Cloudflare Verification Loops, Service Worker Blocking, and How I Spent Hours Chasing the Wrong Problem

Back in 2019 I wrote about browser bloat, service workers, memory usage, and why I had become increasingly skeptical of websites installing background code that continued running after I left the site.

At the time, I had good reasons for that skepticism. Service workers could consume memory, deliver notifications I didn't want, and sometimes seemed to linger long after their usefulness had ended.

In that article I recommended the Chrome extension Block Service Workers, which would prompt before allowing a service worker to run. At the time it seemed like a practical way to regain control over browser resources and persistent notifications. Unfortunately, that extension is no longer available, and there appear to be relatively few actively maintained alternatives for users who want that level of control. As a result, I continued using a newer service-worker-blocking extension for several years, eventually discovering that modern anti-bot systems such as Cloudflare Turnstile could be broken by the same type of browser modification that once seemed harmless.

Recently, however, I discovered that what was once a useful optimization had become a source of a very different problem.

The Symptom

More and more websites began failing Cloudflare verification checks.

The page would display:

Verifying you are human...

and simply spin forever.

Sometimes it would loop repeatedly. Sometimes the verification widget would never finish loading. Occasionally the page would refresh and start the process all over again.

Because the failures occurred on multiple sites, I initially assumed Cloudflare had a bug, or that a browser update had broken something.

The Failed Troubleshooting

I tried all the usual fixes:

• Clearing cookies
• Clearing site storage
• Disabling ad blockers
• Disabling privacy extensions
• Reloading pages
• Restarting the browser

Nothing worked consistently.

Since some sites worked and others didn't, the problem was particularly difficult to diagnose.

Looking at the Browser Console

Eventually I opened Chrome Developer Tools and began examining the console output.

Cloudflare repeatedly reported errors similar to:

[Cloudflare Turnstile] Unhandled error:
Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'prototype')

At first glance this looked like a Cloudflare bug.

However, buried in the stack traces was a more interesting clue:

chrome-extension://.../inject.js:21
Uncaught TypeError:
Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'prototype')

Notice something important?

The error wasn't originating from Cloudflare.

It was originating from a browser extension.

Cloudflare was simply the victim.

The Real Cause

I disabled every extension that looked remotely suspicious.

Immediately Cloudflare verification began working again.

I then re-enabled extensions in groups until the problem returned.

The culprit turned out to be a service worker blocking extension that I had been using for years.

What made the problem especially confusing was that:

• The extension was enabled
• The extension's blocking function was configured "off"
• The extension was still injecting code into web pages

Even though it was supposedly disabled, the extension was still modifying the browser environment enough to break Cloudflare Turnstile.

As soon as the extension was completely disabled, every affected site began working normally.

Why This Is Happening Today

The web has changed considerably since 2019.

Back then, service workers were primarily discussed in terms of:

• Offline support
• Notifications
• Background synchronization
• Caching

Today modern web applications depend on a much broader collection of browser APIs, including:

• Service Workers
• Web Workers
• Message Channels
• Broadcast Channels
• Browser capability detection
• Advanced anti-bot systems

Cloudflare Turnstile and similar systems increasingly rely on these APIs to distinguish real browsers from automated traffic.

An extension that interferes with those APIs may accidentally make a legitimate browser look suspicious or cause the verification code to fail entirely.

My Current View

I still believe users should be cautious about browser extensions, notifications, and unnecessary background activity.

However, my current recommendation is different from what I would have suggested in 2019.

Instead of globally blocking service workers, I now think it is usually better to:

• Limit notification permissions
• Periodically review installed extensions
• Remove service workers from sites you no longer use
• Block specific problematic sites rather than all service workers
• Use content blockers that focus on unwanted network traffic instead of disabling major browser APIs

The browser ecosystem has become much more dependent on these technologies than it was when I first investigated browser bloat.

The Bigger Lesson

The most interesting part of this experience wasn't that a service worker blocker caused a problem.

It was how effectively the problem hid itself.

The browser appeared broken.

Cloudflare appeared broken.

The websites appeared broken.

In reality, the issue was an extension quietly injecting code into every page.

If you are seeing endless Cloudflare verification loops, open the browser console and look carefully for stack traces that reference:

chrome-extension://

You may discover that the problem is not Cloudflare at all.

It may be an extension that has outlived the era for which it was designed.

---

Update: After identifying the extension responsible, I left feedback for the developer. The extension still appears useful for users who specifically want to block service workers, but modern websites increasingly depend on browser APIs that can be affected by these tools. If an extension advertises an "off" setting, users reasonably expect it to stop modifying page behavior when disabled. That was not the case during my testing.

Related reading: In 2019 I wrote a much more detailed article on browser memory usage, service workers, notifications, and browser bloat. While many of the observations in that article remain valid, this experience demonstrates how much the web platform has evolved in the intervening years.

Vibe Coding: a Modern UserScript Example

Repetitive tasks are the "paper cuts" of the digital age. For me, the culprit was Google Contacts. I needed to copy Name, Email, Phone, and Address for several people, and I didn't want to copy and paste four separate times for every person. I wanted a "Copy Essentials" button that did it all in one click.

What is "Vibe Coding"?
It’s a shift in how we build. Instead of struggling with syntax, you act as the "Product Manager" or "Director." You describe the vibe—the intended behavior and feel—and use AI to handle the boilerplate. But as I learned, getting the "vibe" right in a complex app requires a bit of detective work.

The Story of the "Ghost" in the Machine

I started this project using a standard AI model. In just three attempts, I had a script that worked... if I refreshed the page every time. Google Contacts is a "Single Page Application" (SPA). When you click from one person to another, the page doesn't actually reload; it just swaps out the data invisibly. The standard script got "stuck" on the first person I clicked and couldn't see the new one.

The Debugging "Aha!" Moment

To fix this, I moved to a Premium AI service (Gemini 1.5 Pro). We implemented a "Debug Level" that printed the script's heartbeat to the console. That’s when we saw it: the script was still seeing the first contact's name in the background code! Google was hiding the old contact rather than deleting it. We had to build "Ghost Buster" logic to strictly ignore hidden elements and only "see" what was actually visible on the screen.

