last.fm
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11:00AM Angus Kidman | We’re pretty keen on apps for enhancing Last.fm here at Lifehacker, but the service just became a lot less relevant for Australians. Nick over at Gizmodo reports that Australian users will now have to pay 3 Euros a month to listen to Last.fm music. While you can still access the other services Last.fm offers, as Nick correctly points out most of those are a lot less interesting if you don’t use the main player. The service is still free for the big three music markets (the US, UK and Germany), so it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that (as ever) Australia is just not a priority for new digital entertainment options.
Farewell Last.FM, We Hardly Knew Thee… [Gizmodo AU]
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Last.fm No Longer Free For Aussies
11:00AM Angus Kidman | We’re pretty keen on apps for enhancing Last.fm here at Lifehacker, but the service just became a lot less relevant for Australians. Nick over at Gizmodo reports that Australian users will now have to pay 3 Euros a month to listen to Last.fm music. While you can still access the other services Last.fm offers, as Nick correctly points out most of those are a lot less interesting if you don’t use the main player. The service is still free for the big three music markets (the US, UK and Germany), so it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that (as ever) Australia is just not a priority for new digital entertainment options.
Farewell Last.FM, We Hardly Knew Thee… [Gizmodo AU]
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Work
Last.FM Downloader Lets You Download Last.FM Streams And Cover Art
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Windows only: Last.FM Downloader is a lightweight application for grabbing music from the popular streaming music service Last.FM and saving it for local use.Unlike some of the similar applications we’ve previously reviewed, Last.FM Downloader doesn’t require .NET or installation. The application is completely stand alone with no installation required. Usage is straight forward, run the application and plug in a URL for the song or playlist you want to download, you can even grab the similar artists playlist if you’re looking for a little variety. While the author’s web site notes that you don’t need a Last.FM account, it seems to be only semi-true: for some strange reason I could download the similar artists playlist without being logged in but I could only download individual songs when logged in. Last.FM Downloader is portable freeware, Windows only. Last.FM Downloader [via Life Rocks 2.0] More »
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11:00AM Angus Kidman | If you’re a fan of social music service Last.fm and you have a Vodafone mobile, you could be in luck. Vodafone Scrobbler lets you access Last.fm on a small group of Nokia handsets with Vodafone accounts, including the N95, N96, N78 and 6210. Vodafone is promising more models and the ability to purchase music through the service (an option already available in Germany) in the future. Vodafone Scrobbler is a free download for select Nokia handsets (currently).
Vodafone Scrobbler
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Vodafone Scrobbler Adds Last.fm Support To Some Nokia Phones
11:00AM Angus Kidman | If you’re a fan of social music service Last.fm and you have a Vodafone mobile, you could be in luck. Vodafone Scrobbler lets you access Last.fm on a small group of Nokia handsets with Vodafone accounts, including the N95, N96, N78 and 6210. Vodafone is promising more models and the ability to purchase music through the service (an option already available in Germany) in the future. Vodafone Scrobbler is a free download for select Nokia handsets (currently).
Vodafone Scrobbler
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Favtape Plays Back Your Pandora or Last.fm Favourites
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Marking a song as “Loved” or a “Favorite” on music discovery apps like Last.fm and Pandora doesn’t help you a whole lot when you want to hear them again. Free mashup site Favtape bridges the gaps between your Last.fm or Pandora profile, track-finding sites like Seeqpod, and the dead-simple interface of a site like Muxtape to create a playlist of your marked tracks. Some tracks might not actually play once loaded into Favtape, but it’s a cool way to create an instant playlist of songs you’ll definitely like. Favtape.com [via TechCrunch] More »
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Last.fm App Streams Tunes Directly to Your iPhone
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | iPhone/iPod touch only: Free music discovery service Last.fm has launched its own iPhone/iPod touch 2.0 app, and it does exactly what you’d hope it would, with a few caveats. The interface is straightforward and simple, at least for experienced Last.fm users—launch the app, then choose from your “Recommended Radio” or enter an artist name to hear other tracks you might like. You can ban, skip, or “Love” tracks while they’re playing, and get artist bios and other information. The big downside (inherent to the iPhone) is the lack of backgroung playing, so you’ve got to keep the Last.fm app up while you’re streaming your music. At the same time, the app makes Safari recognise direct lastfm:// links for convenient linking and playing. Hit the jump for a video demonstration and a direct link to the free app in the iTunes Store; jailbreak fans, check out MobileScrobbler for a similar solution. More »
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MobileScrobbler Integrates Last.fm with Your iPhone or iPod Touch
11:02AM Adam Pash | MobileScrobbler integrates your iPod’s music library with music recommendation service Last.fm so that each time you play a song on your device, it’s automatically sent to Last.fm over your Wi-Fi or EDGE connection. And that’s not all. More »
Design
LastGraph Visualizes Your Last.fm Habits
1:10AM Kevin Purdy | Need empirical proof that you’re listening to the same old artists over and over on music discovery site Last.fm? LastGraph, a slick little API app coded by Andrew Godwin, takes your Last.fm username and models it into revealing timeline graphs. Check out your overall listening frequency, and an eye-popping multi-colour artist history timeline. The big caveat is that LastGraph must, for now, institute hold queues for data-gathering and timeline rendering. If you can keep your browser open for a bit, however, it’s a neat way to pull more useful data from your Last.fm profile. More »
Last.fm Plus YouTube—Like MTV but with Music You Like
6:00AM Adam Pash | Web site Last.fm + YouTube is a mashup that pulls music videos from YouTube based on artists and music in your Last.fm profile. To use it, just hand over your Last.fm username or the name of an artist you like and it starts streaming YouTube music videos. I’ve been tuned into my Last.fm + YouTube channel most of the morning, and so far it’s been good listening and watching. If you give it a try, let’s hear how you like your personal MTV in the comments. Last.fm + YouTube = music tv goodness More »
MceFM Integrates Last.fm with Windows Media Center
8:00AM Adam Pash | Windows Vista only: Freeware Windows Media Center plug-in MceFM integrates music recommendation and streaming service Last.fm with your Vista Media Center. The tool actually works in conjunction with the music already in Media Center’s music library, so you can get recommendations based on your music and then listen to it all within Media Center. MceFM is currently in beta and could use some polish, but it’s a great start. If you haven’t already turned your Windows PC into a Media Center powerhouse on the cheap, I’d highly recommend it—Vista Media Center is Vista’s one feature I consider worth the upgrade. MceFM [via One Tip a Day] More »
