Refugee 7 Report post Posted January 24, 2008 CBS has become the first company to create what is clearly the future of music online: a site where you can listen to any song you want free, supported by advertising. The company is doing that with the latest version of Last.FM, the online radio site it bought last year. (Press release here.) Unlike so many music services, this appears to be simple in the way that users would want. Go to the last.fm site. Search for an artist. Click on a song. Listen. See an ad on the screen. CBS is perhaps in a better position to offer a service like this than a startup, as it has major relationships with music labels through its radio unit and relationships with big advertisers as well. The labels, however, insisted on one significant limitation: Each user can listen to any track no more than three times. Quincy Smith, the president of CBS’s digital unit, said the company is working with the labels to extend this limit. For people who particularly like a song, Last.FM will link users to Apple’s iTunes, Amazon.com and others. The site has rights to 3.5 million tracks from the big four major labels, and sites that have gathered music from independent labels. It will also be open to unsigned bands, who will be given a share of the advertising revenue associated with their songs. In concept, this is similar to what is being offered by Imeem, the social network. But the Last.FM user experience is much more simple. Imeem only has tracks that its users upload, so it is not comprehensive. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Echosoftom 3 Report post Posted January 24, 2008 This might be kind of cool. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mary Jane 49 0 Report post Posted January 24, 2008 I just had a lok at this ,very nice Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Refugee 7 Report post Posted January 28, 2008 Been playing with the site today, lol. It's a social networking site. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nurktwin 2,143 Report post Posted January 28, 2008 i got an email about this last week, but scrapped it. you can listen to a song 3 times and that's it? no downloads unless you pay? same old shit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmyLou 5 Report post Posted January 28, 2008 Sure - but then you can get your downloads from Amazon - DRM-free and cheap. My son has been using LastFM for awhile now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nurktwin 2,143 Report post Posted January 28, 2008 ok amylou, but what's the difference between free an cheap?...lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmyLou 5 Report post Posted January 28, 2008 DRM-free silly! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Square One 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 love last.fm - I use it daily in searches as part of my job - I use to use allmusic and prefer last.fm now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brandonwood20 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 It's a good step but there's along way to go as far as getting music out there. To be honest, I would rather listen to a DJ play songs on the internet rather than just getting to hear it. Although, since I type so slowly, I can see where it would be nice to listen to a whole song if you were thinking about buying it. So, in the end, I'm torn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marzirose 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2009 I love last.fm. It isn't blocked by our school's filter, and it's nice for when I have a song stuck in my head. I didn't know about the 3x limit though. That stinks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
