var http_request = false;

            function makeRequest(url) {

                http_request = false;

                if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
                    http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
                    if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
                        http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
                    }
                } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
                    try {
                        http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
                    } catch (e) {
                        try {
                        http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                        } catch (e) {}
                    }
                }

                if (!http_request) {
                    //alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
                    return false;
                }
                http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
                http_request.open('GET', url + "?id=" + (new Date().valueOf()), true);
                http_request.send(null);

            }

            function alertContents() {

                if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
                    if (http_request.status == 200) {
                        var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
                        //var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('root').item(0);
                        var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('Artist').item(0).getAttribute('name');
                        //alert(root_node.firstChild.data);
                        document.getElementById('artist-name').innerHTML = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('Artist').item(0).getAttribute('name');
                        document.getElementById('song-title').innerHTML = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('Song').item(0).getAttribute('title');
                    } else {
                        //alert('There was a problem with the request.');
                    }
                }

            }