Last.fm To Free MP3s and More

Category Uncategorized | Permalink | 3. April 2007

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Last.fm will announce four new features in a press release tomorrow, although a few observant users will notice them going live today. Last.fm, you may recall, is a neat social network that lets you get music recommendations based on what people like you are listening to and enjoying. Tomorrow they’ll announce a new flash player, an events system, free MP3 downloads and revamped profile pages that are more social.

They’re also highlighting the new stuff on the updates page.

The Flash player is my favorite, and will probably make the biggest difference to Last.fm’s adoption. From the outset, Last.fm required a download to take full advantage of the service: that was a major hurdle and the main reason I find myself using competing service Pandora. But now they have a Flash player on every page, meaning you don’t need a download, and new users can get started right away from the homepage. Existing users can choose whether to use the software or the Flash player, although the download still offers a few advantages.

The second feature is the Events system: Last.fm now provides concert listings and allows users to add their own events. Another feature that’s bound to be popular: free MP3 downloads, which were present in a previous version of the site, are now being offered. They claim to have hundreds of thousands of tracks from independent and emerging artists and mainstream pop acts - these can be downloaded to iTunes or your MP3 player. Feature number four is a “taste-o-meter” that appears on the profile pages: this is exactly the same as the compatibility score on iLike, showing how similar you are to another user based on your musical preferences.

These are killer features that make a good service even better. The new Flash player is my favorite innovation, and will make Last.fm far more accessible (alas, it doesn’t seem to be working yet).

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