Internet Radio Part II: Last.fm

The series on Internet radio continues with a look at Last.fm. Last week I reviewed Pandora, which is a light-weight player built into your browser that learns what kinds of music you like and suggest new songs and artists. Last.fm takes a very different approach; whereas Pandora is like one friend giving you recommendations, Last.fm is like playing music with a bunch of friends at a party.

You start using Last.fm by downloading their free program and installing it on your computer. The Last.fm Player uses a nifty gadget called Audio Scrobbler that automatically (in the new version) remembers what songs you listen to on your computer. It works with a wide variety of media players, including Windows Media Player, iTunes, and Winamp. As you listen to the music you like, Last.fm begins to get an idea of the music you like. The fastest way to get this done, by the way, is to set your whole playlist to play overnight. Soon you are connected with “neighbors,” which are other people using Last.fm that have similar musical tastes. You then have the option to listen to “Neighbor Radio,” which is music that your “neighbors” listen to.

You can also get together with a bunch of your friends and get a group together. With just a few members, you can form a group radio station. Last.fm is heavily social networking-based, but the focus is still on the music. The generous Web site has previews of music, bios and information on artists and songs, lyrics, discographies, and many more features. Each user has his or her own page on the site which shows the music they listen to most frequently and the songs they listened to last. My page on the site reveals my preference for Weezer, U2, and Shakira.

 

One feature I especially like is the fact that you can do a search for a type of music and listen to songs that have been tagged under that name. For example, you can listen to a custom radio station with songs that have been labeled “easy listening” or “rock” or “emo” or any other category. You can also type in an artist’s name and listen to similar artists. In this respect, Last.fm is very similar to Pandora, but in general, Last.fm offers a richer music experience. However, you can’t listen to Last.fm on computers that don’t have the program installed; Pandora wins in the portability category. Neither service competes directly with the other, but I recommend checking both of them out. Particularly in the case of Last.fm, you can find great new artists while enjoying the songs you already like.

Update Nov. 5, 2006: Last.fm now allows registered users to listen to neighbor radio, recommendations, their favorite tracks, or their own personal stations right in both the downloadable program and in a browser window. With this new feature, Last.fm stands out as the absolute best place to find new music.