Thread: Evil home stereo, what good songs do you know?

So I figure you internet-savvy people that you are (and if you're not, then you should be) you'll probably have heard of this; www.last.fm . Basically it's a plugin for wmp/itunes which uploads to their website a list of the songs you play (if you've got an ipod, the itunes plugin will also upload your listening habits from there). Why would you want this? Well, it then searches through the songs that you "scrobble" and can make you recommendations based on your preferences; essentially it finds similar bands (according to what other people who listen to a given band also listen to) to ones you like, and lets you know about them. Even if you don't use the scrobbling addon, it's quite a useful website for checking out a band that you like/finding new music, because you can search a band, listen to a few of their songs (or samples, depending on licensing) and see a list of similar artists, as well as tags people have used to describe them.

So for instance, I'm currently listening to Modest Mouse - if I bring up my last.fm window it tells me that similar artists include "Ugly Casanova", "Built to Spill", and "Neutral Milk Hotel". Not only that, but if I hit the "recommended music" button on the left, it'll bring my songs from artists based upon my entire play history. So it's now recommending that I check out "Godspeed you! Black emperor" (based on my liking of 65daysofstatic) - which I happen to *know* I like, since I actually have some (although it doesn't know that; because I have a walkman rather than an iPod, and there's no plugin for sony's software).

Basically it's a handy little tool that you might wanna try out. It's also responsible for my "What I'm listening to" box in my facebook page incase you cared. Anyway, if you decide to use it, add me as a "friend". ("Felford" is my username)

Also, this is an oppurtunity to browse and criticise your friends' music tastes. But mostly it's a good way to find new artists. And maybe learn something about the ones you already know while you're at it.

I've never used Last.fm but I've know(ish) the guy behind it. He was doing a MA at Southampton (UK) in Computer Science but decided to drop out in order to continue development of the site. He sold it about a year later for several million.

Might give the site a try.

It's good, and they've done it up a bit since the buyout. New layout and things.

It won't play for me, on firefox and even with scriptblocker off

You using adblock? Check your sound isn't muted? Sometimes it's a little funny... might have to have a look around the page for a link that says "launch in seperate player" or some such...

oh, it's back for me now