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Last.fm is now independent

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Re: Last.fm is now independent

#151

Post by iv11 »

SyneRyder wrote: post #112
verelo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came here to say the same. I don't even know what this product is anymore. The website makes it sound like its about music but there is no music? I'm lost. The last time I paid for LastFM was some time in 2009...but the home page just isn't clearly telling me what the service offers.

Among the people I know still using Last.FM, it's somewhere between having statistics about your music, and a recommendation engine. It isn't about playing the music, you can do that elsewhere. But by having data on every single piece of music you've listened to, it can recommend music you will like, and potentially recommend people with shared musical tastes as well. There's a feature to compare your musical compati…

Are you ironic when you say you never heard of "Boards of Canada"?

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#152

Post by skerit »

chrsw wrote: post #111
ale wrote: post #6

Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.

I loved how easy it was to scrobble from different music services. Haven't used it in years though so I have no idea if that's still the case. Stuff like that usually rots because it's not making someone money.

It is. It's super easy to do so. You can send anything via the API.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#153

Post by bool3max »

ilikegreen wrote: post #149
bool3max wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me last.fm's value lies in the community aspect: you can leave a comment on any artist, album, or individual track's page. There's not a single other place on the internet where I can go to to see what the people think of a song I'm listening to at any given moment (apart from perhaps YouTube, but we all know what the comments there are like - last.fm attracts a more sophisticated crowd by nature). Unfortunately…

I think RateYourMusic also allows for commenting pretty much on everything (and it also extends to film and, IIRC, videogames). It might not be as friendly as last.fm on the surface, but it is surely richer in content, and more diverse. It's a gem, and I hope Sonemnic (?) doesn't drive it to the ground.

For me it doesn't really compare: with Last.FM all I've gotta do is navigate to my profile and the song I'm _currently_ playing on Spotify is right at the top, I just click it and boom, I'm on the track's page.

Besides, you can't leave comments under specific tracks on RYM.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#154

Post by jghn »

aorth wrote: post #126
jghn wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem for me with Spotify and similar is that I don't use them. I want to be able to track what I've listened to but I only use my own, personal library via iTunes, not Apple Music. Perhaps I'm wrong and some of these other services will track that but I don't have any desire to use the full on streaming services.

You could scrobble to Last.fm or ListenBrainz to track your personal library listens.

Yes, I use last.fm. My mistake, thought I said that. Instead I just launched into my anti-streaming bit :)

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#155

Post by ssl-3 »

The last time it was mentioned here, perhaps a couple of weeks ago, I tried to warm up my old last.fm account.

I once used it for a long time, but that time was maybe 20 years ago now. I wasn't even sure what my username, password, or email address would have been -- but I had some guesses.

So I guessed a few times. I guessed wrong. The wrong guesses apparently blocked me, since the sign-up page now always goes 403 for me.

When I tried with my pocket supercomputer instead, the infection spread to its signature as well: It 403s there, too.

Fun times.

edit: Tried again. It didn't work yesterday or the couple of weeks prior. But it worked the first time today. So now I have a shiny new last.fm account with no history. :)

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#156

Post by ryanmcbride »

I've used last.fm since the beginning and I still use it to scrobble. I hope it goes back to the more open api and the ability to more freely customize the profile pages like was possible back before last.fm 2.0 or whatever it was when they massively overhauled everything.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#157

Post by a1o »

ale wrote: post #6

Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.

Wasn’t it more like SoundCloud?

I never used last.fm but I always assumed it was more like SoundCloud. It’s been a few years I don’t use SoundCloud though.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#158

Post by efreak »

AlexandrB wrote: post #51
wldcordeiro wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the recommendation engines behind Spotify, Youtube Music, etc compare to the recommendations I got from last.fm over the years. The algorithmic ones seem to have a bunch of issues that bug me as a long time music listener and someone with a large music library. - their memory is short as hell so you can listen to something for a while, stop and then it'll suggest it to you later as something to "discove…

I'm 90% sure that music labels pay to "put their thumbs on the scales" with these recommendation algorithms in order to push their "hot" artists. I wonder how many of these problems are a result of that.

Spotify was advised of payola scheme in federal court in the US, unfortunately last month the judge ruled that the TOS prevention of lawsuits against Spotify is legal.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#159

Post by [deleted] »

ale wrote: post #6

Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.

[deleted]

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#160

Post by aembleton »

elAhmo wrote: post #135

Is anyone using last.fm in 2026? This made sense when people were playing MP3s in their Windows Media Player or Winamp, but as 99% of the people just stream music now, what is the purpose of this service? It has been maybe a decade since I met someone who actually uses the service.

I still use it. I use the Pulsar music player on Android which has an Audioscrobbler built in. I have my entire mp3/flac collection extra compressed into opus files, so that my 120GB of music is only taking up 43GB on my phone. When I'm listening in the car or on the train I really can't tell the drop in quality.
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