Google jazzes up Gmail in unwelcome fashion
It’s understandable Google should want to trumpet the arrival of its new Priority Inbox feature. Unfortunately a particularly bizarre bug means some users are being greeted with “old time dance music”.
Multiple reports appeared on Google’s help forums yesterday, mainly along the lines of one which read:
“Whenever I sign into my Gmail using Chrome, music automatically starts playing. This is a new issue. It’s like old time dance music. Occasionally there will be a sound effect like a click, a bubble, cards shuffling, a dog growling. There is no music running on my computer. It only occurs in Google Chrome on one of my Gmail accounts, it does not occur in Firefox on anything.”
The only real difference between the reports was the description of the music: depending on which report you read, its big band jazz, circus or Pacman. A clip on YouTube shows that, no matter how you interpret the musical style, it’s pretty freaking freaky.
Indeed, one user even went so far as to claim, “This is worse than a talking paper clip.” (Though that’s a step too far in my view.)
As more reports came in, it emerged that the effect was limited to users who access Gmail through the Chrome browser (making for double Google embarrassment) and have had the new Priority Inbox option added to their account.
It turns out that the music is actually part of the YouTube video explaining the new feature. It should only be accessible when you follow the relevant link from your Gmail homepage but that link appears to have been embedded in a particularly cackhanded way: some users report that even if you open the clip and pause or stop it, the music continues in Gmail.
Google says it is working on a fix, though not quickly enough for some critics. In the meantime, it appears the firm will continue making a song and a dance about the new feature.
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August 20th, 2011
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