Back in July we launched Last.fm on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It was the end result of months of hard work and we were pretty happy with how it turned out. We received tons of positive feedback and although we weren’t able to launch in every country, we were able to provide an excellent streaming solution in more markets than any of the other iPhone players.
Fast forward 3 months… Apple released the iPhone 2.1 firmware which was unfortunately incompatible with the bleeding edge coding techniques cooked into our app. Fortunately, we have been feverishly working on the next generation app that also happens to be 2.1 firmware friendly. Team iPhone have once again outdone themselves to produce what quite frankly, is a work of art (check out the tagging interface if you doubt).
There’s been some awesomely high profile internet leakage of beta test footage, but below you can see the version that’s available right now from the iTunes App Store:
Here’s the feature breakdown:
- VASTLY improved user interface all around (tap to zoom album art included)
- Ability to tag songs
- Personal tag radio
- Calendar based events view
- Common artists when viewing a user profile
- Many other usability and back-end features
We’re working to release the app in as many countries as possible and this version is available now in the following: US, UK, Canada, Germany, Spain and France. We’re also working on some back-end changes that will make streaming more reliable on slower connections, so stay tuned.
This version is a great improvement from the first, but it is by no means the end of the line, so please send us feedback! We’re looking forward to making the app even better with your help.
Comments
Pieter de Jong
27 September, 13:47
it rocks!
Julian
27 September, 13:48
“so please send us feedback!”
You people don’t listen to feedback! Just have a look at that sh**ty new website you built. No one liked it! And now less and less people are using it.
Tecfan
27 September, 13:54
@Julian:
no one liked it?
there are ~13 000 members in the “bring back the old last.fm group”. 12 000 of those has probably settled down and is now enjoying the new Last.fm. What about the many, many millions who likes it? “no one liked!” is the stupidest thing I have ever heard..
and on topic: pure sweetness. just wish it was available in my country, laws suck
StudleyUK
27 September, 14:20
Yawn Julian.
The new app is great, it’s just a shame there was all that kerfuffle with the firmware upgrade recently, which seems to have ruined the application’s reputation in the App Store. But with an app of this quality, I’m sure it will be extremely popular again before too long :)
herock@博客谈
27 September, 14:46
Last.fm推出了适应iphone 2.1的app，可以免费在itunes下载（需要itunes帐号）。
Daryl
27 September, 14:56
I bought my iPhone post-2.1-upgrade and I was greatly disappointed to find out the the Last.fm app was broken. This is my chance to finally use it, and it’s just as good as I had hoped!
Your app is one of the key reasons I bought an iPhone!
Elliot Jake Clowes
27 September, 16:31
I was sad when the app didn’t work with 2.1 as it was my main way of finding new music when I was bored on the train. But it was well worth the wait. Last.fm 2.0 is a work of genius. I can find very few design and usability flaws and I love how it slightly mimics the iPod making it easier for first time users to navigate. Just everything about it is orgasmically good.
Riddle
27 September, 17:15
Hi, can you tell us why you can’t just release it in other iPhone-supported countries as well? I’m in Czech Rep now and I can easily use your Last.fm.app on my Mac to listen to the radio, tag songs and browse recommendations… why the heck I can’t do the same on my iPhone? It’s a small computer, it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone – for you, CBS or RIAA.
Please, bring your app to the international audience. I don’t care if you localize it or not – there are many apps available only in English and people all over the world download and enjoy them.
N
27 September, 18:10
The new version is a huge improvement from the previous version. I’m still a bit disappointed that it doesn’t scrobble though.
Wolf
27 September, 18:18
It does not scrobble!!! Sorry, but that makes it practically worthless. The old inofficial app did, so it should not be too hard?
Danny Ruchtie
27 September, 20:03
Can you please make it available in the Dutch itunes store. I really like the app and really love last.fm
Rick
27 September, 22:02
Still not in the Netherlands? This is seriously pissing me off. I’m not buying the vague suggestion of legal issues, since legally there is no difference between delivering the service via a Window/Mac/whatever desktop app or the iPhone app.
In any case, just the lack of a decent explanation constitutes a big FU to many of your loyal users. I’m very dissappointed in this attitude from Last.fm.
Have you already been so infected by CBS that you honestly don’t get how insulting the “not in your country” message is?
Laurie Denness
27 September, 22:39
@N, Wolf, we really are very sorry it still doesn’t scrobble. Believe us, we want everything in the world to scrobble, perhaps an ear implant will be available soon that will scrobble anything you hear. That would be interesting.
I digress. It still is absolutely impossible for us to scrobble your songs because of the iPhone SDK. I apologise, even though it isn’t our fault, because it really sucks. We’re sorry.
