jayrobinson: Since I became a Last.fm member in May 20061 I have successfully scrobbled over 40,000 tracks. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much I like Last.fm (especially with cool new apps accessing its API like SendGig, tweetlouder and Lastweek.fm) and I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys. But this article by Doctor Klein does a much better job than I ever could (emphasis mine): Last.fm’s main function is a music discovery site that bases recommendations off of music you already listen to, not just music that is brand new and in a marketing promotion cycle like Pandora. Again, most music fanatics already have at least half a dozen accounts for music discovery sites like, Pandora, Grooveshark, Hype Machine, and Spotify, etc. We tend to use these sites for free access to music, when our main music devices are elsewhere or just looking for a change a pace. This is all great, but what is happening to the music once it plays? In most cases nothing. You either mark it as a “liked” track and go back to the same site to listen to it again, or some cases actually making the jump to purchase the song. In reality, we enjoy most of the music we listen to, but don’t want to have to “like” every song just to have the ability to hear it played again. Here’s where last.fm brings everything together. I love iTunes, but Last.fm extends iTunes in many essential ways. With Last.fm, I have a record of not only how many times I’ve played a track, but how many times in a given period. I can generate great art based on my listening history. Last.fm is also great for reminding me of album releases and upcoming concerts near me. I can judge people and befriend them based on our musical “compatibility”. I’ve long wished that Apple would buy Last.fm and incorporate its incredible social features and APIs to take iTunes to the next level. Ping sucks. Take a read about why I think Last.fm is one of the best sites around for music lovers. And friend me up, let’s talk about music! My original Last.fm account was a different username. ↩