The Effort Gap: The first 80% of the feature took 5 minutes. The last 20%—making it robust enough to survive SPA navigation and "ghost" elements—required the most sophisticated reasoning and took the most time. This is where Premium AI truly shines.

The Final Result

The finished version is high-contrast, easy to read, and includes "Educational" comments so anyone can see how it works under the hood.

Install or view the Script: Copy Google Contact on GreasyFork

Follow the Journey (Archive Links)

I’ve archived these conversations so you can follow the logic from the very first "failed" attempt to the final working tool.

Step 1: Step 1: The Initial Prototype (Standard AI)
The first attempts that struggled with navigation but proved the concept.
View Archived Log #1

Step 2: The Robust Refinement (Premium AI)
Solving the "Ghosting" problem and adding high-contrast visual feedback.
View Archived Log #2

Technical Lessons Learned

• Visibility Matters: In modern apps, just because an element exists in the code doesn't mean the user can see it. Always check offsetParent.
• The Heartbeat: Building a "Debug Level" into your scripts makes it infinitely easier to fix things when the website updates its layout.
• Vibe vs. Logic: AI is great at the "vibe," but the human still needs to be the detective when the "vibe" meets a complex reality.

From GreaseMonkey Hacks to AI-Powered Userscripts

Table of Contents

1. The Old Model: Static Hacks
2. The Current Ecosystem
3. The AI Advantage
4. Reusable Function Libraries
5. Essential Modern Topics
6. AI Coding Improvements
7. AI Generated Examples: Table vs. Div Sorting
8. Conclusion

The Old Model: Static Hacks

Books like GreaseMonkey Hacks (O’Reilly, 2005) offered ingenious recipes for DOM manipulation and automation [O’Reilly overview], [Google Books], [Goodreads]. They were snapshots in time — useful, but quickly outdated as web layouts evolved.

The Current Ecosystem

Today, sites like GreasyFork, Github, and OpenUserJS host complete userscripts. Popular managers include Tampermonkey [Documentation] and Violentmonkey [Overview]. These repositories provide one‑off solutions, but few shared function libraries exist that can be imported into multiple scripts.

The AI Advantage

AI can generate generic utilities on demand:

• **DOM helpers**: getColumnValues(), sortRows()
• **UI injectors**: addButton(), createFloatingPanel()
• **Network wrappers**: fetchJSON(), postFormData()

Instead of searching for a static hack, users ask AI: “Give me a function to add a sort icon to any grid.” AI adapts code to tables, div grids, or custom layouts instantly.

Reusable Function Libraries

Examples of generic utilities AI can generate:

• Sorting utilities: addSortIcon(element, comparator)
• Storage utilities: GM_setValue/GM_getValue [StackOverflow]
• Mutation observers: onElementAdded(selector, callback) [MDN]
• UI helpers: injectCSS(styles), createToolbar(buttons)

Essential Modern Topics

• Browser DevTools: Inspect DOM, edit CSS, monitor network requests [Chrome DevTools], [MDN]
• JavaScript Debugger: Breakpoints, stepping through code, async debugging [Chrome Debugging], [W3Schools]
• CORS: Why browsers block cross‑domain requests, safe patterns with GM_xmlhttpRequest [MDN], [Auth0 Tutorial]
• Site Security Directives: Content Security Policy (CSP), same‑origin policy, HTTPS enforcement [MDN CSP], [OWASP CSP]
• Mutation Observers: Handling AJAX/infinite scroll, performance considerations [JavaScript.info]
• Storage & Persistence: GM_setValue/GM_getValue, syncing across devices [GitHub Discussion]
• Security Hygiene: Avoid unsafe eval, respect permissions, protect privacy [The New Stack], [Corgea Guide]

AI Coding Improvements

Recent advances in AI coding assistants can be quantified:

• Error reduction: Syntax errors dropped from ~20–30% to single digits; >90% correctness on first pass.
• Larger context windows: From ~2–4k tokens to 100k+, enabling multi‑file reasoning.
• Complex task handling: Full‑stack scaffolding (React frontend, Express backend, SQL schema) in one request.
• Refactoring & debugging: AI spots inefficiencies and walks through stack traces.
• Integration with IDEs: Inline suggestions, unit test generation, project‑wide consistency.

AI Generated Examples: Table vs. Div Sorting

Classic table header sort icon:

document.querySelectorAll("table th").forEach(th => {
  const icon = document.createElement("span");
  icon.textContent = "⇅";
  icon.style.cursor = "pointer";
  icon.style.marginLeft = "5px";

  icon.addEventListener("click", () => {
    const table = th.closest("table");
    const rows = Array.from(table.querySelectorAll("tbody tr"));
    const colIndex = Array.from(th.parentNode.children).indexOf(th);

    rows.sort((a, b) => {
      const aText = a.children[colIndex].textContent.trim();
      const bText = b.children[colIndex].textContent.trim();
      return aText.localeCompare(bText);
    });

    rows.forEach(r => table.querySelector("tbody").appendChild(r));
  });

  th.appendChild(icon);
});
  

Modern div‑based grid sort icon:

document.querySelectorAll(".grid-header .column").forEach(col => {
  const icon = document.createElement("span");
  icon.textContent = "⇅";
  icon.style.cursor = "pointer";
  icon.style.marginLeft = "5px";

  icon.addEventListener("click", () => {
    const grid = col.closest(".grid");
    const rows = Array.from(grid.querySelectorAll(".grid-row"));
    const colIndex = Array.from(col.parentNode.children).indexOf(col);

    rows.sort((a, b) => {
      const aText = a.querySelectorAll(".cell")[colIndex].textContent.trim();
      const bText = b.querySelectorAll(".cell")[colIndex].textContent.trim();
      return aText.localeCompare(bText);
    });

    rows.forEach(r => grid.appendChild(r));
  });

  col.appendChild(icon);
});
  

Notes

• Accessibility: Prefer buttons with ARIA labels over raw spans for icons. Add keyboard handlers.
• Numeric vs. textual sort: Detect numbers with !isNaN(Number(value)) and sort accordingly.
• Stable sort & toggling: Track sort direction per column and use a stable comparator to preserve order.
• Dynamic content: On SPA sites, wrap initialization with a MutationObserver to reattach icons on updates.
• Temporary link to where Copilot wrote most of this blog post!
• Temorary link the conversation to generate an example Copilot anti-nag script.
• Auto-close Nag Dialogs (Permanent UserScript install link).

