On Monday, we released a long-awaited change to our upload tool, the first major change to the system since we launched it in February 2009.

If you have used the Uploader before you're probably asking what the big deal is, because on the surface it doesn't really look like much has changed. You'd be right. But behind the scenes, we've actually rebuilt most of the system. Our main aim was to modernise the technology it's built on so that we can continue to make the service more informative and useful in future. More on that at a later date.

Even though it doesn't look very different, there are some important differences between the Uploader that is now on the site and the one that existed previously, so I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a couple of elements and also highlight some teething problems we've spotted in the last couple of days.

Logging In

New to the Uploader?

Along with the rest of BBC Online, we've moved over to a new membership system called BBC iD.

Before you can upload songs to us, you'll need a BBC iD account. If you've already created one (e.g. to make a comment on the BBC Introducing site, our blog, or elsewhere on bbc.co.uk) you can just sign in, fill out your Artist Profile and start uploading songs to us. If you've never signed in before, simply follow the link to register.

Used the Uploader before?

If you uploaded tracks to us before March 1st 2010, you will already have an old school BBC Online membership account (i.e. a username and a password).

Fear not - your username will still work. The next time you try to log in anywhere on bbc.co.uk, the site will automatically walk you through a few steps to upgrade your membership account to BBC iD. There's no need to re-register. Once you've gone through these steps, you can continue to use the Uploader like before.

We hope you find the registration and login steps simpler and quicker overall than they were previously. If you do run into any problems, please read the advice on the BBC iD help page.

Since we made these changes on Monday, we've noticed a couple of bugs. Thanks to those of you who have emailed us this week - your feedback has been really helpful!

Bugs we've spotted

Where did my artist profile go?

If you have uploaded music to us in the past, you might find your Artist Profile doesn't show up when you log in. As some of you have reported, in some cases the profile information boxes (e.g. biog, band members etc) are blank.

This is a bug and we expect to have it fixed by Tuesday 9th March. If this affects you, we apologise; rest assured, we still have your details saved at our end and they will re-appear next week.

If you want to fill out the boxes on your Artist Profile page again in the meantime, go ahead; it won't do any harm.

Where's my confirmation email?

If you uploaded a track to us between 10am on Monday (01/03/2010) and 1pm on Tuesday (02/03/2010), you might not have received the usual confirmation email to say we got your tune OK.

I can assure you that we do have all your details and the music you submitted; we're ensuring that everything you sent makes it into our system as soon as possible. When your track filters through, you'll get a confirmation email. Once again, apologies if this has caused you any confusion. This should also be sorted out by Tuesday 9th March.

That's it for now, but if you come across something else unusual that I haven't mentioned, or you're not sure what's occurring, then do please get in touch with us via the Contact Us form.

I'll be back soon to talk about other new developments and to gather your opinions about what features we implement next.

Martyn Davies is Development Producer for BBC Audio & Music Interactive