But we try and make our Last.fm radio more and more awesome, so there’s no reason why you can’t use that, right? :) (as long as you have phone reception or wifi…!)
kelly
28 September, 03:11
jailbreak and install the mobile scrobbler. problem fixed.
Beau Giles
28 September, 03:52
If you’re not in one of the above mentioned countries, you could always grab a US, UK, etc account for free using this guide – http://techwiredau.com/2008/09/grab-a-free-itunes-account-for-any-country/
;)
Hocine
28 September, 06:04
are you ready for android ?
raszi
28 September, 10:51
@Beau Giles: thanks a lot, i didn’t know that will work for different countries too.
Jean Gabriel
28 September, 12:59
Thank you very much for this upgrade – Last FM works very well now on my Iphone 2.1
Mark B
28 September, 13:48
This is the first time I have felt the need to comment on a blog about a piece of FREE software and a FREE web service.
Although I agree that there are a few issues and omissions (the biggest being the inability to scrobble), I am extremely thankful that Last.fm exists at all.
I am surprised that the site and software developers don’t feel totally disheartened when they read through some of the frankly rude and insulting comments on here and give up development. This is why I felt the need to write and thank the team for what I feel is frankly a fantastic application and service for absolutely no cost to me. I find it an invaluable resource for identifying new groups and tracks and was thankful not peed off that a new version for 2.1 was released promptly and with additional features.
Thankyou once again and ignore the odd idiot as there are a great number of thankful people using your software who are able to make constructive suggestions without resorting to bad language and insults.
trevorblanco
28 September, 15:57
i look forward to using this when I finally receive my touch.
PJ Brunet
28 September, 16:51
I think it’s too early to jump on a phone platform bandwagon. The phone that will win will replace my laptop w/ options for full-size keyboard, external devices, etc. Five years from now all this code will be worthless, probably. You’ll look back and think, I wasted all that time for nothing.
Anurag R.C.
28 September, 17:34
Last.fm Rocks…
- Anurag R.C.
http://www.pcdrome.com
Latest Post:
http://www.pcdrome.com/2008/09/use-memokeys-and-save-your-time/
stefan2904
28 September, 18:51
i dont understand why the app is not available in austria… we speak the same language as in germany (and we also understand english…)
GeneratorBoy
28 September, 21:26
Sorry if I should already know this, but is there an official version for Windows Mobile? I think there are more handsets with WM than iPhones right now.
Jason
28 September, 23:51
Why is this not available in the Australian store?
me
29 September, 08:11
Please add this to the Austria App Store. The other last.fm Clients (e.g. Windows, Mac) and the registration is also available for users form Austria.
Thank you
Max Howell
29 September, 10:40
The music industry has decided not to license streaming music to mobile devices in countries where the beer needs to improve. The Netherlands, Austria and Australia, you are all guilty of crimes against beer. Improve your beer and the I’m sure the licensing agreements will suddenly be under our noses and ready to sign.
Max Howell
29 September, 10:42
To continue the same theme, Apple have decided nobody in the world makes beer that is good enough to allow background applications. Thus it will be impossible for us to scrobble the iPhone iPod for the foreseeable future.
Get brewing people!
Jason
29 September, 16:40
@PJ Brunet:
If you’re always waiting for the winner, you’re going to be waiting for a very long time.
The winner is a moving target, and if you wait for the one “great big thing” you’ll be waiting forever. Because there will always be something bigger.
Mikael
29 September, 17:28
Sweden hint hint ;)
Cooking
29 September, 19:19
Thank you very much for this upgrade – Last FM works very well.
Peter Gasston
30 September, 09:36
It’s a damned shame about the Scrobbling no longer working; it makes the app massively less useful for me, and Last.fm slightly less so.
Chris
30 September, 18:45
I’m having a lot of problems with song buffering with the Last.fm app. Songs start playing, play about halfway through, then go through buffering hell, eventually dropping the song and playing the next.
I don’t believe it has anything to do with the network I’m connected to; I only listen at work on a retardedly quick fiber optic network.
Anyone have a solution?
Ggoose
30 September, 21:09
HUGE improvement …
FWIW mine scrobbles. Should it not? My biggest problem is that if you do not have a 3G phone it spends WAAAAYYYY too much time buffering. I would prefer to wait more for it to buffer most of the song than hear it stop in the middle … but thats just me. It crashed on me once (about 5 mins ago) and the phone sent out a bug report. I hope it helps …
brokendrum70
1 October, 19:18
Thanks for this. It works, it makes the washing up bearable and I can listen to Christ.. in the bath. For that, you have my thanks.
PocketMumble
3 October, 00:08
@Max Howell
I suspect you’re judging Australian beers based on Fosters and XXXX? That’s the stuff we export to countries daft enough to buy it….we keep the good stuff (Coopers, Little Creatures, Beez Neez, James Squires, Matilda Bay for starters) for ourselves :) Nobody in Australia drinks Fosters….