Conclusion

Books gave us patterns. Script repositories give us solutions. AI gives us living libraries — adaptable, modular, and teachable. The future isn’t “GreaseMonkey Hacks 2.0,” it’s AI as your co‑author of reusable script utilities.

Unlocking Our Inner Musicians: My Journey with AI Music Tools

Table of Contents

• Introduction: The Unforeseen Addiction to AI Music Creation
• Getting Started: Demystifying Suno's Credit System & Pricing
  • Suno's Paid Plans
  • Flexible Credit Top-Ups
  • Share the Music, Earn Credits!
• Beyond Suno: Discovering Riffusion (A Free Alternative!)
  • Riffusion Caveats
• Suno vs. Riffusion: A Quick Comparison
  • Suno Likes
  • Suno Dislikes
  • Riffusion Likes
  • Riffusion Dislikes
  • Discord Community
• AI Music and Creative Tools: Updates (June 2025)
• Deep Dive into AI Music Creation: Tips & Advanced Concepts
  • Running Open-Source AI Music Software Locally (for the Tech-Savvy)
  • Understanding AI Model Approaches: CoT vs. ICL
  • Crafting Effective Prompts for Suno
  • Maximizing Your Suno Experience
  • Desired Features (Hopefully Coming Soon!)
  • Legal Considerations & Terms of Service
• Additional Resources & Tools
  • Free AI Tools for Better Visuals (Images & Video Loops)
  • Finding UserScripts for AI Music Sites
  • Related Articles
  • Song Examples (to consider adding)
• Conclusion

Introduction: The Unforeseen Addiction to AI Music Creation

I recently stumbled upon Suno, an AI music generation tool, and I have to confess: I was almost instantly hooked! As someone who knows little about music beyond what fills my personal playlists, the idea of creating my own songs seemed utterly beyond reach. Yet, here I am, crafting full tracks from simple ideas, and it's exhilarating.

My initial foray into Suno, however, quickly highlighted a gap in my musical knowledge. I found myself scratching my head, trying to recall specific musical styles to guide the AI effectively. This minor hurdle, coupled with the realization that truly beginner-friendly tutorials are hard to come by, inspired me to share my own journey and the insights I've gathered. This post is for anyone curious about diving into AI music, especially if, like me, you're starting from square one.

Getting Started: Demystifying Suno's Credit System & Pricing

One of the first things that frustrated me about Suno is the hidden pricing structure – you can't easily see it without signing up. The good news is that if you just want to dabble, you can create 5 songs a day in pairs with 50 credits.

• Free Tier: Every day, free accounts receive 50 credits, allowing you to generate 5 songs in pairs. These credits typically refresh around midnight UTC (which, for me in CST, means 7 PM). While I'm unsure if daylight saving time shifts this, it's a consistent daily refresh.
• New Account Bonus: When you first sign up, you're usually granted 100 credits that primarily work with Model v3.5 (which creates songs up to 3.5 minutes long) and sometimes an additional 20 one-time gift credits for limited use with Model v4 (for songs up to 4 minutes). If your lyrics are longer than these limits, your songs will simply be cut off.

Once you get into it and start really enjoying the process (let's be honest, "addicted" is a good word!), you'll want to make 10 or 20 songs in a row. One idea often leads to another, and having to wait a day would definitely interrupt the flow. That’s where a paid plan comes in handy.

Suno's Paid Plans:

Suno offers three main plans, with annual subscriptions providing a 20% discount:

• Free: 50 credits per day.
• Pro: $10 for 2,500 credits per month, or $96 for a year (-20%).
• Premium: $30 for 10,000 credits per month, or $288 for a year (-20%).

Premium might look like a better deal with 4x the songs for 3x the money, but the catch is that any unused credits at the end of the month don’t roll over. Unless you’re a full-time musician or a very prolific creator, the Pro plan seems to offer the best value, providing ample credits without the pressure to use a massive monthly allocation.

Flexible Credit Top-Ups:

Suno also offers a great solution for those who hit their monthly limit or prefer not to commit to a subscription: one-time credit blocks that do not expire! They are sold in four block sizes at $4 per 500 credits, costing $4, $8, $16, or $30. That's approximately 8 cents for each pair generated. If one used every monthly credit, the cost per pair would be roughly 4 cents on Pro and 3 cents on Premium, paying per month. If you use all your subscription credits before a month is out, you'll revert to 50 credits a day like free accounts until the next month's refresh.

Important Note on Credit Usage: Here’s what Suno says about credits: “Credits included in subscriptions do not carry over from day to day or month to month. Purchased top-up credits do not expire, but require an active subscription to use.” This means your purchased top-up credits only become accessible when you have an active Pro or Premium subscription.

Share the Music, Earn Credits!

You can also earn additional credits by inviting friends! When someone signs up using your referral link and generates 10 songs, you receive a bonus (up to 2,500 credits for up to 10 friends).

If you don’t have a referral link from your own friends, please feel free to use mine:

https://suno.com/invite/@marksz

Beyond Suno: Discovering Riffusion (An Unlimited Alternative!)

After playing with Suno for a while, I ran across this video about Riffusion:

"A New AI Music King is Here and it's Totally FREE & Unlimited!"

• Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBmLqOTs2jo or https://invidious.f5.si/watch?v=uBmLqOTs2jo

Please use my referral link to try it!

https://riffusion.com?r=WhiteMagic

Riffusion Caveats:

While the "unlimited" aspect is appealing, Riffusion does have a few quirks to be aware of:

• Studio Mode: Activating "Studio mode" consumes a minimum of one hour of time each time it is activated, regardless of how soon you turn it off. Don't try to get more time by turning it on and off between generations as that will just burn it up much faster!
• Song Length & Lyrics: Song length is limited to 4 minutes. However, you might notice that lyrics are often not fully performed as the song approaches its 4-minute mark.

Suno vs. Riffusion: A Quick Comparison

To help you compare the pros and cons of each, here's a side-by-side list:

Suno Likes:

• Robust Internal Community Features: Suno itself acts like a social media platform with promoted genres, trending songs, playlists, hashtag challenges, and suggested similar songs within its ecosystem. You can follow other creators and discover new music directly on the platform.
• User Experience: Left menu links can all be opened in new tabs, improving workflow.
• Quality Consistency: Songs generally yield at least one decent rendition on the first try, reducing the need for multiple generations.
• Rapid Development: New features and improvements are released frequently, keeping the platform fresh. They also have active feature suggestion sections in their Discord channel.

Suno Dislikes:

• No Light Theme: Currently, there's no official light theme option, and the CSS is too complex for easy user customization.
• No Unlimited Mode & Complex Pricing: There's no truly "unlimited" generation mode, and the credit-based pricing can feel less straightforward and perhaps not always a bargain.
• Bug Resolution: Due to rapid feature development, some bugs may not be addressed as quickly as users might hope.
• Play Bar Persistence: It needs a close button to see what it covers.
• Limited Direct External Sharing & No Embedding: While you can share links to your Suno songs on external social media, there isn't a direct, seamless integration for sharing like embedding playable audio directly into a tweet or an Instagram story. Crucially, Suno actively blocks embedding via iframes, meaning you cannot easily host a playable version of your Suno song directly on your own website or blog without directing users back to the Suno platform.

Riffusion Likes:

• Unlimited Free Generation: The major draw – unlimited song generation even at the free level (with only a modest 1-5 minute queue for processing).
• Decent Quality: Offers good quality results, but a seemingly narrower training base.
• Clean User Interface: Features a clean and simple light theme with responsive CSS, so it works nicely on any device without the need for a dedicated app.
• Prompts Saved:  Lyrics generated with a prompt show the prompt, so you can easily use it again, or modify it for variation on a theme.
• Lyrics Vary: Prompt generated lyrics vary in generated pairs.

Riffusion Dislikes:

• Limited Navigation: While every menu item has its own link that you can bookmark, you can't right-click them to open in a new tab, which hinders the ability to compartmentalize projects efficiently.
• Limited Features: It lacks a lot of the Suno features that make it easy to find songs similar to your own creations and liked songs.

Discord Community

Both Suno and Riffusion maintain active Discord groups, which can be great resources for tips, community support, and staying updated on new features.

AI Music and Creative Tools: Updates (June 2025)

The rapid advancement of AI music generation has sparked significant debate and controversy, particularly concerning artists' rights and the potential impact on their livelihoods. A core issue revolves around the data used to train these AI models.

Many AI music generators are trained on vast datasets of existing music, which often includes copyrighted material. Artists and rights holders argue that this training without explicit permission or compensation constitutes copyright infringement. This raises fundamental questions about who owns the "style" or "sound" of a particular artist or genre, and whether AI models are merely learning from or directly copying these elements.

Beyond copyright, there are concerns about the economic impact on musicians, songwriters, and producers. If AI can generate high-quality, customized music quickly and cheaply, it could potentially devalue human-created music, reduce opportunities for artists to get paid for their work, and even diminish the demand for traditional music production services. The fear is that AI, while a powerful tool, could displace human creativity rather than augment it, leading to a race to the bottom for musical talent.

Lawsuits and legislative efforts are ongoing globally as artists and industry organizations push for greater transparency, fair compensation, and clear regulations regarding AI training data and the commercial use of AI-generated content. This evolving landscape means that the legal and ethical implications of AI music are far from settled.

Here's a sample of various AI music and creative tools, along with their free offerings.   Please leave a comment to add your favorites to this list!                                                                      

AI Song Generator	Free Songs Per Day	Reference
Riffusion	Unlimited songs for free ('Slight queue delay)	Details
Suno	50 free credits per day (5 song pairs)	Details
Brev AI	20 free credits per day (4 song pairs)	Details
AIMusicGen	6 free credits per day (3 song pairs)	Details
Loudly	15 free song creations per day, 1 download per day	Details
Mubert	25 free tracks per month	Details
AIVA	3 free downloads per month	Details
Soundful	1 free MP3 download per month	Details
Udio	Free plan with limited features + earn credits by reviewing	Details
MusicMuse	3 free songs per day (1 credit = 1 song pair)	Details
Xound.io	Limited to a trial of 30-second max songs	Details
MakeSong	10-song free trial (0/day after trial)	Details
Soundraw	Free trial available	Details
Beatoven	5 free 1-minute songs per month, no lyrics	Details

If you find another site that's useful at the free level, please leave a comment so I may expand this table!

Deep Dive into AI Music Creation: Tips & Advanced Concepts

For those ready to go beyond the basics, here are some ideas to expand your understanding and improve your AI music creations:

Running Open-Source AI Music Software Locally (for the Tech-Savvy):

For ultimate control and potentially unlimited, free generation (though requiring significant computing power and setup), you can explore running open-source models on your own machine.

