Is Last.fm really as good as it sounds?

I think it’s pretty awesome, myself.

There are approximately 46 Flutherites on last.fm (according to the Fluther group), and most listen to pretty good music. Not that that’s really important.

I don’t believe there have been any viruses traced back to last.fm, mostly because there is very little content you download. There’s also a subscriber function, but it’s pretty cheap and free accounts will be good for 90% of what you want to do.

However, to get the full experience out of it, it does help if you listen to music mostly on your computer or sync your iPod regularly. It will take the music from your iPod or computer and add it to your profile, which helps it to make recommendations for you.

If you are only going to use it for the radio and not the social features, use Pandora instead. It recommends music a little better, and is a bit easier to learn.
If you want to have all your music in one central place or stalk look at others music taste, though, I like last.fm.

For the record, the Fluther Group is here and my profile is here. I’d recommend you check it out.

I use Pandora Radio (pandora.com), which randomizes an unlimited number of songs into a queue based on the musical qualities of a song or artist you choose. It’s free under certain restrictions, such as only 6 skips per hour (which can be negated by refreshing the page), and a $~37-per-year paid version is available, which gets rid of those restrictions and throws in some other stuff. I’ve found two of my favorite artists, Rise Against and The Offspring, from listening to it. It’s very good at pinpointing what kind of music you will like.

I like it for what Last.fm calls “Scrobbling”. It runs alongside iTunes and gathers info on your listening habits. Then the Last.fm player streams songs I might like. I hear a lot of new (to me) bands that way.

I use both Last.fm and Pandora. Pandora seems to come up with music that I like more often, but I don’t have last.fm linked with any other places I listen to music, so I don’t know how much better that would make it.

But if you’re main concern is finding new music, I’ve found more new music with Pandora. Last.fm comes up with a lot of stuff I already know.

Blip.fm is pretty cool.

I’ve had an account there for a while but never used it. This question inspired me to try it out as I’ve been looking for some new music lately.

http://www.pandora.com/ is my fav.

I’ve had last.fm for about 3yrs now and really enjoyed it not just for the music but for the people/musicians I’ve met through the site. Never any viruses and the features I use are worth the membership to me. I’m able to see whatever bands are coming to any area I input as well as members who’ve chosen to attend. When looking through songs then the feature for going straight to amazon or itunes to purchase is fast and easy to compare prices.

I absolutely love Last.fm. I met people who share my tastes (which I never meet a lot of in real life) and have been recommended a lot of bands I like. Most of what I listen to is stuff I learned about through Last.fm. I give my full recommendation :)

YES! XD it’s pretty awesome.

I’m on Last.fm and I think its awesome. There are no hidden fees (although I think there are optional extras for paid users), no nasty viruses or anything like that, and I’ve discovered a lot of great new music there. I often just pick a band or track I’m in a particular mood for, play the “radio” and see what comes up thats similar.

However if you are in the US, Pandora is probably better. Unfortunately it’s not available here.