Last.fm
Disclaimer: This is only relevant for people that listen to music. Specifically, people that listen to music on their computer.
Second Disclaimer: This may be a bit lengthy, but it's worth it!
I'm doing this entry to let you guys know of something I really like. It is built into my audio playing program (Amarok) on my computer. That is how I learned of it.
Most of you don't have that same opportunity, so I shall share my discovery with you.
What I am talking about, is last.fm. www.last.fm.
What is last.fm?
Basically it submits tracks you listen to, to your profile. It will also make recommendations based off what you listen to.
You are given a profile after you register. Then you can use that account on your last.fm enabled audio player. Most of you won't have this yet (Nick and I both do, because we're awesome). Most of you in the Windows XP (and even Mac OS X) world will need to download the last.fm software.
The windows version can be found here.
It supports a lot of audio players, so chances are, what you use is supported as well.
There are also unsupported plugins for some audio players if you don't want the whole software package.
Once you have it, you will enter your username and password so it can start submitting tracks you listen to.
You will get a profile that looks something like this (that's my profile, by the way).
It shows all sorts of info, like the number of tracks played since joining, Recent tracks played, weekly top artists, overall top artists, overall top songs, friends, neighbors (people with similar music tastes), as well as your groups (that you join if you choose to do so).
When looking at other people's profile while logged in, you will also see a "Taste-o-meter" which determines your musical compatibility with that person (based off what you listen to).
You can post your Recent Tracks, Weekly Top Artists, Overall Top Artists, and Overall Top Songs to most websites and blogs that support either HTML (myspace, most websites) or BBCode (Most forums).
For example:
My Recently Listened to Tracks (might not show if you havn't listened to anything recently):
My Weekly Top Artists (again, might not show if you havn't listened to anything that week):
My Overall Top Artists:
My Overall Top Songs:
You can choose to display up to 10 artists/songs for each one. I chose 5 so it wouldn't get too overwhelming (and because 5 is an awesome number).
You can also choose different styles, or even design your own. I chose the basic one, because it looks nice, and I have horrible artistic skills.
You can view statistics and info about tracks and/or artists. They have charts based on all users as well. You can preview some songs on artist's pages (not all artists have previews). There are also free songs you can download (I havn't taken advantage of this option yet. And I imagine most/all commercially sold music will not be on there, obviously).
Last.fm also allows you to listen to numerous music streams (Internet radio). You can either do it from your web browser (it opens a new window running a flash audio player), or you can listen to it with the last.fm software/plugin.
I really like last.fm
I've found a few good artists because of it. It's also very useful for if you just want to the radio streams (I use that feature, A LOT, especially at school).
There are, no doubt, other things to say about last.fm, but I think what I covered are the highlights.
Ryan, Nick, and I use last.fm already.
If you want to try it out, head over to www.last.fm and give it a try. You'll probably like it.
If you want to add me to your friend's list, my profile can be found here. Just send a request.
Feel free to leave comments (especially if you already use last.fm and want to mention something I didn't), or even a link to your profile if you want.
Second Disclaimer: This may be a bit lengthy, but it's worth it!
I'm doing this entry to let you guys know of something I really like. It is built into my audio playing program (Amarok) on my computer. That is how I learned of it.
Most of you don't have that same opportunity, so I shall share my discovery with you.
What I am talking about, is last.fm. www.last.fm.
What is last.fm?
Basically it submits tracks you listen to, to your profile. It will also make recommendations based off what you listen to.
You are given a profile after you register. Then you can use that account on your last.fm enabled audio player. Most of you won't have this yet (Nick and I both do, because we're awesome). Most of you in the Windows XP (and even Mac OS X) world will need to download the last.fm software.
The windows version can be found here.
It supports a lot of audio players, so chances are, what you use is supported as well.
There are also unsupported plugins for some audio players if you don't want the whole software package.
Once you have it, you will enter your username and password so it can start submitting tracks you listen to.
You will get a profile that looks something like this (that's my profile, by the way).
It shows all sorts of info, like the number of tracks played since joining, Recent tracks played, weekly top artists, overall top artists, overall top songs, friends, neighbors (people with similar music tastes), as well as your groups (that you join if you choose to do so).
When looking at other people's profile while logged in, you will also see a "Taste-o-meter" which determines your musical compatibility with that person (based off what you listen to).
You can post your Recent Tracks, Weekly Top Artists, Overall Top Artists, and Overall Top Songs to most websites and blogs that support either HTML (myspace, most websites) or BBCode (Most forums).
For example:
My Recently Listened to Tracks (might not show if you havn't listened to anything recently):
My Weekly Top Artists (again, might not show if you havn't listened to anything that week):
My Overall Top Artists:
My Overall Top Songs:
You can choose to display up to 10 artists/songs for each one. I chose 5 so it wouldn't get too overwhelming (and because 5 is an awesome number).
You can also choose different styles, or even design your own. I chose the basic one, because it looks nice, and I have horrible artistic skills.
You can view statistics and info about tracks and/or artists. They have charts based on all users as well. You can preview some songs on artist's pages (not all artists have previews). There are also free songs you can download (I havn't taken advantage of this option yet. And I imagine most/all commercially sold music will not be on there, obviously).
Last.fm also allows you to listen to numerous music streams (Internet radio). You can either do it from your web browser (it opens a new window running a flash audio player), or you can listen to it with the last.fm software/plugin.
I really like last.fm
I've found a few good artists because of it. It's also very useful for if you just want to the radio streams (I use that feature, A LOT, especially at school).
There are, no doubt, other things to say about last.fm, but I think what I covered are the highlights.
Ryan, Nick, and I use last.fm already.
If you want to try it out, head over to www.last.fm and give it a try. You'll probably like it.
If you want to add me to your friend's list, my profile can be found here. Just send a request.
Feel free to leave comments (especially if you already use last.fm and want to mention something I didn't), or even a link to your profile if you want.