Filed under: Audio, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Social Software
Last.fm gets a facelift
by Grant Robertson Jul 14th 2006 at 4:10PM
Web 2.0 music pioneer Last.fm has relaunched with a new look and dropped its "Beta" disclaimer. The new version of the site features a clean look, and a focus that would seem to put rival Pandora directly in its sites. They've even started promoting a new word, "scrobbling", to describe the process of listening to your music collection with tools that allow Last.fm to learn your preferences and thus make suggestions. Last.fm combines social networking with music to give listeners a Web 2.0 way to find new music they are likely to enjoy. Last.fm's method stands in stark contrast to competitor Pandora, which uses a complex set of characteristics and a closed categorization system to make recommendations based on music you are already familiar with.
Users of Last.fm install a special plug-in to their media player of choice (a wide range of plug-ins exist for all types of media players that support 3rd party add-ons) which uploads non-anonymous information on what they listen to. Using your actual day-to-day listening choices, Last.fm is able to identify other artists you may be interested in.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Trae said 4:31PM on 7-14-2006
I've been in love with the beta since it came out. Happy to see it's out now. :D
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tism said 4:33PM on 7-14-2006
You've forgotten the new sofware called last.fm it means there are no fiddly plugins to install now, everything is clean into one program, easy listending!
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Gabe said 5:07PM on 7-14-2006
Don't forget that Last.Fm used to be AudioScrobbler.
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resource said 6:49PM on 7-14-2006
Why isn't there a pause button or a choice for more than "HATE IT, LOVE IT"?
Otherwise this is great.
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