Sonntag, 12. Apr 2009, 12:53

No news or updates or whatsoever? Well, at least last.fm staff members should now know how badly planned and badly organised things are at their London HQ - as bad as the Downing Street. ;-P

I've tried several other services since I uninstalled last.fm client. One of such services is StumbleAudio.
http://www.stumbleaudio.com/

It seems that StumbleAudio is run by PayPlay.fm, an independent outlet like iTunes/Amazon mp3. So far it seems StumbleAudio is something like a showcase gallery for PayPlay.fm (you can listen to the full length tracks for free before you buy), so you can't expect Coldplay and Radiohead streamed there (finally, Radiohead-free radio station!!). Instead, SA has a lot of independent (and obscure) artists, some of whose songs are quite impressive. Their channel names are somewhat interesting, too; it's been ages since I last saw the phrase "avant garde" used like this. ;-)

PayPlay.fm is obviously run by music lovers who want to sell music. Look at their "browse" page. Last.fm, this is what makes you want to "pay". Not your usual "we are listening, but …" sort of excuses.

I've used SA for four or five hours and did not hear a single song I already knew, and the "radio" was not boring. This is why I registered there. When you register, they save your listened tracks (for you or for them, I don't know) and you can save and listen to your "loved" tracks, for free. If you love the song so much, you can buy an audio file at iTunes, Amazon mp3, CD Baby or PayPlay ($0.88 per track plus) in 10 seconds. The website is not like "social music blah blah blah" but anyway last.fm's "social music r-word" is now dead, so who cares.

Also, I've been using http://jamendo.com/ for months, and I like the place. I quite often visit archive.org's live music archive (Fugazi etc) and netlabel page. I also began to use blip.fm and have found it's okay - other people's blips are too mainstream for me in general (I can't stand five seconds of Bon Jovi etc), and so, as a "radio", I prefer soma.fm (the best of internet radio!) or other internet radio stations, though I have found a couple of my favourite blip.fm DJs. GrooveShark is something different from a "radio". It's good (better than blip.fm) to search for a song, though. And I've been a user at iLike.com, the nearest alternative to last.fm. Their recommendation isn't bad. (I use a different username outside last.fm, so a user "feeding" on these services is not me, if there is one.)

BTW, I'm strongly against this tactic (email bombing), so I'm going to leave "Free is Free" group.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8326/newstrikeis.png

To be honest, I read this ten minutes ago and feel it a bit regrettable that I've been on this group - I didn't see this message last time, and I haven't checked this group for a while. No idea what has been going on, except that one member got banned - no idea what has happened, but I don't think it's "because she discussed other services on last.fm". I posted about other music services in some discussion threads in the past (and again here, today), and I am not banned.

I'll stay on "Bring back the free last.fm" group and "Equal rights for last.fm members" group.

Be sure to share your positive experience(s) on this discussion board in the latter group.