As you know, we’re huge fans of Mobbler here at Symbian-Guru, going so far as to call it the second best S60 application on the planet (closely behind Handy Taskman, in my opinion). Earlier today, the Last.FM team posted information about changes to the Last.FM service, as well as changes to the API that 3rd party applications, such as Mobbler, are using to connect to the service. It seems there’s quite a bit of confusion around this, so I’ve worked on getting clarification directly from Last.FM, which is where any information about this situation should come from.
Basically, the ability to stream music over Last.FM will be subscription-only for all countries other than the U.S., U.K., and Germany. Users within those countries are welcome to sign up for a monthly subscription, but do not have to. I have been a paid subscriber to Last.FM for several months now, and find the benefits (listed here) to be worth the $3/month. If you do not wish to pay a monthly fee, you will still be able to scrobble (send in the lists of songs you play on your computer/portable device) for free, to maintain/build your profile. You will also still have the ability to see recommended music and all that. The only thing that will require the subscription is being able to stream music.
There was also another posting, specifically regarding the API, which is what 3rd party applications such as Mobbler use to connect to the Last.FM service. The initial posting mentioned 2 issues:
Last.fm has never had a public radio API, although we’ve tolerated third-party clients using the undocumented calls that our client uses. This is finally about to change – we’re going to make a public, documented streaming API available to everyone who has an API account. There are a few limitations:
- Only subscribers will be allowed to stream using API applications unless you negotiate a separate deal with us – we need to get the money to cover royalties.
- You won’t be allowed to use our API to stream to mobile phones. This is unfortunately a limitation of some of our licensing agreements. Again, we may be able to make an exception to this if you talk to us directly.
At face value, this spells obvious doom for applications such as Mobbler. However, a few comments directly from Russ Garrett, the staff member who posted the original information, Mobbler is safe, for the most part.
I’m working with third-party mobile client authors at the moment, and I’m fairly confident that we can allow them to use the new API in mobile mode for subscribers. No promises yet, though. Link
Any mobile client developers will need to contact us to get radio API access, but I’m not aware of any reason why we wouldn’t grant it. I am working to make sure that existing mobile clients like Mobbler will get grandfathered in. Link
Most third-party players are currently based on the unsupported old API, which they have reverse-engineered. They will need to be updated to support the new API, as the old one will go away soon.Link
…You will need to be a subscriber to listen to radio on any third-party client (this is the major change). We pay the artists for every track we stream, so we need a way to get this money. Link
Basically, the only real change is that Mobbler will need to be rewritten to take advantage of the new official API (and it seems as though Last.FM is aware of how popular Mobbler is, and are working on it, specifically). Also, you will need to be a paying subscriber to actually stream radio stations through Mobbler, even if you are in the U.S., U.K., or Germany (As I understand it).
Given that a Last.FM subscription is only $3/month, I don’t think this is really too outrageous. However, I will be watching this closely, to see if:
1. The above quotes are held true.
2. Mobbler is indeed updated with the new API and made available in a timely fashion
If you have any questions or wish to voice your opinion, I would recommend you post them on the official Last.FM thread, so that the team can know of them.
