. However you should be fine if you generally use the default settings. In your Internet Options, please set your Security and Privacy settings, respectively, to default, as follows.

Security Options in IE - Choose Default Level



Privacy Options in IE - Choose Default




Mozilla Firefox

In the case of Firefox the settings are more specific, as follows.

Enabling JavaScript in Firefox - Set checkbox on



Enabling Cookies in Firefox - Set checkbox on

Get Recommendations

How to get and personalize your own recommendations.

  1. Start by searching for your favorite song or songs.

  2. Add your favorite song/songs to the songlist at the center of the page.

  3. Click on the recommendation icon (the ZuKool logo on the upper right corner of the songlist.

  4. Click on the add icon to add song or songs that best fit your musical taste from our recommendations listed on the right side of the page.
  5. Or you may delete any songs you would like to remove from your songlist.

  6. To help us learn more about your musical taste, feel free to rate each of our recommendations.

  7. When you are done arranging your songlist, click on the recommendation icon located on the uppder right corner of the songlist".

  8. If you would like to get a new stream of recommendations, you can do so either by creating a new songlist or by rearranging (i.e., add new songs or delete existing songs) your current songlist.

Rating

This is to help us learn more about your musical taste.

  1. Click on the "Info" icon of a recommended song.

  2. You will see a 5-star rating scale.

  3. Click on the star(s) to rate the song.

  4. 1 star means the song is bad, and 5 stars means the song is great!

  5. If you give a low rating, the features of that song will be weighted lower for for the next recommend cycle.

  6. If you give a high rating, the features of that song will more strongly influence our next recommendations to you.

Music Styles

For the purpose of music style filtering, you can choose your preferred music style for the recommendation results.

The three available styles are, "All Styles", "Variety", "Similar".

  • "All Styles": No music style filtering.

  • "Variety": Includes similar music style classes to your songlist examples.

  • "Similar": Includes similar music style to your songlist examples.

Sign Up Process

In order to use ZuKool Music, you need to sign up to create an account. Please follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the Sign Up link on the top-right corner of the main page.

  2. Enter the required fields, marked by an asterisk(*) and select the checkbox below. Note that your password must contain at least six characters.

  3. Click the Sign Up button.

Icons

Here we detail the function of each of the applications icons.

"Info" Icon

Clicking on the "i" info icon will open a box that displays the song album and artist as well as links to merchants sites where you can buy the track/CD.
If the "i" is in the "Recommendations" box you also have the rating stars that allow you to rate each recommended song.

"Play" Icon

Click on it to listen to the 30-second sample clip of the song.
You only need Flash Player for this; no need to open up other applications such as iTunes or windows media player.

"Add" Icon

Click on it to add the song to your songlist.
The most recently added song will be displayed on the top of the songlist.

"Remove" Icon

Click on it to remove the song from your songlist.

"New" Icon

Click on it to create a new songlist.
Each songlist is isolated and is not connected to each other, in other words, each songlist has its own recommendation process.
You need to sign in to utilize this function.

"Open" Icon

Click on it to display your folders of "My songlist".
You need to sign in to utilize this function.

"Save" Icon

Click on it to save your current songlist.
You need to sign in to utilize this function.

"Delete" Icon

Click on it to delete the current songlist.
You always need at least one active songlist.
If you are in your only songlist then you cannot delete it.

"Recommend" Icon

Click on it to get our recommendations.

Using ZuKool Music

Please follow the steps below.

  1. Select the radio button indicating whether you want to search by artist name, album name, or song name.

  2. Enter your search text. Do not use quotation marks. Search is not case-sensitive.

  3. Click the Search button.

  4. Add one or more songs that you like as examples in your songlist.

  5. Play the recommended songs, enjoy and hopefully be surprised.

  6. Rate the recommended songs, then our system will adapt its next recommendations to better match your taste.

  7. Add any songs that you like from the recommendations to your songlist.

  8. If you want to search and add more songs to your songlist go ahead.

  9. Click the recommend button again.

  10. See how the new recommendations have changed to better suit your own personal taste.