We've covered several apps that integrate with the social music platform Last.FM, and we've expressed our worries about what might happen to the site when it was bought by CBS. As it happens, though, Last.FM has only gotten better lately. And now that they've released a shiny new version of their public API, we're hoping for more development on the downloadable app front.
Here's the skinny on the new API features: there's now read/write authentication for desktop, web and mobile apps, which, besides being essential for any service that logs your music listening, sets the stage for -- dare we hope? -- a killer Last.fm app for iPhone. The API will also allow apps to access search functions and make playlists, which means easier access to Last.FM's growing library of free streaming tracks. Scrobble on, amigos.
If you listen to a ton of music and the word "scrobble" is part of your vocabulary, you'll get a kick out of Lastgraph. It's a service that generates interesting visual representations of your Last.fm listening history. You can view a sweet line graph of your listening to a given artist, or you can generate some snazzy posters of your overall listening.
The posters are pretty huge and take quite a while to render, but you can actually print them out as some stylish, informative wall art. If you don't need something that huge, there's also a smaller version available through the quick timeline feature. You can also export your data as an Excel file, a CSV or JSON.
Online streaming service Last.fm is making a few major announcements today. The good news is that you can listen to practically any song you like, even full albums for free. The bad news, is you can only listen to a track three times before a notice pops up suggesting that you sign up for Last.fm's upcoming subscription based service.
The CBS-owned music discovery/online radio service has signed deals with all the major record labels, and also has a system in place to pay independent musicians as well. Last.fm will pay artists each time a song is streamed, with revenue coming from advertising and the upcoming subscription service. No word on how much subscriptions will cost.
Users in the US, UK, and Germany can access the full music library today, and the company is working on expanding coverage. The site claims that it has the largest library of free streaming music on the web, and we're inclined to take their word for it.
Fancy Last.fm? Fancy Windows Mobile? Then you'd probably fancy the Last.fm Windows Mobile app currently in development, which happens to be called Last.fm Mobile. The Pocket PC version includes scrobbling and experimental radio functionality, but the Smartphone version can only scrobble from Windows Media Player.
The app has a healthy backing of supporters at the Last.fm forum, which is where you can learn where to download and how to install Last.fm Mobile. You'll need Windows Mobile 5 or 6 and the .NET Compact Framework 2.0, which should be included with Windows Mobile 6.
Last.fm offers tools for discovering new music, social networking, and, of course, listening to music. The addition of WM functionality only makes it that much more useful.
There's no shortage of applications that let you save audio streams from internet services ranging from Shoutcast to Pandora. And well, Free Music Zilla is another one of those applications.
What sets Free Music Zilla apart from some of the competitors in this space is that it's 100% free, and incredibly easy to use. Just install the application and it will hang out in your system tray. When you visit a site with streaming audio like Pandora, Last.fm, IMEEM, MySpace, eSnips, or several others, Free Music Zilla will give you the option of saving each song.
While the program officially works with all the web services mentioned above plus a few more, we've found that it also does a pretty good job of catching songs from unsupported web sites like the recently launched MeeMix.
The only thing that would make Free Music Zilla better would be automatic file naming. Right now, any track you download will have a string of numbers for a name, so you'll have to tag and name files on your own. Of course, we don't have to tell you that in many situations, using programs like this to download streaming audio may be illegal. But we can also think of plenty of instances when you might want to use a program like Free Music Zilla to download public domain music or songs licensed under Creative Commons.
They say mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery. But we have to wonder if web radio pioneers like Pandora and Last.fm are flattered or just annoyed that they've inspired a new genre of web site. MeeMix is the latest service that creates a custom web radio stream based on your personal tastes.
All you have to do to get started is visit MeeMix and type in the name of a song or artist you like. MeeMix will play a first track by that artist and then offer up music from a similar performer. If you like the next song, drag the slider over toward "hot." If not, try the cleverly titled "not" button. You don't need to register for an account to use MeeMix, but if you register you can create and save multiple channels and save your preferences.
