Last.fm free on-demand music streaming

[Rev. Powell]

Announcement

I've used last.fm for a while now to keep track of my music listening habits (I'm Pandarus there), and I'm satisfied with the service.  (It's free, so there's little to complain about).

They have recently added the ability to stream pretty much any music track for free.  Albums or individual tracks can be listened to free of charge up to 3 times, and then the user will be prompted to sign up for a subscription service.  Songs can still be listened to for free by listening to the various radios.  Best of all, the artists/labels will get paid when someone plays their tracks. 

It's an interesting new business model for music delivery, though I don't think it will work.  I predict people will gorge themselves on the free listens, then move on to the next freebie.  It will definitely change the way I listen to music---I'll be able to preview a lot more stuff before I buy it.  But it won't change the amount of music I buy, and I won't be getting a subscription.  I like to own my music, not rent it.

If anyone's interested, sign up for an account here.

[threnody]

This is interesting. I wonder how it will go.

This thread prompted me to install the software again.

I uninstalled it about a month ago for some reason, but now I'm going to start using it again. I cleared my listening data before that, so there's not much on my page right now.

http://www.last.fm/user/moonlightfish/

[Rev. Powell]

Biggest complaint so far is that it seems I can't figure out how to get an album to play straight through.  I have to press play again everytime a track ends.  Still a good way to preview albums I think I might like but haven't heard all the way through.