Tag: Extension.fm

How to scrobble to Last.fm from your NZ iPhone

The Last.fm iPhone app isn’t available available in New Zealand (even for subscribers!), no doubt due to sticky licensing drama. In fact, unless you’re in the US, UK or Germany you’re out of luck.

Even though I can’t change my blasted username, I like to scrobble what I listen to – so I can track it, compare it, recommend it, see, touch and taste it… Well, maybe not taste it. 

Fortunately, the ex.fm app for iPhone is available in NZ.

The ex.fm app allows you to listen to music you already have on your phone via the ingeniously named “iPod” feature, and it also scrobbles what you listen to if you connect it to your last.fm account (needs wifi or 3g, duh).

Make sure you dig into the other super awesome features of ex.fm – the Chrome plugin will scout pages you visit, collating MP3 URL’s into your own little streaming library. This is then available to stream on your phone too. More about that in my previous post.

Oh, and add me so I can judge your taste in music.

Some other ways to scrobble:

  • Pretend you’re American.
    If you’re an Air NZ Airpoints member with a OneSmart account, your card counts as an American Credit Card – opening the door to all sorts of internet joy, including an American iTunes account from which you can download all the good stuff.
  • Use another app.
    Rdio is now available in NZ with a 1 week free trial. It has a pretty limited catalogue available, again, probably due to licensing and probably because you will be given the option to actually store the media onto your device (there are different rules if you can stream but not store). Rdio scrobbles to last.fm, and I’m sure there are a handful of others that do similar – hit reply and let us know if you use any.

Extension.fm is an extension for Chrome which gathers mp3 files from sites you visit, and creates a personal library for you to listen to right in your browser. 

Essentially, it turns the whole internet into your own music library – awesome!

Your library is simple to navigate, clearly taking inspiration from iTunes’ library layout, and the pages from which “your” mp3’s originate are linked to with every entry in your library. This is super handy if, for example, someone you follow on Tumblr posts a track which you listen to in Extension.fm and want to like or reblog.

Extension.fm integrates with Last.fm, but of course this hangs on the ID3 tags of the mp3 file being correct in order for the track to scrobble to your Last.fm profile.

You can hook up your Tumblr account also, which creates a set of the last 50 mp3’s which have floated by your Tumblr dashboard – great if you, like me, hit the play button on a track on your dashboard and flick to the next page of posts, killing the mp3 player (I prefer to browse my dashboard in pages, rather than endless scrolling).

I’ve had the extension installed for awhile now, by recommendation of my colleague and fellow music nerd, Pat. In that time I’ve built up the library in the screen shot above, and it’s been completely unobtrusive.

Streaming isn’t flawless, but I blame New Zealand’s crummy internet rather than the extension itself.

Overall, the extension creates no barriers, and makes keeping track of and discovering new music effortless. If you haven’t already installed it, do try it out.