You can also share your channels with multiple users, leave comments on songs, and share "Mee Feeds" letting your friends know what you've been up to on MeeMix. There's also Twitter integration, letting you send out tweets letting your contacts know what you've been listening to.
The music catalog seems to be decent, but hardly inclusive. And as a Tel Aviv-based company, MeeMix has an odd (to Western eyes) way of organizing your playlist. New tracks show up on the left of the display, meaning you have to scroll to the right to find previously played songs.
Net radio isn't dead yet. SoundExchange, the organization responsible for collecting royalties from online broadcasters has reached an agreement with the Digital Media Association that will allow the music to keep playing, we think.
A quick history less:
Earlier this year, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board voted to raise rates for internet broadcasters. In some cases, the new rates could have cost billions of dollars, driving pretty much every online radio station out of business. After months of contentious debate, SoundExchange agreed last month not to enforce the new rates until some sort of compromise could be reached.
Today's compromise involves a $500 cap per channel, with a $50,000 overall cap per service.
Webcasters will have to provide SoundExchange with a detailed annual list of songs performed and the Digital Media Association will work with SoundExchange to "evaluate the issue of streamripping." Presumably that means the two organizations will try to find ways to prevent users from making permanent copies of streaming audio files.
The new fees could still be a bit steep for small time webcasters. But today's announcement should keep larger companies like Pandora, Yahoo! Launch, and Last.fm piping out plenty cups of steaming hot internet music.
If you feel like you're not putting quite enough information on your Facebook, and want to let everyone see just that much more of the real you, Last.fm's new Facebook application is just the ticket.
"What I'm Listening To" shows your friends just that, what you're currently enjoying. You can even add notes of explanation to your tracks, so that everyone knows you really didn't mean to cue up Ace of Base.
It's a well integrated Facebook app, that should be a hit with LAst.fm lovers.
Lawmakers have gotten involved, webcasters held a day of silence protest, and SoundExchange has agreed to reduce its fees (although that offer was rejected). But the big day is still just around the corner. On Sunday, the U.S. will levy new royalty rates on internet broadcasters. In some cases, those rates could be high enough to seriously threaten the existence of smaller stations and web sites.
A coalition of webcasters had sought another delay in the implementation of the new rates until some sort of a solution could be found. But a federal appeals court ruled that the group had not met the standards necessary to grant a stay.
In other words, there's a very good chance that sites like Pandora, Last.fm, Yahoo! LAUNCHcast and others could go off the air next week until some sort of an agreement is reached with the music industry.
The Save Net Radio coalition is urging supporters to call members of Congress in support of the Internet Radio Equality Act. But we're rather curious to see if the standoff could lead to a backlash against the record labels. After all, much like traditional radio, internet broadcasts serve to promote new music and songs. If fewer people are exposed to new artists, will record sales take a hit?
Later this month, new music royalty rates are scheduled to rock the world of internet radio. The rates are calculated in such a way that some online broadcasters say they would have to pay millions, or even billions of dollars in order to stay online.
While Congress is considering action that would change the way royalty rates are calculated, it looks like SoundExchange, the nonprofit acting on behalf of the record labels is willing to offer a compromise.
In a nutshell, the new rates include a minimum $500 payment per channel. That's fine if you've just got a single webstream. But if you're a company like Yahoo! or Pandora that operates by offering each user a customized music stream, you might have to pay $500 for each stream, to the tune of millions of dollars.
SoundExchange is offering to cap the minimum payment at $2500. But the offer's only good through 2008, while the new royalty rates don't expire until 2010. The Digital Media Association, which represents webcasters issued a press release stating that the group would accept the new rates -- but only if they are extended through 2010. And the beat goes on.
