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“So, what kind of music do you like?”
“All kinds.”
“Yeah, me too.”

At some point we’ve all had that conversation, that idle get-to-know you banter that gets you nowhere, but do you even know what kind of music you like? Sure, you’re a sophisticated sort and make certain that Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue is prominently displayed in your CD rack, but you know when your car hits the interstate you’ll be screaming “Pour Some Sugar On Me” at the top of your lungs. So, what kind of music do you listen to, and more importantly, are you willing to share it with the world?

Social Music from 30,000 Feet

Last.FM is a social music site that allows you to track what music you listen to, find artists similar to those you like, see what other people of similar tastes are listening to, stream music to your computer, and share all of this information in Web 2.0 style. Recently purchased by CBS, Last.FM is similar to other music sites like Pandora or iLike, and each of these sites has certain strengths and weaknesses so that a particular user may prefer one service to another. However, digging down into the abundance of features provided on Last.FM would make this review excessively long, and separate aspects will be covered in upcoming posts. For this general overview, however, it’s important to focus on Last.FM’s most important feature: Me.

It Might Be Social, But It’s Still All About Me

Sharing of interests aside, when I or anyone use a social networking site of any kind, there is a concern with two basic questions: What do I want to do, and does the site make it easy for me to do it? In the case of Last.FM the answers are: “Easily catalog the music I play”, and “Yes.”

My Last.FM user page displays an up to the minute record of what I’m playing. Whether it be over my stereo with my Slimserver Squeezebox, on Winamp, iTunes or my iPod, Last.FM’s Audioscrobbler plugins keep track of what I play and upload the information to Last.FM whenever I’m connected to the internet. Anyone can see what I’m listening to now, what I’ve listened to over the past week, and the most played artists and songs that I’ve listened to since I first joined the site. Should you like my taste in music, there’s even a radio link for you to play a stream based on my listening history.

This page alone is the reason I like this site, the page of Last.FM I always visit first, and the jumping off point for any other feature I use. I want to know what I’ve listened to and how frequently, and that’s all here in one place. All the information that I want to use is here.

Plug Yourself In

But how do I get that information there, and is it easy to do? Yes, it is simple and easy.

The way this cataloging is achieved is through a series of Audioscrobbler plugins, all of which are provided through Last.FM’s software, which also doubles as a frontend music streamer for the site as well as a way to rate songs that you play. The software detects the music players on your system and installs the appropriate plugin. Winamp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, Foobar, all are supported. There’s even a (sometimes wonky) iPod plugin that tracks what you play on the iPod and uploads your plays after you sync with your computer. (I’d say about 90% of the time the iPod plugin works, but I’ve been having some missed plays in the past week.)

From the download page there are links to older versions of the plugins if you don’t wish to install the software proper. From my experience and research, however, no advertisements, tracking (except of the music plays you allow), or other spyware is installed. Music is, of course, tracked, but that’s the point, and even then that feature can be turned off.

Off and Running

Once you’re used to the main page and the Last.FM software, you have all the tools you need to begin exploring the site, tracking your music, rating and tagging songs, finding people of similar tastes, and integrating Last.FM into either a Facebook page or your own blog.

All in all Last.FM is a huge, feature-rich site with nearly as much potential as you wish to get out of it. No short review can examine all its aspects, but I do hope to turn a more critical eye to some of its other features in subsequent reviews.

Until then, build a page, scrobble and track some songs, add me to your Last.FM friends, and follow along with my reviews as we finally figure out what you’re singing your heart out to as you’re driving down the highway.