Lastfm dead

[bonfire89]

So, now that lastfm users in Canada and other places have to pay, I'm done with them.

Shoutcast alone can replace it.. but it would be nice to get something a bit closer to lastfm


I know there are alternatives, what do you suggest (that will work in Canada)


thanks

[toupeiro]

pandora.com

[gnomeuser]

I haven't ever really used last.fm but I understand that they offer a fiarly high bandwidth service. Their revenue stream must come from somewhere. I think it is perfectly fair of them to charge users (though they should do so evenly) a small monthly fee to cover their expenses. There are other revenue models to explore as well but this is an obvious one.

I suspect they will experience a significant drop in use, I personally will continue to use their service to get recommendations and send in usage statistics. For the social aspect last.fm is great.

[chris4585]

grooveshark http://listen.grooveshark.com/

Kicks, both pandora's and lastfm's butt if you ask me ;)

[HappinessNow]

pandora.com
Pandora put the nail in the coffin of LastFM.

[SKLP]

Pandora does not work outside the US, either :( (well maybe in Canada but not in Sweden at least)

[mc4100]

Pandora does not work outside the US, either :( (well maybe in Canada but not in Sweden at least)

Nor in Britain :(

[HappinessNow]

Pandora does not work outside the US, either :( (well maybe in Canada but not in Sweden at least)


Nor in Britain :(

That's a crying shame for both of you, Pandora is the best.

Why is Sweden and Britain blocking Pandora? or is it more complex?

[barbarian]

I can confirm it. There is a warning on their website: 30 tracks trial, then $3 monthly..
Location: Estonia (Europe)

I heard about solution with Pandora, to listen it through proxy server.. But I didn't try yet..

[HappinessNow]

I heard about solution with Pandora, to listen it through proxy server.. But I didn't try yet..

Interesting.

[Giant Speck]

That's a crying shame for both of you, Pandora is the best.

Why is Sweden and Britain blocking Pandora? or is it more complex?

It doesn't really have anything to do with Pandora's complexity. It has to do with music licensing:



Q: When will you offer Pandora outside of the United States?

Delivery of Pandora is based on proper licensing from the content rights holders - we have always believed strongly in honoring the guidelines as determined by the artists, labels and publishers. In the U.S. there is a federal statute called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that provides this license for all the music you hear on Pandora. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent license outside the U.S.

We will be posting updates on our blog (http://blog.pandora.com (http://blog.pandora.com/)) regarding our ongoing effort to launch in other countries, so please stay in touch. In all honesty, we don't have the resources to pursue licensing arrangements in many countries in the immediate term, but we do have the ultimate goal of being able to offer our service globally. As always, we welcome your feedback and would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. We greatly appreciate your understanding and support.

Note: Due to international licensing constraints, we are deeply sorry to say that it is necessary to restrict streaming audio from Pandora for most countries outside of the U.S.
Our vision remains to eventually make Pandora a truly global service, but as a small company, the best chance we have of realizing our dream of Pandora all around the world is to grow as the licensing landscape allows.

[HappinessNow]

It doesn't really have anything to do with Pandora's complexity. It has to do with music licensing:

Thanks for the information.

[James_Lochhead]

I heard about solution with Pandora, to listen it through proxy server.. But I didn't try yet..

You can use a secure VPN service to bypass basically any kind of country restriction on the Internet.

The content is blocked by looking at your IP address. With a VPN service you can pass all your Internet traffic through a server in another country to make it look like you are in that country.

In addition, data on the Internet is sent via packets. Specific content can be blocked by examining these packets and preventing them from reaching you. With encryption these packets cannot be properly examined, hence they cannot be blocked from reaching you.

I use SSL encryption to get (legal) torrents at university (uni blocks them).

VPN services themselves are not illegal. However, it might be illegal, or against the terms and conditions of the service (t&c are not law though) to use a product in this way.

Co-incidentally a secure VPN that holds no traffic information is the best way to be 100% anonymous and secure your privacy on the Internet.

[notwen]

Although this change doesn't directly affect me, I rarely stream anything from them. I use it more to locate new artists and compare "compatibility" w/ friends.

---edit---
This apparently was announced (http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/517178) back in March.

[Dragonbite]

pandora.com

I love Pandora. Use it at work!

[HappinessNow]

I love Pandora. Use it at work!

I use Pandora everywhere, they even have it fully functional on up-to-date cell phones (ie: iPhone & Blackberry)

You can embed Pandora (or just a link) in your gmail, and Opera has an awesome Pandora widget.

[Giant Speck]

I love Pandora. Use it at work!

I have my iPhone hooked up to my Wifi network and speakers so that I can listen to Pandora without wasting precious RAM running it in Firefox. It's a good setup. :)

[HappinessNow]

I have my iPhone hooked up to my Wifi network and speakers so that I can listen to Pandora without wasting precious RAM running it in Firefox. It's a good setup. :)Agreed, it works flawlessly.

I think I have at the very least about a dozen custom Pandora stations also.

[Giant Speck]

Agreed, it works flawlessly.

