People don’t like being charged to use the internet.
That’s probably why Imeem, the once popular MP3 download site, the annoying tool used to post clashing MP3s onto your MySpace page, has ceased in popularity. Instead, everyone in Thailand has turned to Ijigg to continue to get their free music, as well as socialise with others about their choices in music.
Now that Imeem has gone commercial (but will probably be obsolete soon, like MySpace), young people and students who are into indie music, and pop music like the Bakery label, are logging onto Ijigg to swap tunes with each other by downloading or emailing friends. In a way it’s not so dissimilar to exchanging tapes or records, it’s just all done in cyberspace… and in a much more social manner.
Just a small selection of popular songs on Ijigg:
“Mee Mia Dek”/”I have a really young wife”) by Esarn country singer Ponsak:
Of course, the visual layout isn’t great, in fact it’s horrendous, but everyone just wants a place to meet cute boys, and listen to some music don’t they? Oh, and the fact that any popular Thai song, and indie song can be easily found!
Ijigg‘s horrendous visual layout is even worse than Myspace, with sections overlapping and ineligible text, errr?
Yet everyone comes back for more:
Imeem‘s page: generally nicer to look at, more organised and customisable:
More sites to download Thai music:
http://monrakplengthai.blogspot.com/
http://kreismyr.blogspot.com/2009/03/thai-that-binds.html
Vintage Thai album covers:
http://lpcoverlover.com/category/asian-pop/