last.fm audioscrobbler maybe going away (rumour)

eythian

I've heard a word through the extended grapevine that last.fm may be changing how they handle scrobbling (in that they may not continue to.)

So, if you're a user of this (I am: http://www.last.fm/user/eythian ) you may want to consider extracting your data: https://secure.last.fm/settings/dataexporter and possibly adding libre.fm: https://libre.fm/user/eythian to your music playing applications (most things that support last.fm support libre.fm, at least in the open source software world.)

Note that this is conjecture and hearsay, but it's worth being aware of the possibility.

cafreema

That would suck.  Seriously.

Thanks for the info, though.

Craig

choiceweb0pen0

That would suck, though the last Mac version crashes like a demolition derby ride. Still, I like scrobbing. Thanks for the info!

cafreema

The crashing on the latest Mac version is ludicrous.  The fact they haven't fixed it lends credence to eythian's rumor, honestly.

If scrobbling goes away I won't be using last.fm anymore.

Craig

Doofy

While I find last.fm to be kind of a fun diversion, I don't think I'd make any heroic efforts to preserve my data or keep scrobbling.  The Windows version of the Scrobbler has been working perfectly of late.

cafreema

@eythian - Maybe I'm blind, but I can't find where to get a scrobbler on Libre.  Any tips?

Craig

Germanprof

I'm lukewarm on last.fm right now. It still bugs me that e.g. if I listen to my latest purchase, which has 96 tracks, just four times then a pianist of whom I had never heard until this month becomes one of my top artists, whereas if I listen to one of my favorite albums, which has three tracks, it would take over a hundred listens for the same effect. Since I am currently listening to a lot of baroque and ambient, this effect is only increasing. 

thomnottom

Thanks for the heads up. It would make sense to start the switch to libre.fm (for me at least). I haven't really used the client in a long time as most of the software I use has scrobbling built-in.

I mostly like using it because I've switched media libraries so many times that none of my local stats are accurate.

eythian

@cafreema all the stuff I use (nuvola, rhythmbox, mostly) have it built in right beside the last.fm options. You might need to dig up a plugin for whatever it is you use.

Plong42

I signed up for Libre.FM, and connected my Last.FM account. I can listen to tracks on Libre and they scrobble to Last.FM. But I do not see anything like a scrobbler or plugin for MediaMonkey, etc. 

Libre would be better if I could import last.FM data from spreadsheet, develop a scrobbler like app to track various players (iTunes, MediaMonkey, Amazon Cloud, etc). 

eythian

The API for libre.fm is identical to last.fm, it's quite easy for someone to modify the player or the plugin to convert one into the other.

http://bugs.foocorp.net/projects/librefm/wiki/Clients

kargatron

eythian, I can't find anything that clearly imports into libre.fm a full listening history. I see references to some python scripts, but no clear tool that uses the last.fm exporter output (or, better, simply an iTunes xml library file). What's the best resource?

Now that I reread your first post, I guess you don't imply you can import (just that it's a good idea to export). I guess I don't care about it too much, since it's less authoritative than my iTunes library, and the last.fm history missed some periods over the years. I'd lose streaming plays, I guess, but those are largely incidental compared to my home library.

eythian

I'm not aware of anything that'll let you move your data from one to the other (not to say it doesn't exist, just that I don't know of it.) I have my data file exported from last.fm, so if I get the chance maybe I'll have a look into doing that, but I would expect that whatever I make will be on the level of a script that does the job, so not too much help.

thomnottom

From what I can see, it's all python scripts. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try one out today.

cafreema

Can someone explain to me what a python script is?  I know absolutely nothing about coding.

Craig

greg

I must admit that a python script makes me think of a English comedy series of the early 1970s onwards! (Monty Pythons Flying Circus if you don't know what I mean... I know some of the sketches virtually off by heart. See, eg, Dead Parrot sketch)

cafreema

Greg, we're Americans not dumbasses.  Of course we know Monty Python! 

My favorite sketches: The Twit Olympics and Mr. Hilter.

Craig

greg

I assumed you probably would know, but wasn't totally sure Craig. Whist I might think of some Americans ( and Brits too, so no difference) as dumbasses, I'd never accuse you or anone else here as that!!

thomnottom

For the record, python is named for Monty Python. The history of hackers is replete with geeky references such as that.

Python is actually a programming language, but its syntax (the way it is written) is very user friendly and readable and high-level enough that it can be used as a scripting language. Scripting a move from last.fm to libre.fm might boil down to something like:

start
contact last.fm
send login information
read all data to file export.tmp
for each track in export.tmp do
     {
      contact libre.fm
      send login information
      set playcount
      set last playdate
      if track has star
           {
            set star
           }
      else end
      }
end

Very oversimplified, but I hope you get the idea. The actual script would have to use the commands they allow you and figure out how to handle exceptions and differences (last.fm says you listened to V - Twin 50 times but libre.fm says the band doesn't exist).

greg

It sounds a lot simpler than the programming I did in the late 70s and early 80s, such as BASIC and Fortran, thanks thom

cafreema

Interesting.  Now for my next question.  What do I do with the script?

Craig

kargatron

Assuming you were download the scripts in question (libreimport.py, etc, iirc) - then you'd install the various tools or libraries, then run specified commands in the terminal. But it's not clear to me that any of the tools do What One Wants, which is to have libre look just like your full last.fm profile. I'm not going to pursue it further at this point. I'll have my libre account, and deal with last.fm's demise if/when it comes.

Plong42

I am glad there are people here who understand all this and (maybe) can help preserve/move data. I do not have much to contribute here. 

If you ever need a Greek verb parsed, let me know. 

amclark2

Deceased parrots, programming and ancient languages. This place is awesome.

eythian

amclark2 said:

Deceased parrots, programming and ancient languages. This place is awesome.

Greek isn't necessarily ancient. Though, I did study Latin for 3.5 years in school. I think I've forgotten at least 3.49 years worth of it.

greg

Sounds like me eythian with Latin, although I only did 2 years  - I can remember about 4 words!

Plong42

Oh, my particular Greek is quite dead. Rung up the the curtain and joined the choir invisble. It is an x-language. 

luddite

greg said:

Sounds like me eythian with Latin, although I only did 2 years  - I can remember about 4 words!

'Romanes eunt domus'
(People called Romanes they go the house)


What more Latin does one need to know?

Germanprof

Well well, the hidden value of a grammar school education emerges: one of the phrases indelibly left in my mind from Latin class ties together themes on this thread nicely:
tu es loquacior quam psittacus
(you are more talkative than a parrot)

Doofy

Funny, after I said recently (somewhere) that the Windows Audioscrobbler has been running great, I realized this morning that it hasn't been working at all on my office computer.  Looking into it, I find that the Scrobbler doesn't know iTunes is running.  This appears to be related to an iTunes 12 update - you can see 48 pages of discussion on the lastfm forum, going back to the end of Jan.

A fix is promised and pending, although board regulars remain skeptical.  I've had no such problem on my main music computer, which is still running iTunes 11.  Meanwhile, I'm afraid you won't be seeing Scrobbles for all the Marin Marais/Jordi Savali tracks I am playing this morning...

Plong42

Doofy said:

This appears to be related to an iTunes 12 update - you can see 48 pages of discussion on the lastfm forum, going back to the end of Jan. A fix is promised and pending, although board regulars remain skeptical. 

I went back to an earlier version of iTunes and the scrobbler started working again. AFAIK that is the only fix for the problem at this time. As for the skepticism, that is valid - not very many updates have appeared. Things like Plugins for new players (Amazon especially) would be easy things to do, but nothing in years.