• YuE 7B: Learn how to install YuE 7B locally to generate full songs with music from lyrics.
  • Video Link: https://invidious.reallyaweso.me/watch?v=RSMNH9GitbA or https://youtu.be/RSMNH9GitbA
  • Model Details: https://www.aimodels.fyi/models/huggingFace/yue-s1-7b-anneal-en-cot-m-a-p
  • Interface Readme: https://github.com/alisson-anjos/YuE-Interface/blob/main/README.md#model-suffixes-explained
• llamusic/llamusic: A model designed for creating lyrics with extensive style suggestions.
  • Link: https://ollama.com/llamusic/llamusic
• Suno-AI/Bark: Suno's own open-source, text-prompted generative audio model.
  • Link: https://github.com/suno-ai/bark

Understanding AI Model Approaches: CoT vs. ICL

When working with AI music models, it's helpful to understand two core approaches:

• Chain-of-Thought (CoT) Models: These models, like Suno, primarily generate songs based on lyrical content and genre prompts. They "reason" through the input to produce a coherent and musically appropriate song from scratch.
• In-Context Learning (ICL) Models: With ICL, you provide it with a reference audio segment (e.g., 30 seconds of an existing song, either instrumental, vocal, or mixed). The model then tries to generate a new song with new lyrics that has a similar style, vocal characteristics, or musicality to the provided audio reference. This is powerful for creating variations or songs "in the style of" something specific.

Crafting Effective Prompts for Suno:

Your prompts are key to getting the results you want. Here are some tips:

• Pronunciation: Phonetic spellings will generally be pronounced better by the AI than unusual acronyms or highly stylized words.
• Model Version Differences:
  • v3.5 (Free & Paid): Tends to repeat a single short verse, filling the song length with repetition. This is the primary model for free users.
  • v4.0 (Limited Free Access & Paid): Plays a verse once, then fills the remaining time with instrumentals and potentially vocalizations without words. Free users often get limited access to this model as a trial.
  • v4.5 (Paid - Pro & Premium Only): This is the latest and most advanced model. It offers significantly enhanced voices, more complex sounds, smarter prompt interpretations, and can generate songs up to 8 minutes long while maintaining quality and coherence. Access to v4.5 and its full feature set (like advanced editing, Covers, and Personas) generally requires a paid subscription.
• Using Personas Effectively: Personas can be powerful, but they might introduce a mix of words from the original song. A common "hack" is to load the persona, then immediately delete the persona name, keeping only the specific styles you wish to include or exclude.
• Simple Prompts & Hints: Start simple! For parody or satire, you can often approximate your favorite songs or artists by using auto-generated lyrics combined with general style suggestions, as artist names are typically not allowed in prompts.
• Shorthand for Prompts: To fit more information into Suno's 200-character prompt limit (for style/description, lyrics can be longer), use shorthand:
  • | instead of "or"
  • & instead of "and"
  • Omit spaces (e.g., Parody:SoundofMusic)
• Use Examples: If you have a specific theme or mood in mind, providing examples (even short phrases) can clarify your intention to the AI.

Maximizing Your Suno Experience:

• Visuals: While Suno's default song art is convenient, it's usually not eye-catching. Consider using free AI tools (listed below) to create better images and video loops to accompany your best songs for sharing.
• Community Inspiration (Within Suno):
  • Browse Other Songs: Explore songs from other users for inspiration and to learn about different styles and prompt techniques. This is a great way to "train your inner AI"!
  • Engage: Give "thumbs up" and "follows" to songs and creators you like. This not only supports others but also helps your own songs gain attention.
  • Playlists & "For You": Use playlists to track examples you like. Following creators and liking songs will help the "For You" list (https://suno.com/for-you) on your Home page better curate content for you based on the styles you create or enjoy.
  • Follow Personas: Follow other creators' personas so you can easily find and reference them in your own library.
• Playlist URL Hacks: You can sometimes "hack" the URLs for custom genres not officially listed on Suno's master list to create specific playlists.
  • Example: For a genre like "Broadway Musical" you can bookmark a link like: https://suno.com/style/Broadway%20Musical

Desired Features (Hopefully Coming Soon!):

Based on my experience, here are some features that would significantly enhance the user experience:

• Multi-Song Playlist Management: The ability to add multiple songs to a playlist, or select multiple playlists for one song (available in the Android app, but not desktop currently).
• Listen Later/Queue Button: A dedicated "listen later" or "add to queue" button.
• Repeat Options: A repeat button for a playlist or individual track (like in VLC).
• Bulk Download: An automation feature for bulk downloading your songs to back up your work. (Be mindful of Suno's terms; they reserve the right to delete anything deemed offensive!)

Legal Considerations & Terms of Service:

It's crucial to understand the terms of service when using AI music generators, especially if you plan to use your creations commercially.

• Suno Exposed: Terms Of Service... (Don't Release AI Music Until You Watch)
  • Video Link: https://invidious.perennialte.ch/watch?v=HlGIxLH1K-M or https://youtu.be/HlGIxLH1K-M
• Riffusion Exposed: Terms Of Service... Watch Before You Sign!
  • Video Link: https://invidious.com/watch?v=cDjaufNY4tY or https://youtu.be/cDjaufNY4tY

Important Note on Content Ownership: Music Generation sites all pretty much own any lyrics you generate from a prompt, or at least claim broad licenses. To minimize copyright complications, consider using a separate AI like Gemini or Copilot to write your lyrics. This way, you at least retain ownership of the lyrical portion of a song that might gain popularity!

Additional Resources & Tools

• Suno Prompts Guide: A resource for prompting AI music (warning: includes ads for paid guides).
  • Link: https://howtopromptsuno.com/

Free AI Tools for Better Visuals (Images & Video Loops):

Enhance your songs with engaging visuals.

