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Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

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21–30 of 74 posts

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#21

Thanks for that signup process. How hard is it to extend this to some linux apps like Amarok or VLC? Is that in your development list, or are the programs too sparse?

Chris replied via his live support that he has an API and some support for Exaile (a linux player). Sick!

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#24
post #9

I misread the title as Last.fm there!

I read the linked article and I'm not entirely convinced there is a difference (I've used last.fm happily for five years, and never touched the streaming stuff).

If I've got 30,000 "scrobbles" and all my friends on last.fm, what does like.fm offer me that would make me switch?

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#25

Thanks for that signup process. How hard is it to extend this to some linux apps like Amarok or VLC? Is that in your development list, or are the programs too sparse?

Chris replied via his live support that he has an API and some support for Exaile (a linux player). Sick!

Yes the API is identical to Last.fm's api and there is a hacked Last.fm scrobbler for exaile.

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#27

My startup blaster.fm which I submitted for review recently - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2275032 - does a similar sort of thing with more of a social bent. It leverages last.fm's idea of scrobbling, so there's no need for new ways to track what you're listening to. Best of luck though, guys.

"... the service uses a Chrome, Firefox and Safari extension to automatically track what you’re listening to on YouTube, Pandora, Rdio, Meemix, Grooveshark and Earbits and a desktop client to track what you’re listening to on Winamp, iTunes, MediaMonkey or Windows Media Player. ..."

The missing bit has been video (youtube) and various downloads in mp4 format that I play in xine, totem (linux). Is there anyway to capture in the desktop client in windows (WMP)?

"... My startup blaster.fm ..."

looks like you beat my tweet. The same applies to blaster.fm. Stuff that's not in mp3 that I play mp4,flv isn't captured unless I write my own client.

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#28
I noted that the article mentions that there is a lot that is 'coming soon', so maybe this is all in the works and i'm being redundant but:

I have to say that i'm not super impressed with how the profiles are set up. I really like Last.fm's profile pages because they provide a huge amount of information at a glance, and they do Like.fm's stated job of being 'a place to find songs that you like' very well by giving you compatibility ratings and showing top artists, top tracks, &c.

Meanwhile, the profiles on Like.fm are barely a step up from a text log of songs you've played. There's no information at all aside from that, just song a, song b, song c. I am not sure how this is meant to help me discover music i like -- there's no context or anything.

On another note, i find the design/layout of the site somewhat lacking as well. There's a lot of unnecessary white space and the design doesn't seem to have any coherent branding or theme (Last.fm has a relatively attractive and memorable red-and-white thing going on, for instance) -- it's just very dreary.

I hope that wasn't too harsh, it was meant to be constructive. I should add that i did sign up, in anticipation of improvements -- i am very interested in moving off of Last.fm, it's just that so far there's not much to tempt me.

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#29
post #28

I noted that the article mentions that there is a lot that is 'coming soon', so maybe this is all in the works and i'm being redundant but: I have to say that i'm not super impressed with how the profiles are set up. I really like Last.fm's profile pages because they provide a huge amount of information at a glance, and they do Like.fm's stated job of being 'a place to find songs that you like' very well by giving yo…

So your summary page will rank your recently top played songs and group them by artists. It's supposed to reflect your top music within the last 1-3 days so it can keep up with what you like right now. I know the site may still look a little bare and even unpolished but I'm the only person working on it right now but I'll be hiring soon.

And as far as more quantitative stats and similarity ratings, that's all in the works.

Re: Like.fm (YC W11) Is A Social Network For Tracking Songs

#30
post #9

I misread the title as Last.fm there!

I read the linked article and I'm not entirely convinced there is a difference (I've used last.fm happily for five years, and never touched the streaming stuff). If I've got 30,000 "scrobbles" and all my friends on last.fm, what does like.fm offer me that would make me switch?

They have all this cool data and I feel they're not doing as much as they could with it in terms of modern social features. And for new users I think the experience of finding your friends via facebook is much easier than it is on Last.fm.

But I agree with you right now the site still needs more features. But you can use both services while I work on them. I see a lot of potential for improvement and for advancing the idea behind music tracking.

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