Lotsa Goodies/New Stuff at Relaunched bobdylan.com

Dreamtime was supposed to be part of the beta testing for the new, improved bobdylan.com site, but various issues got in the way, and the site was launched publicly today with various tchokes for the True Fan. In no particular order these include:

• A free mp3 download of Dreamin' of You - requires registration at the site.
  
  
• Pre-order of one of the three Tell Tale Sign packages (track lists as a separate post), which range anywhere from from $18.99 to $129.99 (!!). The TTRH poster that we already know and love in its on-line incarnation is now being offered as a print promotion to the first 5000 people who order any one of the Tell Tale Sign packages.
  
  
• A slew of social media tools, including creating your own embedded blog, uploading of photos, create Dylan music playlists (unfortunately only samples); and current and archived tour information.
  

My overall impression of the new site after playing with it an hour or so is generally positive. I'm not a big enthusiast for Flash-heavy sites (he says while ignoring the various Flash widgets on Dreamtime), but most of the Flash on bobdylan.com adds value to the content rather than being simply bells-n'whistles. A notable exception is the very buggy "GEO" section which crashed my Firefox browser (twice), and doesn't seem to work as it's supoosed to even when not crashing. On the other hand, the "Tour" section, especially the Archives is very nicely done, including set-lists and an "I Was There" feature that allows fans to mark shows that they attended.

Dreamtime is apparently the 559th user registered on the new bobdylan.com.I think the redesigned site has a lot of potential to become a social media magnet for the worldwide Bob Dylan community. Whether other fans agree remains to be seen.