Very
good
 |
Last.fm - Your Personal Radio
Tested version: 1.4.1
Latest version: 1.9.7
Requires Android: from 1.5
|
Summary
Last.fm is without a doubt one of the greatest music sites on the web. You can stream your favorite songs directly on your computer. Entering a song title, artist name, or music genre is enough for Last.fm to compile a customized playlist for you in a matter of seconds. Now, Last.fm is also available as an Android app. Find out whether this app is intended for beginners or advanced user by reading our full test report.
Features & Use
Section rating:
The Last.fm app offers you a whole array of useful features that many of you are already familiar with from the web-version. Don't have an account with Last.fm? Not a problem. Registering through the app is just as easy as on the website itself.
Once you've set-up an account, you are greeted with the following features on the app's start-page. Under the "Radio" tab you'll find:
- Start a New Station
- Your Library
- Recommended by Last.fm
- Your Neighborhood
- Recent Stations
Under the "Profile" tab you'll find the same options as on the website:
- Top Artists
- Top Albums
- Top Tracks
- Recently Played
- Events
- Friends
- Tags
Clicking on "Start a New Station" presents you with several different options. You can search by artists, keywords (tags), or even search by other users to listen to other people's playlists.
Scrobbling, in my opinion Last.fm's coolest feature, is obviously also part of this app. When you are "scrobbling", you are in effect sharing the track, artist, and/or song you're listening to at the moment with Last.fm. Using this information, Last.fm can recommend music that fits you personal taste. All of this is integrated into the app so that track played on your Android Player is automatically synched with Last.fm. A small message appears at the top of your screen letting you know if you're "scrobbling" at any given moment. While any track is playing, you can view the artist's biography, similar artists, tags, upcoming events, as well the artist's fans. I think that's an awesome feature! You can turn scrobbling on or off in your settings at any time.
In the settings you have the opportunity to select your streaming quality and headset options.
If you're registered with Last.fm, you've got all the usual functions.
During playback you can click on:
- Love this track
- Ban this track
- Stop this track
- Next track
Pressing the menu button during playback directs you to these options:
- View info
- Share
- Tag
- Add to Playlist
- Buy on Amazon
I was really blown away by the variety of functions available. Feel like buying the track from Amazon? No sweat. If you've got the Amazon MP3 app already installed on your device, you can directly access the Amazon store from any track currently playing.
Last.fm's sharing option is also very comprehensive:
- Last.fm Friends
- Send via Bluetooth (if you have a Bluetooth app installed)
- Delicious
- SMS
Any additional communication apps you may have installed will appear in this selection. The Last.fm also features are pretty sweet widget for your screen, displaying the track title, remaining time, and all the other playback features. In my opinion, this app deserves a full six stars for the features & use section.
A small set-back that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone: the streaming really sucks up your battery life.
Bottom Line:
Whether for beginners or advanced Last.fm users, this app offers all the functions you could ever wish for. Users that already have an account get full-access to all these features. Newcomers have to satisfy themselves with just the basic "Start a New Station" button. All in all, a great piece of work, especially the look and feel of the app.
Screen & Controls
Section rating:
The controls can get a bit tricky because of the wide selection of different functions. Once you get a general feeling for the app, you shouldn't have any problems figuring out the individual menus. I found it a bit annoying that many functions were only accessible via the menu button. Some of these functions could easily have been placed onto the touchscreen, making things a little neater.
The real icing on the cake is the app's amazing look. The app's glass-like design makes use that more enjoyable.
Speed & Stability
Section rating:
The performance itself is good, but things tend to lag during streaming. With the newer Android phones, you shouldn't experience any more stalling and your performance should be much improved. During the test my biggest problem was trying to work on other things while letting a track stream in the background.
The fact that there were several crashes with the app is, for me, simply inexcusable.
Price/Performance Ratio
Section rating:
The app and streaming music are free just like on the website.
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Mar 5, 2010 5:44:26 PM
for like the past couple of years, i've been a total last.fm fan! i prefer it to pandora, because it works all over the world and not just in the USA. there have been rumors about last.fm becoming pay-only...hope it isn't true...
the app is pretty good, but it does tend to lag a bit, especially with loading a radio station.
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Market Comments
Adam, Apr 16, 2012
Whyyy I have this through x box and its free cause I pay for the gold membership im not going to pay again stupid crap I would love to have it like on my phone just not worth it so do something about it last fm or else im going to hate you
Marci, Apr 16, 2012
No music listening I dont need an online artist-database, i would need to listen to music....
Jonah, Apr 16, 2012
Uninstalled I use this on my Xbox and on my laptop in my car when I'm working, free of charge. But I have to subscribe and pay to use it on my phone. I'll stick to Pandora for my workout mixes.
Dave, Apr 16, 2012
Great An app that you have to pay to use. But pc and xbox is free. Pandora and slacker do the same thing but are free
Richard, Apr 15, 2012
whats the point its free on xbox but not on my phone....really come on last fm
Andreas, Apr 15, 2012
sweet app I don't mind paying to listen to music, so this app is very useful to me. Only downside is that some stations can be pretty repetitive.
Reklc, Apr 14, 2012
It's a scrobbler so it scrobbless, want a radio download a radio app and stop bit..ing. It does what its supposed to, it notifies when scrobbling starts, it works on most music apps (i tried about seven so i know). Do you really need anything else?
Jason, Apr 12, 2012
Uh retarded... I seriously wonder why this has so many downloads and how it is rated so high. Rating is very suspicious. Does absolutely nothing unless you subscribe. There are a ton of other radio services you DONT have to pay for. Interface sucks too, thought it would have been like the version on desktop, dead wrong.
Ben Foster
for like the past couple of years, i've been a total last.fm fan! i prefer it to pandora, because it works all over the world and not just in the USA. there have been rumors about last.fm becoming pay-only...hope it isn't true...
the app is pretty good, but it does tend to lag a bit, especially with loading a radio station.