As a music fan, sometimes you feel as if you have heard it all. Every music playing application feels generally the same without too much difference. One music playing application stands out in this regard. MXplay is a different kind of music experience, in that it allows you to move the speakers, thus altering the sound in it's 2D panel (as seen in the gallery below). You can also move your head to make the music sound different, have more depth or sound closer, behind you are just right to the angle of your head.
Move my head? Yes, but a digital head, not your real head. This digital head lets you spin to hear at different angles or slide side to side for interesting audio perception results. This feature of MXplay is by far the most fun to play with and can take you a while to begin to stop playing with it, so you might not want to try it at work.
The real value in MXplay is in the social networking aspect, or so it would seem. The social features of the app include the ability to mix in videos from YouTube, Google, and others to add to your audiospace. Once done, you can save and share audiospaces (even though some contain video) with other users of the application. You can also make recordings of the various speaker moves in a pattern that is also saved as a part of your audiospace.
Running this app on Vista worked just fine and shouldn't give you to much trouble, however the use of certain features wasn't very clear in some cases, and there doesn't seem to be extensive documentation by any means, but it is at least worth playing with to experience the pseudo 3D sounds it produces.
There are MXplay plugins for Nintendo Wiimote, Last.fm, and even one in the works for MP3tunes.com as well. so stay tuned!
While early rumors had Viacom preparing to purchase UK-based internet radio site Last.fm for $450 million, it looks like the CBS corporation has snatched up last.fm for the bargain price of $280 million. (If you're scratching your head, yes, CBS used to be part of Viacom, but the two split up last year).
Last.fm had set itself the (possibly unrealistic) goal of adding every music track every recorded to its library. Having a major media corporation for a parent makes that lofty goal seem a bit more feasible. But perhaps just a bit.
CBS has strong roots in terrestrial radio, with 179 stations in 50 markets across the U.S. While the fate of online radio remains to be seen, there's no doubt online music services are gaining in popularity, so it makes sense that CBS would want to pick up one of the market leaders. Last.fm boasts that it has 15 million listeners each month.
Nine of the sites -- among them Napster, Mp3.com, OLGA and Singing Fish -- are yet sweet memories, while one still stands with one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel; Pandora. As of May14th, due to the ridiculous wrangling involved in international licensing, Pandora went offline for all users who reside outside of the US of A. Ironic that, given that it's the good ol' USA which has 2 months to clear up the mess caused by a mandate to increase streaming royalties, or face the fact that streaming radio -- as we once knew it -- isn't going to exist anymore.
What do you do if you've got an internet radio station, but the future of online radio is murky? Add video, of course. Because no content owners have ever demanded much of internet companies that offer video.
Last.fm plans to add video to its site this week, allowing users to create custom music video channels much the way they can currently create custom music stations. The music will be encoded at 128kbps, which is twice the bitrate of music videos on YouTube.
The company is partnering with a group of major and independent record labels, so there shouldn't be any lawsuits to worry about. But with the copyright royalty board seeking significantly increased fees from internet radio stations, how long will it be before sites like Last.fm also have to pay exorbitant royalty rates to deliver music videos online?
The Copyright Royalty Board decided not to postpone the May 15th implementation date, or to hear an appeal. The judges did agree to let webcasters temporarily calculate fees by average listening hours, rather than by each time a listener hears a song.
But that's not going to be enough to save many small and non-profit webcasters like Pandora, Last.fm and Radio Paradise who say the new rates could put them out of business. A coalition of internet broadcasters will continue to push Congress for intervention, but the chances of any action being taken before May 15th are slim.
We've covered several apps that integrate with the social music platform Last.FM, and we've expressed our worries about what might happen to the site when it was bought by CBS. As it happens, though, Last.FM has only gotten better lately. And now that they've released a shiny new version of their public API, we're hoping for more development on the downloadable app front. 
Net radio isn't dead yet. SoundExchange, the organization responsible for collecting royalties from online broadcasters has 
If you feel like you're not putting quite enough information on your Facebook, and want to let everyone see just that much more of the real you, 