Mark
3 October, 09:10
iphone’s have just reached the South African markets.. with the launch of the 3G phones. South Africa has just received its own iTunes Store but has no Last.fm app to download.
Please make it available for us ! :))
Regent
3 October, 14:54
Last.fm just rocks, but still not in the Switzerland iTunes Store…. I hope you can do something ;-)
Russ Garrett
4 October, 01:04
@PocketMobile
I think you missed the fact that Max wasn’t being serious ;). If only the solution to our licensing issues was to brew better beer…
(We have some big Coopers fans in the office)
felipe8a
4 October, 02:35
Make it scrobble! It’s just pointless trying to make it sound as a great app when its limitations are so obvious.
kimc
5 October, 00:34
So is the new version of last.fm only compatible with firmware 2.1?
or does it also run on firmware 2.0?
mrgr33n
6 October, 07:27
I agree on the beer issue, the netherlands is guilty as charged, but can’t we work something out? considering, we have green products which create some laughs. Perhaps load the app up to cydia or the installer?
Simon wheatley
6 October, 22:12
All good, except that the calendar view hides locations… I’d rather see a list of gigs I can scan to see if there’s one nearby. The calendar view is optimized to seeing if there’s a gig soon (but that gig could be litterally anywhere).
batteryfast
7 October, 00:44
I should already know this, but is there an official version for Windows Mobile? I think there are more handsets with WM than iPhones right now.
Kaminishi
7 October, 01:29
i’m waiting Last.fm app for iTunes Store BRazil…
Web Laureate
7 October, 03:43
i have been having some fun fun with lastfm lately. words can only express ;)
http://web-poet.com/2008/10/06/shareful-lineup/
Ville
8 October, 17:00
Last.fm on the Iphone. Nice .. and quaint.
I’m just wondering are you giving enough attention to the rest of your user base.. say the 99% who do not have an Iphone…, but likely a Symbian based device (ok, maybe only 50% of the user base has symbian devices, but even that’s easily a 100 times more than iPhone users).
I hope you’re financing and giving other support to the guy who develops mobbler (http://code.google.com/p/mobbler/).. not me btw. I mean if you’d like everyone to be scrobbling, that would be the smartest bet, wouldn’t it?
Ivan
9 October, 16:37
theres a way to change the quality of the songs so they can be listen on 3G without buffering to much? when i listen on wifi it works great but on 3G is buffering every 20 sec or less… any idea what can we do?
Ernest Oporto
12 October, 19:30
To get around the issue of running in the background, the next feature I would like to see is having the last.fm iphone app be able to access the local music storage so that I can mark stuff as Loved that I have in my collection which last.fm doesn’t have in rotation.
YellowSEO
16 October, 22:37
Thats a great suggest Ernest
Toby the tagging interface is awesome..
With the iphone version I don’t even need my laptop anymore at work to get by the firewall to use last.fm I just put on headphones and chill with my iphone…
Max Howell
17 October, 18:03
We can’t access the local storage on the iPhone.
When it comes to the iPhone we can only do things inside the app. We’re sandboxed well and true.
Tom
18 October, 16:08
@Tecfan:
So if it’s so great, how do you call that:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/last.fm
Pezza
21 October, 10:46
Yeah, just my 2 cents, Last.fm is THE application that would make me buy an iphone 3g. I have the touch and I just want the dev team to know that I am totally totally thankful for what you have done with this! Keep up the good work, I tell anyone with the touch or iphone about this app, and I hope everyone else does as well!
One thing worth mentioning, I got into the app because I have been a DAB user in the UK, but the sound quality on the last.fm streams is better. That made me get a squeezebox, then the touch ipod kind of followed on from that. Just worth pointing out, Last.fm sounds better through my stereo than my 200 quid DAB tuner!
deadcantdance
28 October, 08:44
Wow, looks like a killer app for the iPhone! Wish there would be a symbian version for it…
/Chris
Amos Feder
5 November, 09:12
I love the Last.fm iPhone app. It makes the iPhone much more than an iPod and a phone. The Last.fm app is also designed beautifully. Some of the above criticisms are really puzzling — and ungenerous to the developers. This is simply a wonderful app. My request, since the developers asked for feedback, is that I wish I could control the Last.fm player on my computer using the iPhone as a controller. This would give to Last.fm what Apple has already given to iTunes users with the Remote app. It would let us control a home wireless music system using the iPhone. Thank you!
dnm
7 November, 21:20
I am alrady running last.fm on my PC in Sweden. Getting a bit frustrated with apples idiotic vetting. Also an english Last.fm app for iphone would be acceptable for most people in Sweden.
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