App name: Last.fm
Developer: Last.fm
iTunes Category: Music
Price: Free

Up here in Canada we can't enjoy apps like Pandora or AOL Radio. (Bite me, RIAA) Fortunately, Last.fm is one of those stations who've worked out the perils of online broadcasting and the RIAA's BS and are broadcasting in Canada, so at least I can review it.

I know there are a lot of Last.fm users here, so you'll probably like this app.

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The main menu gives you a number of options. You can start a new station, check the recommended radio stations, check out what stations other people are listening to view your most recently created stations, check the music charts, artist events, or go over your friends list. Generally speaking, it's pretty much like Last.fm's site. At the time of this writing, there were no recommended radio stations or neighbour radio stations available to check out -- it's still a new app, after all.

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Creating a radio station is quite simple. Tap "Start a new station" from the main menu, then simply enter an artist you'd like to listen to. If found, your artists, and close matches, will appear in the search list below. Tap on your artist, and away you go.

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The main play screen is more or less what you'd expect. You get some relevant watermarked imagery backing up artist info, a song progress bar, a link to buy the song through iTunes, and a button to share with your Last.fm friends. The shuttle menu is pretty simple: Heart to give the song the thumbs up (and therefore keep it in your station's lineup), nought to pan it and axe it from the playlist, a play/stop button, and a next track button. The main menu along the bottom offers access to artist bio, the similar artists list, the artist events page, and a tab for additional features.

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The Bio page gives you a Discogs-like biography of the artist you're currently listening to, which is pretty cool if you're fed an artist you're unfamiliar with but like and want to know more about.

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Last.fm's Related Artists routine isn't quite the same sort of organic, community-built, descriptivist approach to finding other music you might like that Pandora is, but it gets the job done. I found that the artists it picked up from my initial search were, if not perfectly matched, at least nothing I'd end up skipping over too quickly when their music comes to the front of the playlist queue, and most of it was stuff I liked anyway. Your mileage, based on musical preferences, may vary, of course.

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So you're really digging one of your favourite artists just now and you want to find out if and when they might be coming to your town. Here's where you'll find the artist's planned events. It's a nice little touch that brings a kind of completion to the artist promotion package.

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The More tab has a couple of extras...

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The tags page gives you a breakdown of the most popular tags...

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...while the Top Listeners page lets you know who the most freakishly devoted Last.fm users are.

Overall, I'm quite fond of this app. It faithfully gives you most of the Last.fm features and does a good job of queuing up music you'll probably like. For those who want more than just Pandora and AOL and a few international stations -- or who don't have access to Pandora and AOL because they're not in the US -- you'll definitely want to check this one out. Two thumbs up and a 5/5.

And before you ask, no. You can't scrobble. Not yours.

fancy review
mine was just a news lol
nice job

CRAP! Wrong sub-forum. Could a mod please move this to apps? Thanks.

I've got a nasty head cold. That's my excuse. You can't take it from me.

No way to scrobble tracks? Jeez, that's a major bummer. It's probably the SDK's fault, not the dev's, but still, that's like, the main function of last.fm for me. :(

No way to scrobble tracks? Jeez, that's a major bummer. It's probably the SDK's fault, not the dev's, but still, that's like, the main function of last.fm for me. :(

I'm pretty sure Sam (the author of this app) already has its 2.0 version of MobileScrobbler ready to be released when 2.0 JB comes out

Have been waiting for Last FM, on iPod for ages!

Hoping for scrobbling soon.

great review
shame the app doesn't have scrobbling :/

aol radio has better channels

aol radio has better channels

Yeah, but not everyone can use it, can they?

I can't find last.fm on the iTunes Store.. O_O

The same here in Belgium. No last.fm in the music section. :mad:

its a good app but im wondering if it can or will be able to upload the data of songs played through the IPOD so if im listerning to a song will it upload that data once on wifi to last.fm???

nice review
im downloading it right now:)

wow, it actually adds last.fm to the settings, I didn't think apple would allow that......

wow, it actually adds last.fm to the settings, I didn't think apple would allow that......

NYTimes app gets added to the Settings too. I guess it's acceptable.

P.S. I deleted Last.fm about 10 minutes after trying it out. No scrobbling of songs gives this app a 0/5 for me. I'll wait for 2.0 jailbreak and the real Mobilescrobbler to come out.

I would use it, but it doesn't have scrobbling.

I'll stick to 1.1.4 till 2.0 JB

I would use it, but it doesn't have scrobbling.

I'll stick to 1.1.4 till 2.0 JB


Yes it does... it actually scrobbles when you sync your iPod. It works like a charm. No direct scrobling through WiFi, unless you listen to songs through the last.fm application, in which case the song data will be uploaded directly.

Yes it does... it actually scrobbles when you sync your iPod. It works like a charm. No direct scrobling through WiFi, unless you listen to songs through the last.fm application, in which case the song data will be uploaded directly.


Sorta defeats the purpose of having a connected device if it doesn't update through WiFi / 3G?

No way to scrobble tracks? Jeez, that's a major bummer. It's probably the SDK's fault, not the dev's, but still, that's like, the main function of last.fm for me. :(

yeah me also , seems weird they would not include that in the official "APP STORE" release...

why cant they release this everywhere? its not released in sweden :(

Yes it does... it actually scrobbles when you sync your iPod. It works like a charm. No direct scrobling through WiFi, unless you listen to songs through the last.fm application, in which case the song data will be uploaded directly.
I just downloaded the app now, so I'm not really sure. I have Last.fm app on my PC and it scrobbles songs when I sync any of my iPods (including my touch), even when I didn't have MobileScrobbler or Last.fm.app on my touch. So if you have Last.fm on your computer, that may be the one scrobbling songs, and not the Last.fm.app

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Now playing: The Corrs - I Never Really Loved You Anyway (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+corrs/track/i+never+really+loved+you+anyway)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

I can confirm the App Store Last.fm app does not scrobble iPod tunes. I just checked my Last.fm profile and the last song I scrobbled was the last one I listened to while writing this review, and I've listened to plenty on my iPod since then.

So, only scrobbling what you listen to through Last.fm.

I hate how this doesn't run in the background like mobilescrobbler, and also how it doesn't have the lyrics choice at the bottom like the last too. Plus the icon isn't as great either :(

I just downloaded the app now, so I'm not really sure. I have Last.fm app on my PC and it scrobbles songs when I sync any of my iPods (including my touch), even when I didn't have MobileScrobbler or Last.fm.app on my touch. So if you have Last.fm on your computer, that may be the one scrobbling songs, and not the Last.fm.app

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Now playing: The Corrs - I Never Really Loved You Anyway (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+corrs/track/i+never+really+loved+you+anyway)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)



Yes my bad ... the last.fm application on the COMPUTER does the scrobling after every iTunes syncing you iPod and updating your play count. It might take a while after the actual sync, so don't unplug it, but it will definitely sync it. The iPod application -does NOT- do the scrobling. It shouldn't matter that much no? Just get the PC or MAC application and let it do its work!

quit complaining already, it's obvious it can't scrobble tracks

appstore = no background apps, remember?!

you can still scrobble via the last.fm desktop application (it wont be in real-time but it's something at least)

not a big radio fan but worth checking out