Last.fm is Awesome
Last.fm is a free music community website that tracks the music you listen to and makes recommendations for new music that you might like. I joined back in May of 2007, and I really like the concept.
The site uses a technology called “audioscrobbler” to collect information about the songs you listen to, and in turn creates a profile of your musical tastes and listening habits. It’s easy to use, and all you have to do is register, then install a plugin for your music software. The plugin sends information back to Last.fm’s database, and the information is then available on your profile page. Last.fm creates detailed statistics, displaying the top artists and songs you’ve listened to, and the last ten songs you’ve “scrobbled.” There is also a “taste-o-meter” displayed on other people’s profile pages, that compares your musical tastes with theirs.
I don’t really use the “social networking” aspect of the site too much, since everyone uses Facebook for that, but it’s another nice feature that I could see being useful to some people. I really like the fact that I can look up information about the music I listen to, seeing artist bios, related or similar artists, and how many times they’ve been listened to by other users. The recommendations Last.fm gives is probably my favourite part of the site, because it has introduced me to a lot of new music that I otherwise would not have heard of.
Overall, I’ve been very impressed with Last.fm since joining about eight months ago. In that time, I’ve “scrobbled” 10,000 songs, learned about a lot of new music, and gained some interesting insight into my music listening habits. If you’re a big music fan, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.
Chris "high britches" Erwin says:
Did you hear that you will be able to listen to full length tracks now, instead of the 30 second clips that are there now?
Probably only in the UK and States though.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Tams says:
Geez this reminds me how long it’s been since I’ve been on last.fm! And how much I miss it. The recommendations feature was also my favourite, mostly because you could recommend unknown artists to other people. Adding to Chris’ comment, last.fm also allows you to download tracks of lesser known artists/bands that want more exposure. The team at last.fm come across as people who really love and support musicians and music of all kinds. Such an awesome site.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Rob says:
Yeah, it’s cool that you can download full tracks to some artists. The amount of information and content they have on so many different bands and singers is amazing. The last.fm crew does seem pretty cool. I bet it would be a fun place to work.
January 27th, 2008 at 2:45 pm