Sunday, February 20, 2011

Jenny Practicum Post #2 - Last.fm


I have begun to explore Last.fm for my presentation more, and it has been an exciting adventure. Last.fm is a music service that lets you discover new music you may like based on music you already listen to. When you sign up for a user profile you can write articles about your favorite music, create your own event calendar with concerts and performances that are going to be in a city near you, talk to other users and get together with them in groups to discuss interesting topics. Last.fm also suggests people who have similar music taste to you, labeling them as your "neighbours," suggesting you friend them.
I have started to build up my library more with songs from my favorite artists. I have added some of my favorite artists by searching them on Last.fm, but I have to figure out how to use the tool called the "scrobbler." You download the scrobbler to your desktop and it helps Last.fm to recommend new music that's similar to what you have been listening to on your multimedia player or on the Last.fm player or radio. Thus far I haven't seen any recommendations coming from my multimedia player. I have been reading the frequently asked questions, which have been helpful, but I still can't seem to get it. I am just going to have to play around with it more to see if I can figure it out.
When I started using Last.fm, I failed to see how it was that much different from a music recommendation site such as Pandora. I like the fact that you have the option to get music recommendations from songs you have already downloaded. Another perk is the music community that Last.fm has to offer. I have been hesitant to join any of the groups or friend anyone that is also a user on Last.fm. I don't know anyone else that is currently a user of Last.fm, so any friend that I would add would be a person that I don't know. I don't know if it's acceptable to be friends with someone you don't know on Last.fm. I added a few people that have similar music taste to me, but I have still been searching for a good group to join. I will be looking to further my music community in the weeks to come.

3 comments:

  1. Great post, Jenny - I have heard that it's pretty common for people to "friend" their Last.fm "neighbors" if you want to try that out! We'll be reading more about sites like this later in the semester, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used to use Last.fm, I really enjoyed that it tracked what I listened to on my computer and on my ipod. A lot of times people would friend me then write a shout about the music I've been listening to lately. Lastly, it is great for seeing concerts in the area!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Laura, did you ever go to any of the concerts that it suggests? Do you know how to find events that are closer to your area? I think it's really cool that it tracks events especially since a lot of the artists it's suggesting are unfamiliar to me. It would be nice to see a concert if some of them came to town!

    ReplyDelete