• Hailuo AI: Text & Image to Stunning Video, Simple & Quick.
  • Link: https://hailuoai.video/create
• Free AI Video Generator - Bing Video Creator: (App only for now, several videos/day).
  • Links: https://blogs.bing.com/search/June-2025/Introducing-Bing-Video-Creator   and   https://www.bing.com/images/create?ctype=video (This page is ambiguous as it doesn't point out where this is in the Bing Search app.  You have to click the icon in the lower right, to find the Video Creator!
  • 
    
    
• LightX: (One free video clip per day).
  • Link: https://www.lightxeditor.com/ai-photo-editor/edit?tab=text2video
• GitHub - hpcaitech/Open-Sora: Open-Sora: Democratizing Efficient Video Production for All.
  • Link: https://github.com/hpcaitech/Open-Sora
• GitHub - THUDM/CogVideo: Text and image to video generation: CogVideoX (2024) and CogVideo (ICLR 2023).
  • Link: https://github.com/THUDM/CogVideo

Finding UserScripts for AI Music Sites:

For advanced users, UserScripts can extend functionality. You can find many user-contributed scripts on platforms like Greasy Fork. Simply search for "suno" or "riffusion" on their site to see available scripts, or use these links:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts?q=suno
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts?q=riffusion

Related Articles:

• AI is coming for music, too: A broader perspective on AI's impact on the music industry.
  • Link: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1114433/ai-artificial-intelligence-music-diffusion-creativity-songs-writer/

Song Examples:

When reviewing your songs, or those of others notice:

• Lyrics likely from simple prompts
• Catchy graphics
• Useful Directives
• Creative styles

https://suno.com/playlist/ef25b89c-9173-4761-a651-9c3bf3708d73

https://suno.com/playlist/367053f1-4484-420a-8991-b4045d1061ce

https://www.riffusion.com/playlist/26fd0458-e60e-48aa-9370-1c55af07e7c5

Conclusion

AI music generation tools like Suno and Riffusion are incredibly powerful and accessible, even for those of us with no formal musical training. They open up a world of creative possibilities, allowing you to turn simple ideas into full-fledged songs. While each platform has its unique strengths and limitations, the journey of experimentation and discovery is truly rewarding. So, jump in, play around, and unlock your inner musician – you might just surprise yourself!

AI Music Generation: Toys, Joys, or a Threat? (DRAFT)

 HTML Table of Contents  to blog topics to insert here

Introduction

I was recently introduced to Suno, and I have to say, I was almost instantly addicted!

I know little about music, except for what I like to listen to. However, I quickly realized my knowledge is incomplete. I don't know the names of many musical styles, which makes it a bit tricky to use Suno effectively.

I never thought I could create music before. Now, I find it so much fun to take simple ideas and see them implemented as full songs!

While many tutorials exist online, few offer a basic starting point for beginners like me. That's why I wanted to share my experience and some tips.

Cost

One thing that is annoying about Suno is that you can’t see the pricing on the homepage without signing up for an account first. The good news is, if you just want to dabble with it a bit, you can create 5 songs a day in pairs with 50 credits. These credits reset to 50 every night at what I'm guessing is midnight UTC. I'm not sure if daylight time will affect this, but I currently see my credits refresh at 7 PM CST.
When you sign up for a new account, you start with 100 credits that work with model v3.5 (limited to 3.5 minutes). You also get 20 credits as a one-time gift for model 4 (limited to 4 minutes). If you have long lyrics, your songs will just get cut off at those time limits.
Once you get into it and start really enjoying the process (let's be honest, "addicted" is a good word!), you'll want to make 10 or 20 songs in a row. One idea often leads to another, and having to wait a day would definitely interrupt the flow. That’s where a paid plan comes in handy.

They have three plans:

• Free: 50 credits per day.
• Pro: $10 for 2500 credits per month, or $96 for a year (-20%) .
• Premium: $30 for 10,000 credits per month, or $288 for a year (-20%).

Premium looks like a better deal with 4x the songs for 3x the money, but the catch is that any unused credits at the end of the month don’t roll over.

Unless you’re a full-time musician, I think Pro is the better deal. You can also buy blocks of credits that don’t expire! They are sold in four block sizes at $4 per 500 credits, costing $4, $8, $16, or $30.  That's 8 cents for each pair generated.  If one used every monthly credit the cost/pair would be 4 cents on Pro, 3 cents on Premium, paying per month. If you use all your credits before a month is out, you'll get 50 a day like free accounts until the next month.

Here’s what Suno says about credits: “Credits included in subscriptions do not carry over from day to day or month to month. Purchased top-up credits do not expire, but require an active subscription to use.”

You can also earn credits by encouraging your friends to sign up and make 10 songs. If you don’t have a referral link from your own friends, please use mine:

https://suno.com/invite/@marksz

Riffusion:

After playing with Suno for a while, I ran accross this video about Riffusion:

A New AI Music King is Here and it's Totally FREE & Unlimited!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBmLqOTs2jo

https://invidious.f5.si/watch?v=uBmLqOTs2jo 

Please use my referral link to try it!

https://riffusion.com?r=WhiteMagic

Riffusion Caveats:  

Studio mode burns an hour when turned on, so don't try to get more time by turning it on and off between generations as that will just burn it up much faster!

Song length is limited to 4 minutes like the free models on Suno, but lyrics are often not performed as song approaches a 4 minute length.

Suno Likes: 

Great social media features with promoted genres, playlists, hashtag challenges, and suggested similar songs.

Left menu links can all be opened in new tabs.

Songs generally have one decent rendition on the first try.

New features come out every few weeks!

Feature suggestion sections in Discord.  

Suno Dislikes:

No light theme available, and the CSS is too complex to easily roll your own!

There is no unlimited mode, pricing is complex and not a bargain.

Due to rapid feature development, not all bugs are addressed as quickly.

Limited Direct External Sharing & No Embedding: While you can share links to your Suno songs on external social media, there isn't a direct, seamless integration for sharing like embedding playable audio directly into a tweet or an Instagram story. Crucially, Suno actively blocks embedding via iframes, meaning you cannot easily host a playable version of your Suno song directly on your own website or blog without directing users back to the Suno platform.

Riffusion Likes:

Unlimited song generation even at the free level (with modest 1-5 minute queue).

Decent quality results, but a seemingly narrower training base.

Clean and simple light theme with responsive CSS so it works nicely on any device without the need for a dedicated app.

Riffusion Dislikes:

While every menu item has its own link that you can bookmark, you can't right-click them to open in a new tab to compartmentalize projects.

Both Suno and Riffusion have active Discord groups.

HTML TABLE of Music Generation sites with a free level to be inserted here.

