Ever had a song on your desktop you wanted to upload online and share it with friends or readers? Then you probably found out like me that most Web-widget creation Websites won’t let you do that (namely Clearspring, Kickapps, Widgetbox). Enters Esnips. Once you sign up for free to the service, you can start uploading mp3s straight to Esnips’ servers (with a Twitter auto-sharing feature) and use their library of music players to embed your mp3 almost anywhere:
UPDATE: Widget doesn’t work any more
I should stop there since it is that simple to upload and share music, but Esnips offers other social networking features that make the site very interesting: First, all mp3s are uploaded into folders. Users can customize folders to add some graphic design around their music files. Each folder comes with a custom url. Mine is http://fb.esnips.com/web/exaakaxsStuff. Folders can be set on private. There is an RSS feed for each folders, so anyone can track a folder’s new upload. Esnips’ user experience is so folder-centric that users can even record a video (or audio voice) to guide visitors through each folder!
The most original aspect of Esnips is the blogging tool. Users can write a blog that is attached to their profiles, just like on Myspace, but Esnips has a special feature that makes blogging much more fit for musicians:
On this interface, musicians have a direct access to their library of music. Music files can be added to the post in 1 click. Pretty ingenious! Youtube and Blogger should develop a similar lab product. Now think about the publishing options Esnips offers: RSS, keywords, metadata, data, widget’s backlinking… It’s the whole SEO package for musicians to optimize their media files online. The service is entirely free as of today, but if Esnips successfully grows a significant community, then adding pro features would be blatantly obvious. The unique weakness I found was the mp3 players and folders’ graphic designs available: Too cartoony!