February 2014: Important Announcement
Music-Chart.info, AppsLists.net and BookChart.info are no more. Without going into too much detail, there was an invoicing issue with my web host, which resulted in data being corrupted when the server was inadvertently powered down.
Music-chart.info was born in 2009 from a passion for music (I can't play an instrument and I can't sing but I wanted to do something) and a curiosity about how much data a database could hold. It was an experiment that provided a unique service and gave me a lot of data to play with. I learned a lot very quickly, and about 12 months later, AppsLists.net applied an improved and more flexible code base to the iTunes app charts. About 12 months later, yet more efficiencies, knowledge and improvements gave birth to BookChart.info. Over the past 12 months I had been preparing to launch TVChart.info and relaunch Music-chart.info with many more features. What I've lost this week was 5 years of experimentation, hard work and passion. It is the most disheartening and demotivating thing that I have experienced in a long time.
Now I can't put all of the blame on my web host. It was my own fault for not making regular backups. I still have copies of the code and some old database backups, but it was the sheer volume of data that I had accumulated over the years which was the most valuable thing that I had.
There were a number of challenges that I faced recently with regard to improving the data insights that I could offer on the above sites, and TheForecastTool.com was another experiment which paved the way for some pretty cool additions to the chart sites. I am now faced with a whole range of different issues. Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as restarting the above sites and collecting information from scratch again.
I grew up in a world where the internet was young, and anybody who wanted to jump online and create their own little website could. It was a time when people who were passionate about a particular topic could share their passion with the world. Sure, as a user, we couldn't always find the information that we wanted because there was a lot of garbage out there, but it was a fantastic time for the internet. People created websites because they wanted to share their passion; they didn't do it for personal gain.
Today, the internet is commercialised. A lot of information needs to be paid for before it can be viewed and some Government's filter, restrict and spy on web users.
If I've taken one thing from my time building the above sites, it's this: While there's certainly a need for a commercial aspect to the internet, we must always fight to make sure that the internet remains accessible, free (from filters, restrictions and spying) and fair for all, regardless of political affiliation, location, or social standing. The internet should not be a tool restricted to the elite. The internet is a communication tool that removes the barriers of location and social standing that have traditionally restricted humankind. It's the greatest tool that we have ever created and it will continue to transform the world.
On one last note, I need to thank you all. There've been many people along the way without whom none of the above sites would have been possible. I wouldn't even remember the names of most of those who helped in some shape or form - there'd be 100s of them. From the earliest days, I had people offering me freebies or discounted rates. To all those who helped with logos, hosting, site layouts, promotion, back links, code tutorials, open source software and donations (no matter how small) - THANK YOU. But most importantly, the single thing that kept me going more than anything else was the countless emails that I received thanking me or telling me how useful they found the sites. I could not have kept going if I didn't receive those messages. Thank you!
I have every intention of bringing these sites back as soon as I can. I don't know when it might be, or in what kind of capacity it might be, but they will be back one day.
If you have a web development dream and a limited budget, here are links to some resources that might help you reach them
