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.