The only problem I've seen is that sometimes when the iPhone is receiving data, it will cause very loud, annoying interference with the speakers. But considering I don't get a lot of texts or phone calls, that doesn't happen too often!


I think I have at the very least about a dozen custom Pandora stations also.

I have about eight stations and I play them all using QuickMix. That way, I can play a larger variety of music without messing up one station with multiple genres.

[HappinessNow]

I have about eight stations and I play them all using QuickMix. That way, I can play a larger variety of music without messing up one station with multiple genres.

I love the QuickMix feature!

[Dragonbite]

I use Pandora everywhere, they even have it fully functional on up-to-date cell phones (ie: iPhone & Blackberry)

You can embed Pandora (or just a link) in your gmail, and Opera has an awesome Pandora widget.

I've seen the Opera Widget and have wondered if there is a KDE 4 Widget for Pandora (and if no, then WHY NOT?!).

I do wish I could subscribe to it via your-favorite-music-player (Rythmbox, Banshee, Amarok, Listen, Evince, Songbird, etc.) unless I'm missing something.

I have 12 stations depending on my mood. Hard rock, hardcore dance, jazz and swing, celtic, country, and am looking for a good classical music one (though I'm not in the mood right now, so it isn't worth looking for it until I get in the mood).

Just gotta make sure for some of my stations that my speakers are off and my headphones are on. I got caught a couple of times with the speakers being still on :eek:

[CrazyArcher]

This is unfair. First Pandora got blocked, and now last.fm? Damn =/

[barbarian]

You can use a secure VPN service to bypass basically any kind of country restriction on the Internet.

The content is blocked by looking at your IP address. With a VPN service you can pass all your Internet traffic through a server in another country to make it look like you are in that country.

In addition, data on the Internet is sent via packets. Specific content can be blocked by examining these packets and preventing them from reaching you. With encryption these packets cannot be properly examined, hence they cannot be blocked from reaching you.

I use SSL encryption to get (legal) torrents at university (uni blocks them).

VPN services themselves are not illegal. However, it might be illegal, or against the terms and conditions of the service (t&c are not law though) to use a product in this way.

Co-incidentally a secure VPN that holds no traffic information is the best way to be 100% anonymous and secure your privacy on the Internet.

Thanx for pointing out, I will study the subject..

[bonfire89]

I haven't ever really used last.fm but I understand that they offer a fiarly high bandwidth service. Their revenue stream must come from somewhere. I think it is perfectly fair of them to charge users (though they should do so evenly) a small monthly fee to cover their expenses. There are other revenue models to explore as well but this is an obvious one.

I suspect they will experience a significant drop in use, I personally will continue to use their service to get recommendations and send in usage statistics. For the social aspect last.fm is great.

I agree, but, I live off Christmas and Birthday money... I'm poor.




Pandora does not work outside the US, either :( (well maybe in Canada but not in Sweden at least)

nope, not Canada


I heard about solution with Pandora, to listen it through proxy server.. But I didn't try yet..


You can use a secure VPN service to bypass basically any kind of country restriction on the Internet.

The content is blocked by looking at your IP address. With a VPN service you can pass all your Internet traffic through a server in another country to make it look like you are in that country.

In addition, data on the Internet is sent via packets. Specific content can be blocked by examining these packets and preventing them from reaching you. With encryption these packets cannot be properly examined, hence they cannot be blocked from reaching you.

I use SSL encryption to get (legal) torrents at university (uni blocks them).

VPN services themselves are not illegal. However, it might be illegal, or against the terms and conditions of the service (t&c are not law though) to use a product in this way.

Co-incidentally a secure VPN that holds no traffic information is the best way to be 100% anonymous and secure your privacy on the Internet.


I'm going to have to look into these

[chris4585]

Its not like I didn't offer a alternative people.

[crl0901]

What about Slacker? Something like that?

[Paqman]

I haven't ever really used last.fm but I understand that they offer a fiarly high bandwidth service. Their revenue stream must come from somewhere. I think it is perfectly fair of them to charge users (though they should do so evenly) a small monthly fee to cover their expenses. There are other revenue models to explore as well but this is an obvious one.


From people I know in the industry, they've been absolutely coining it from the advertising on their site. I don't think it's an income issue, but a costs one. They have to pay for broadcast licences in some territories.

[RiceMonster]

I think this is stupid. Luckily I don't use the radio. I like having it make charts and recommend me new music, so I'm not really affected by it.

[unoodles]

:KS :KS :KS :KS !!!LIBRE.FM!!! (http://libre.fm/) :KS :KS :KS :KS

The open source replacement for last.fm. How could anyone not have mentioned this one?

[hotweiss]

grooveshark http://listen.grooveshark.com/

Kicks, both pandora's and lastfm's butt if you ask me ;)

Wow, this site is amazing.

[init1]

Not really "dead", just unavailible outside the US. There are better stations though.

[LookTJ]

Wow, this site is amazing.
I completely agree.

[supersonicdarky]

People actually use last.fm for streaming? I've never seen anyone use it for anything but logging listened tracks, which is uneffected.

I would switch to something else to show how newb they are, but first I need all the apps I use to support scrobbling elsewhere.