Ideas to expand:  

Running similar open source software on your own computer:

Install YuE 7B Locally to Generate Full Songs with Music from Lyrics

https://invidious.reallyaweso.me/watch?v=RSMNH9GitbA

https://youtu.be/RSMNH9GitbA

llamusic/llamusic model to create lyrics with extensive style suggestions

https://ollama.com/llamusic/llamusic

suno-ai/bark: 🔊 Text-Prompted Generative Audio Model

https://github.com/suno-ai/bark

CoT vs. ICL Models:

Designed for generating songs primarily based on lyrics and genre prompts, a "Chain-of-Thought" (CoT) approach, meaning it tries to reason through the lyrical content and genre to produce a coherent and musically appropriate song from scratch.

In-Context Learning (ICL) means you can provide it with a reference audio segment (e.g., 30 seconds of an existing song, either instrumental, vocal, or mixed). The model then tries to generate a new song with new lyrics that has a similar style, vocal characteristics, or musicality to the provided audio reference.

Phonetic spellings will likely be pronounced better than unusual acronyms.

Suno Model version differences:

3.5 will repeat a single short verse

4.5 will play it once, then fill the rest of the time with instrumentals and maybe some vocalizations w/o words.  If using a persona, garbled lyrics from the original song can (often?) take over!

Personas can introduce words as a mix of the original song.  After loading the persona, delete it again just keeping the styles to include and exclude.

simple prompts & hints, parody & satire auto lyrics to approximate favorite songs as artist names are not allowed in styles, 

Shorthand to squeeze examples into 200 character limit prompts, | instead of or, & instead of and, omit spaces like "Parody:SoundofMusic",

Use examples to clarify a theme

highlight best songs with better graphics as Suno's art is convenient, but usually not eye catching

Browse other folks songs for inspiration, examples.  Train your inner AI!  ;-)

Thumbs up & Follows will bring your own songs attention as well.  Use playlists to track examples you like.  This will also help you find more songs of the styles you create or play most on the "For You" list:

https://suno.com/for-you

which is part of the many lists on the Home page.

Follow rather than just like other folk's personas so you can easily find them in your own library.

Hack the URLs for playlists of your own custom genres not on the master list.  e.g.

Happiness is an inside jobFeatures I'd like to have like add multiple songs to a play list, or select multiple playlists for one song (available in the Android app)

A listen later button (Well add to queue may do?)

A repeat button for a playlist or track (like in VLC)

Automations like bulk song download to backup your work.  Site terms allow them to delete anything deemed offensive!

Reference links like legal analysis:

Suno Exposed: Terms Of Service... 

(Don't Release AI Music Until You Watch)

https://invidious.perennialte.ch/watch?v=HlGIxLH1K-M

https://youtu.be/HlGIxLH1K-M

Riffusion Exposed: Terms Of Service... Watch Before You Sign!

https://invidious.reallyaweso.me/watch?v=cDjaufNY4tY

https://youtu.be/cDjaufNY4tY

Suno prompts - Prompting AI music (Warning several ads for paid guides)

https://howtopromptsuno.com/

Note: Music Generation sites all pretty much own any lyrics you generate from a prompt.  Save you credits and use an AI like Gemini or Copilot to write your lyrics so you at least own that portion of a song that might get popular!

Free AI tools for better images and video loops:

AI Video Generator: Text & Image to Stunning Video, Simple & Quick | Hailuo AI

https://hailuoai.video/create

Free AI Video Generator - Bing Video Creator [app only for now, several vids/day]

https://www.bing.com/images/create?ctype=video

 

LightX [One free video clip per day]

https://www.lightxeditor.com/ai-photo-editor/edit?tab=text2video

GitHub - hpcaitech/Open-Sora: Open-Sora:

Democratizing Efficient Video Production for All https://github.com/hpcaitech/Open-Sora

GitHub - THUDM/CogVideo: text and image to video generation: CogVideoX (2024) and CogVideo (ICLR 2023) https://github.com/THUDM/CogVideo

Song Examples:  

lyrics likely from simple prompts

Catchy graphics

Useful Directives

creative styles

Hacking AI Music sites with UserScripts:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts?q=suno

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts?q=riffusion

Related Articles:

AI is coming for music, too

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1114433/ai-artificial-intelligence-music-diffusion-creativity-songs-writer/

References:

YuE-s1-7B-anneal-en-cot | AI Model Details

https://www.aimodels.fyi/models/huggingFace/yue-s1-7b-anneal-en-cot-m-a-p

https://github.com/alisson-anjos/YuE-Interface/blob/main/README.md#model-suffixes-explained

Goodbye Teamviewer, Hello RustDesk!

Sometime in the last month TeamViewer has dropped their free for personal use policy, or changed the algorithm it uses to detect commercial use.  It now requires a minimum of $298.80/year (with auto-renewal) for a single license.  I've been using TeamViewer to help friends and relatives with computer problems for many years, so this started me on a bit of exploration of the alternatives.  The TeamViewer Reddit threads about this indicate that many others are frustrated with this change as well, and like me, were surprised at the change made without prior notice.  After having similar problems with many major TeamViewer releases, and not liking the new interface, I've decided it's time to look for something better.

Former TeamViewer promise to keep it free for personal use.

After looking at several alternatives, one stood out from the rest as the basic portions are free and open source!  Giving it a quick try I found it even easier than TeamViewer to use, as the person I'm trying to help can just accept the connection without having to tell me the password several times, or use words like bravo, or Victor to distinguish similar sounding letters like b, d, g, p, t and v.

This alternative is RustDesk, which you can download here.  You'll find the most common system install links just under the big colorful scam warning telling you not to install this software on the advice of someone you don't know well and trust.

As switching remote desktop tools can be a bit confusing, I'd like to share what I've learned in my initial use of the RustDesk client, and the community level RustDesk Server.  I will also be sharing my experience with RustDesk at the January 18, 2024 Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group meeting.

While the terms client and server are used in different ways in different contexts (like with Virtual Network Computing: VNC), RustDesk uses them as most end-users would think of them.  A client, like a web browser is something you run on your computer that accesses servers in the cloud (e.g. in a data center) and the default servers managed by RustDesk are in several data centers world wide.

Here is a screenshot of the Windows RustDesk client version 1.2.3 released 2023-10-13 with the free (noted in green or orange) and paid (noted in red) features annotated:

Everything necessary to help someone who can install the client for themselves is available with just a client installed at each end.  Connecting is even easier than TeamViewer, as the person being helped can just accept the connection after sharing their ID, rather than reading the password to the helper.

If you want to access your own systems remotely, you'll need a permanent password.  That can be accomplished by running your own server, entering the hostname (e.g. rustdesk.example.com) and the server key in the Network settings, and then the password in Security settings.

When I want to help someone who doesn't need a stored password on my server, I just erase my server information before that session, and then paste it back in afterward to access my own systems.  I have found the free ArsClip clipboard manager handy for this.

Due to the 4K high resolution display I normally use, I prefer to change the "Default view style" from "Scale original" to "Scale adaptive" in the Display settings.

After starting with the Windows client, it took me a little time to find the settings in the Linux client as I'd gotten used to the hamburger menu in the upper right.  This client does not have a consistent user interface, and only offers settings via the three dots near the client ID.

I don't understand this, but the above screen shot was taken on my Windows system viewing my Linux client on the rpi with the RustDesk server being used, but the status indicated it was not connected to the server on the same system as the client!  Is this some weird issue with the way my old router does NAT?

I have several systems at home that I want to monitor when I'm away, so I've installed the free server on my rpi (Raspberry Pi 4 Model B) to connect via a permanent password.  I also help several people who have lost their vision late in life, and don't know how to use a screen reader.  For them it is easiest if I can take control of their computer when they call me for help.

If this does not prove reliable enough, I may need to consider spending $4 or $5 a month for a virtual private server (VPS) to host the service in a real data center with a static IP address.

Setting up a server for an average user is not a trivial task as it requires an understanding of many details like DNS, security, firewalls, port forwarding through NAT, etc.  I made quite a few mistakes along the way, and will share a few to perhaps fill in some of the gaps in the RustDesk documentation.

I installed docker on my system thinking it was required, and then decided I didn't really need it.

The next thing I did was download and install the client and then followed these server install instructions on my rpi.   This involved downloading two files with curl, installing the client with apt install, and running the 2nd to configure the server.  After several tries where curl just gave me a zero byte length file for the client, I just downloaded it with Firefox, and that worked fine.  Later I was told to add the L option to follow local location redirects, which solves that problem.

The 2nd one was not a problem.  These are the install commands/files that were current at the time for my Raspberry Pi 4, with -O updated to -OL.

curl -OL https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.3/rustdesk-1.2.3-armv7-sciter.deb
sudo apt install -f ./rustdesk-1.2.3-armv7-sciter.deb
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/techahold/rustdeskinstall/master/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
sudo ./install.sh

Except for having to download rustdesk-1.2.3-armv7-sciter.deb with Firefox instead of curl, this worked, and gave me my server key to use with my subdomain name.  Then all I had to do was enter the ports to forward in my router.

The first problem I had was that I chose to use one of my own domains to use for a server name.  I've been retired from IT work for almost two decades, so I haven't had to think about DNS details in a long time.  Most of the time software like cPanel or Let's Encrypt takes care of the niggly details for me.  I use an inexpensive hosting service (which I highly recommend) that like many, with rising license fees has switched from cPanel to DirectAdmin.  The one thing cPanel really does better is dynamic DNS updates of A records for a subdomain.  I tried in vain to get the DirectAdmin scripts for this I could find online to work, but even with AI code generation to help, I couldn't.  I was afraid to run the install script a 2nd time, as I don't know if it'll only work as a fresh install.

For days I was stumped at how to solve this problem until I read this in a help item at freedns.afraid.org which said: "If you ... have multiple hostnames to update, you can leave 1 of them an A record, and make the rest of them CNAME's so you do not have to issue multiple updates each time."  I had set up my RustDesk server to use my own domain name rather than the one FREE DNS gives me.  I had totally forgotten that I didn't need to dynamically update it with DirectAdmin, as I could just use a CNAME DNS record that points to my free DDNS name!  The moral of the story is to get your DNS working for the server name before installing the server.

I could not find any detailed server administration documentation for the free server, except for a user provided set of uninstall commands.

As this diagram from a ham radio blog about configuring the Windows RustDesk server points out, it avoids LAN/WAN route confusion if you can put your server on a VPS rather than a home Raspberry Pi 4 as I did.

I still haven't found the right settings in my old ASUS router to make the NAT performance better on my home network.  The article suggests using a DNS feature of the router, but mine doesn't have that.  I can probably use a Static Route for my LAN instead, but I've not tried that yet as that involves more details to look up!  I also wonder if it'd help to put my private IP address in the rpi hosts file?

Even though connections to my rpi running both the server and client often require many attempts, this setup seems to work pretty well for all other hosts I've tried.

References:

r/rustdesk

rustdesk/rustdesk · Discussions · GitHub

RustDesk open-source rustdesk-server releases

TeamViewer KB: ⚠Commercial use suspected - Try the Reset Form

Why do all you people expect to get Teamviewer for free?

Free Dynamic DNS based on Cloudflare – TimKnowsBest

Free DNS at Afraid.org

Is there a Linux VNC ... that performs as Well as Microsoft Remote Desktop?

List of Linux Remote Desktop Applications

Getting Started With VNC on Raspberry Pi

Alternative remote help software includes:

DWService - web-based remote access, remote administration, remote support

                    See also: Computer Remote Control using DWService

DWS Remote Control Agent installation – step-by-step

Chrome Remote Desktop (Does not help you track your remote passwords easily.)

ConnectWise ScreenConnect Free

AnyDesk (3 managed devices at the free level)

12 Best Free Teamviewer Alternatives 2024